The Omaha Sunday- Bee Magazine Page
Mataroalisaa the Comibig Great Force in Government!
Katherine Bcment Davis,
AfterTaming 1,400 Wild
Convicts in Three Days
by "Motherly Methods,"
Discusses the Efficiency
of the Slipper, the Dark
Closet and All the Ways
of "Wise Motherhood" in
Controlling Criminals and
Running Cities, States and
Countries.
ByKath'erineBement Davis,
Commissioner of Corrections of tho City of Now York
WHEN 1 helped to quU tho mutiny of
fourteen hundred men at Blackwell's
Iilud I did only what , may bo ox
peoted and mutt bo demanded In the govern
ment ef tho future, I injected Into municipal
affaire the maternal instinct I adjuatod a dif
ficult and nnpleaaant altuatlon by appoint tho
methods of motherhood.
Criminals are not merely "like bad boys."
They are bad boys, and they must bo treated as
such. It was with this profound belief, amount
lnc to a conviction, that 1 answered the sum
mons of tho Warden of Blackwelt'a Island to
come over and settle tho trouble. Warden
Hayes put It too modestly, for ho should have
said "help to settle tho trouble."
In this ease, as la all other matters of govern
ment tho maternal element is needed to supple
ment tho paternal. God mada a world not of
men, nor of women, but of men and women.
He expects them to conduct tho affairs of tho
world together, not that one sex shall bo rele
gated to a gallery seat to watch tho perform
ances on tho stage of another. Women were
not made to cheer men. nor to criticise them,
but to help them. Until women help In the
affairs of government wo will have, if not bad,
certainly very faulty government.
As Professor Vida D. Scudder, of Wellesley,
hae said In a recent copy of tho Yale Review,
"Paternalism has become an obnoxious epithet;
It carries with It, from patriarchal days, an un
pleasant hint of autocracy. Maternallsm is
better. The word standa for an authority more
tender, a discipline more intimate, fostering
care more humble. To carry out this great Idea
the Mother-State of which wo dream will need
tbo help of Its women."
Professor Scudder further says that Mother
State will "transform society from the likeness
of a battle field to tho llkeneaa of a home." and
she adds that it Is the Instinct behind such
personifications as Liberty with her torch,
Columbia, ample, and motherly. Alma Mater
"No Alma Pater could ever have called for such
loralty from tho alumni" which will recognise
' and use the feminine factor in tho Bute of tho
future.
Men and women aro not very much alike.
Tbey aro In matters of oharacter and methods
of administration considerably unlike, and will
remain so ss tho maple tree will continue to bo
unlike the pine. Becaueo of these very differ
ences they need each other's supplemental aid
and Influence. For lnstanco women havo a
lighter touch In human affairs. Lighter, but
no lee Rrm. To illustrate thla let u atudy tho
methods of a father and mother In dealing with
a boy. He Is making a noise and disturbing tho
occupants of the room. "Keep quiet." the
father ears. If tho boy dare to ask "Why." ho
may receive a spanking. At any rate tho answor
la gruff. "Because I havo said you should"
will bo the only reason vouchsafed him.
The mother's tactics will bo different She,
of the alleged unreasoning sex. will resson with
him. She will say: "Because you will make
the neighbors angry," or "Because grandma is
k
Chester!!!
Dj G. K. CHESTERTON,
Tho famous English Csssyls
TO mo modern Journalism has long boon
growing as mysterious as hieroglyphics;
but wherever (tor ono moment) it is not
mysterious, it is highly symbolic. Which also
is Uko a hieroglyphic. I cull this example
from a current dally paper; quoting it simply
aa it atands
Two excellent releases, ono ot which
is calculated to make a strong appeal
to lovers ot tho historic, will ahortly
appear at tho klnemaa. These aro
Thysical Culture in Australia." de
pleting a girls' gymnastic class at drill
and exercise, and "Famous Churches
of England."
Now I havo no doubt that tho writer ot thla
paragraph meant that tho historic Interest
was lu tho English churches, not In tho
Australian gymnasts. But It seems to mo
that tUe. mere order, being a matter of Instinct
is important And 1 wonder how many readers
did not feel It fully natural that tbo gymnastics
should be mentioned in such a connection. Also
wonder how many people know what a ro
aso is: because I don't But sometnlng in
a. a wording of tho sentence gave mo a snatch
at that everlasting lost clue tho clue that
Sdc to the central riddle and tho central
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Dr. katherine Bemeot Davit, Commissioner of Corrections, Who Quelled a
Mutiny of 1,400 Men by Maternal Methods.
taking a nsp, or "Because mother's head aches."
She will give a reason, and tbo child's hungry
mind will be satisfied. Ho will love and trust
his mother. His father ha will privately or
publicly regard as a tyrant.
