There is room aplenty in America for farm colonies of ex-convicts. Considering the results obtained in England, the scheme would seem worthy of experiment on a scale sufficient to prove its merit or demerit.
THE OMAHA MEETING OF THE AMERICAN PRISON ASSOCIATION.
If the delegates to the American Prison Association are to form a judgment of the people of Omaha from the cordial reception they have met in this large western city, the conclusion may easily be reached that these people are most generous, hospitable and appreciative.
The first meeting of the Association was held in the Auditorium connected with the Hotel Rome. The number of delegates which had registered on the first day of the meeting was about 300. The Auditorium will seat several hundred and was almost filled by the delegates and citizens of Omaha, who appeared to be deeply interested in the proceedings.
Before us on a platform banked up with roses and carnations and draped above with the American Flag, sat the President, T. B. Patton, of Pennsylvania, and other officers of the Association; Governor Aldrich of the State of Nebraska, Mayor Dahlman of Omaha, and other eminent citizens.
Judge Lee Estelle, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, presided over this meeting. I understand that he came from a hospital, really a very sick man, to discharge a duty which he had previously agreed to perform. After a few brief words in which he referred to the badge adopted for the members on this occasion, which consists of a small gilt key with the usual ribbon attachment, he assured us that this key indicated an entrance into all the homes of Omaha and informed us that all the doors were not only open but really off their hinges for us. He introduced Governor Aldrich who then made the main welcoming speech.
He dwelt upon the material advantages of the State of Nebraska, presenting many statistics to indicate the vastness of the resources of this large state. Many of his contrasts were quite humorous. In figures he mentioned the value of the manufactured products of the State for 1910 and compared the amount with the value of the oil produced in the same year in the entire United States, showing a difference in favor of the State of Nebraska on these two accounts of more than $37,000,000. He also showed that the value of beef produced in the State exceeded by $2,000,000 the value of tobacco products in the United States for 1910. He told us that four thousand students were in attendance at their University, ninety per cent. of whom came from the State of Nebraska.