In general, it is
a non-producing class, and, whether in prison or out, is a heavy burden
upon the public. The mere interest of the money now expended in prisons
of approved structure is, for each cell, equal annually to the net
income of a laboring man; and professional thieves, when at large, often
gather by their art, and expend in profligacy, many thousand dollars a
year. And here we see how much wiser it is, in an economical point of
view, to save the child, or reform the man, than to allow the adult
criminal to go at large, or provide for his safe-keeping at the expense
of the state.
Under the influence of the pardoning power, wisely executed, the
commonwealth becomes a family, whose law is the law of kindness. It is
the paternal element of government applied to a class of people who, by
every process of reasoning, would be found least susceptible to its
influence. It is the great power of the state, both in the wisdom
required for its judicious exercise, and in the beneficial results to
which it may lead. Men may desire office for its emoluments in money or
fame; they may seek it in a spirit of rivalry, or for personal pride, or
for the opportunity it brings to reward friends and punish enemies; but
all these are poor and paltry compared with the divine privilege,
exercised always in reference to the public welfare, of elevating the
prisoner to the companionship of men, and cheering him with words of
encouragement on his entrance anew to the duties of life.
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