One of the prisoners at Blackwell's proved
this. When he told his wrongs he said: I
stood up on a bench and wanted to talk. Tho
head keeper told mo to sit down. When I
didn't sit down ho swore at mo. Now do you
think ho should havo sworn at me?" I told him
that In tho circumstances I believed that tho
head keeper's expletive waa Justifiable, though
I myself never say more than 'darn.' 1
This head keeper Is a mild-mannered man,
and only under great atress would he havo
lapsed Into profanity, I believe. But I use tho
instance to Illustrate a man's methods, the
methods of paternal government
One reason why tho maternal Influence and
aid are needed in government Is found In the
extreme suggestibility of criminals. They are
far more amenable to suggestion than to au
thority. K)w suggestible are children 1 A child
Is crying. Tou say to him, "See tho funny dog
going i.." Ho looka out of the window. Ho
forgets hs woes. His tears are dried.
In another moment he is laughing. Suggest
new methoda of adjustment of differences to
criminals and they will welcome them. Scowl
at them with a "because" for anawer and they
will plot an upsetting of order and upheaval of
public peace. Arbitrariness makes anarchists.
Tho tyrant makes tho rebel.
Another reason, an all-powerful one, Is that
all criminals ara atrong Individualists. So aro
all children. The criminal thinks of himself
and of what Is best or ho thinks Is best for
him. Tho child, too. Is an Individualist of the
most pronounced type. In hla earliest stages ho
Is ono largo stomach and a loud voice. He,
too, must bo taught to think not of his own good
solely, but the good of tho group, his group,
tho family circle, and as his mental vision wid
ens, of tho good of his schoolmates, his friends,
society, tho world. Social consciousness is
ssleep In tho criminal aa it is in tho child. It
must bo awakened and after It ia awakened,
trained. '
Tho best mother la the ono who plays and'
studies with her child. Believing this, know
ing it by instinct as well as resson, I sent no
messages about what to do when tho mutiny
broke out at Blackwell's.
When I was in charge of tho Girls' Homo, at
Bedford, X did not say, "Do this," but "Lot us
do this." I did it with them. I worked in tho
garden and painted tho buildings with tho girls
and took a hand in tho housework. It worked -well
there and I ex peoted It to work at Black
well's. It did. I aang with tho boys at tho ser
vices, and I talked matters over with them, not
from a height but with a family aplrit of
"What's to bo done? Let's talk it over." To
ono of tho map I said. "What would you do It
Tells Why New CotiiatFies Are Not Interesting to
failure of Imperialism. And what I feel applies
Just as much to Independent Anglo-Saxon
America as to our estimable young colonies
that still fly tho old flag.
Why aro tho old countries alive, and tho now
countries dead? In other words, why would
most of us rather look at a church crumbling
In Essex, than at a class drilling in Australia?
To a healthy man. girls from Australia aro
an Inspiriting sight llko girls from America or
anywhere for that matter: thoao who do not
understand that do not understand morality.
On tho other hand, churches in Essex aro, if
anything, rather a depressing sight All along
the East Anglian coasts (but mora in Suffolk
and Norfolk) can bo found tho shrunken town
almost covered by (ho shadow ot its huge
church-tower.
It dates from tho time when all that rural
England was rich, and could build what wag
once a cathedral over what is now a hamlet.
Even In these tho remains ot religious civilisa
tion havo been . battered by sectarianism and
betrayed by neglect: and aro therefore, in a
sense, a aad sight Yet why do you and I (or
most certainly I) think them aa cheerful as
"Ilckwick." when they are compared with this
their rival: when falls on our ears tha cold
and hollow worda. . " Physical Culture in
Australia ? "
It anyone aayo ho does not feel tbia. ho la
deficient in culture or in candour. Australian
ladles and American ladles aro beautifully
trained; and English churches aro abominably
neglected. But. after alt tho teat ot tho Issue
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you were a keeper and the boys had broken
out in this way?" He said: "I would have
them shot if they didn't behave." Ho was a
good boy after that His social consciousness
had awakened by what he himself thought out
and expressed in our conference. It Is tho
monitor system in schools. Put the worst boy
in a position of trust and he will not abuse It
Tho only thing I didn't take to Blackwells
, Island was my slipper. A rebuke that amount
ed to a slipper, that had all of Us settling
force, cams about when one of the men who
had been in several prisons and knew all about
it told mo Just how prisons ought to be run.
When he bad finished I said:
"It's too bad you are In here, because if you
were out you ought to be tho warden or com
missioner and run tni.'c yourself."
Ho Joined in tho laugh of the others and
settled down.
Every mother knows tho salutary effect upon
youth of "goldg to bed without supper." I
found tbo diet system very effectual with the
men who held out longest at Blackwells
Island, and. to paraphrase the old adage, you
can reach a man's reason through his stomach.
Fasting conduces to quick and sane decisions.
' The dark closet is a well-known last resort
of the disciplining mother. Our "coolers"
served well that purpose at Blackwells. And
yet the "coolers" are not halt so terrifying as
the men's Imagination of them. They are llko
the other cells, save that th other cells havo
no walls separating them. They call occupancy
of them solitary confinement and yet every
' man has his neighbor within hearing distance.
Ono terror of tho "cooler" is that It contains
no bed. Tho man must reflect In an upright
poaltion. For thla reaaon the "cooler" aerves
yet another disciplinary purpose akin to tbo
regimen of childhood. A sentence to It means
to tbo rebellious criminal what the order
"Johnny, stand In the corner and turn your
face to tho wall" means to the child.
I do not believe In emotionalism with either
ot tho undeveloped claases, children or crlm- 1
lnals. At least, I do not believe In misdirected
emotionalism, because the results gained
through such avenues to tho brain and will are
not stable.
When I told tho men I didn't like their striped
suits becauso they mado them look llko sebras
they laughed. But 1 aald that tho new drab
suits would bo worn only by the well behaved,
tho honor men.
I havo been asked whether I waa not afraid
to go to Blackwells Island. No, I waa not
afraid. But let me explain my conception ot
tear. I realised, aa any thoughtful woman
would, that there waa a possibility ot violence.
I knew that I waa facing danger. But I knew
thla when I faced the men at the penitentiary
when they broke lino ana demanded to bo
heard. I said, "First get back into line. I
will not hear a word until there Is order. After
that you may tell me your grievances."
between Central Civilisation and Colonial Civil
isation is which goes to which. It is
cleverest and most successful son of a Colonial
family who la encouraged to see tho magic ot
Venice or the glory that was Greece.
It is not tho cleverest or most successful
son of a European family, certainly not of an
English family, who is encouraged to see tho
magic ot Melbourne, or tho glory that was
Botany Bay, the skyscrapers ot New York or
tho ranches ot Texas. No colony, so tar as I
know, has ever become permanently greater
than tho principality that really founded It
Holland is still larger than Java: so much
larger that It does not occur to ua to compare
them on the map. Spain is still larger than
Peru. And tho brute tact ot history ia still
tho exact opposite ot Mr. Kipling's enlrram:
it Is " What do they know ot Empire who do
not England know?"
But aa I think I remarked, the real use ot
reason la to find tho meaning ot Instinct It
la very often tho Justification of it. And I
think this can be found in tho case we hero
discuss. It is not eaay to define our Instinct
about tho English charches and tho Australian
girls. Most men avoid churches. Most men
do not avoid girls. And yet tho instinct re
mains rigid; and la a reality.
So far aa I can see, tho distinction la la a
simple but not sufficiently familiar fact Ono
cannot find any new things In tho now
countriea One can, quite seriously, find new
things in tho old churches. Tho only absolutely
original thing that over came out of Australia
waa tho boomerang. Aad that had boon tr
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Blackwells Island, Where the Woman Commissioner of Cor
rections Gave Her Object Lesson in Wise Mother
hood Applied to Government.
Of course I knew thaf anyone of those angry
rebels against order could have crushed me.
But my thought was "What if I am killed?
This is a bigger thing than any mere bodily
safety."
And so I thought and felt when I went to
Blackwells Island. The general who leads an
army has a very good chance of being shot
but he must take that hazard. Matters were
serious at Blackwells and whether or not I
was killed In the melee was a minor considera
tion. Something waa to be done and I set forth
to do It That was all.
But do not believe that because I advocated
maternallsm in government that my methods
were those of gentleness. I stood before the
men and said, and saying meant, "Men, we
must first have order. We will have order
If I have to call out tho militia." That brought
what was most needed, silence and attention. '
The men knew that I meant what i said. Hav
ing secured their attention, I told them that
I was ready to hear their story of grievances.
I told them that each tier ot men should select
a representative to expound the rights and
complain ot the wrongs of his tier. After I
had listened to these spokesmen I gave each
Individual a chance to tell his own story. This
seemed to show them what I aought waa
'Justice for all. This Is an universal appeal.
It reaches all undeveloped, 'criminals, alike.
The men began to quiet down.
Then I explained to them the need ot law
and order. I told them that without obedience
and self-control they could get nowhere, do
nothing. Slowly, one by one, they came to
agree with me. It was not a victory ot tha
emotions. I had reached them through the
channels of reason. It was an instance of mind
meeting mind.
It ia a matter of gratification, far wider than
the purely personal, that I have received hun
dreds of letters from the mothers of the bovi
at Blackwells Island, saying: "We are o glad
that there la a woman looking s"?r me boys
on the Island. We feel that chey are safer
and will come out better men because a woman
is looking after them as a mother might. For
a woman understands."
I would not welcome a new matrlarchate.
But I would see women snoulder to ahoulder
working with men for the city's good. . Many
vented by the savages without a word of assist
ance from a white man.
There Is one other original thing that haa
come out ot Australia; the caricatures of Mr.
Will Dyson. But this also Is something ot a
boomerang: for so young a genius could not
have been so bitter unless the social conditions
In his birthplace were almost aa abominable as
In ours. But Instinctively we all feel that no such ,
sudden novelty will come out of " Physical
Culture in Australia." The girl at drill and
exercise may swing a club; but she will not
sling It like a boomerang. It will not (ales!)
kill the Instructor and then return gracefully
to her own graceful hand.
There Is nothing savage about "Physical
Culture in Australia." Nor would she, if asked
to draw a diagram on the blackboard, draw
anything that could for one moment be mis
taken for one ot Mr. Dyeon'a cartoon a. In
other words, the Colonial society, with all Its
other superiorities, very seldom has the note
of n'n rlty, as compared with its parent aoclety.
Girls' gymnastic classes in Sydney may bo
new, but probably not so new aa they were In
Surblton. We do notx really feel that we
should find anything fresh in such new schools.
And that Is exactly what wo feel we may find
in tho old churches.
I give in this case, as in the other, an in
stance as it occurs. In any first-class carriage
you may meet a man who thinks that Bacon
wrote Shakespeare; and ho will probably tell
you long before you havo pulled tho communication-cord
that Bacon was a secret master ot
the Roslcruclans. In any third-class carriage
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Group of the "Bad
Boyi of Blackwell'i
Island," Whom Dr.
Davis Has Promised
New Drab Suits if
They Will Earn Them
by Good Conduct.
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offices In tho city's housekeeping could bo
efficiently filled by women. We need tho ele
ment of the woman's point of view. I know
no woman whom I know would make a good
mayor, but I doubt not but there aro such
women. I understand there are some good
women mayors of towns In tho West
Nor should the assistance ot women bo de
nied in the national housekeeping. Women's
views and voice should assist In the councils
of the nation. In that larger sphere as in tho
municipal lesser, woman will be effective not
only In the prevention but In the correction
of crime. She will recognise the criminal not
as a monstrosity to be eliminated from the
scheme ot life but a case of arrested or warped
development that must be led into better things.
Her mother Instinct and experience will teach
her the truth that the way to deal with crimi
nals In to divide them into groups and adminis
ter to each group according to its needs. That
is the reason the cottage system in prisons is
succeeding. It Is the principle ot keeping chil
dren of various degrees ot development in
classes by themselves.
They will know that tho criminal must
be treated with firmness ot good motherhood.
Not thst foolish motherhood that bribes chil
dren to cease their naughtiness In hope of re
ward as some unfit mothers persuado a child
to stop scratching the faco ot another by of
fering the culprit candy. But by demand
ing compliance with the law then explaining
Its necessity and Justifying, and, when neces
sary, amending It
The methods of wise motherhood aro what
government most needs. Firmness unshak
able, but with understanding and a disposi
tion to hear the other side. Not ono sldedness,
but both sldedness. A man who witnessed the
rise and fall of the rebellion of the bad boys
of Blackwells Island listened while I talked
with the boys. "Man's methods with tha edges
rounded." he said.
He said. "It was when you told them that
order must be restored and that after that you
would hear their stories and If there were any
wrongs you would try to find means to adjust
them, that the mutiny wavered. It was at
hat point they broke."
By this experiment was maternallsm In gov
ernment justified.
4
you may meet an angry Irishman who main
tains that such secret societies still exist, and
are a poison in politics. He will quote, for
example, the Orange Lodges of Belfast But
both these fanatics, though a trifle tiresome
when taken in large quantities, refer back to
the fact that there really have been secret
societies In Europe ever since tho Eleusinlan
Mysteries, and long before.
Now, anybody walking up the Strand can
turn a corner and walk Into the Temple of tho
Templars. They were the knot that was cut
very cruelly, upon thla precise allegation. Tho
Templars were accused ot seeking to govern
society by wealth and by a secret. If they
had a secret It has never been found. If they
hadn't a secret well, I suppose it will bo
found.
But ot that mere problem of tho power of a
secret society, we are much more likely to get
information from an old church than from a
Colonial gymnastic class. The problem haa
been a highly modern one, from tha days of
the Camorra to the daya of the Black Hand.
Yet there is not ono single old church la
England, or in Italy, or France, or South
Germany that may not contain some touch or
turn of the chisel or tho brush that would re
veal the whole truth about the terrible mystery
ot tho Templars.
That. I think. Is why wo see again the par
able of tho old pagan sage. Colonials and
Americans come to cathedrals: cathedrals do
not run after Colonials and Americana Tho
only solution 1 can suggeat is that tha now
societies havo no mysteries.
Him