Details
HAYES, Rutherford B. (1822-1881), President. 19 Autograph letters signed to William F. Round of the National Prison Association, various places, 10 December 1883 to 22 September 1890. Together 27 pp., 8vo, with five envelopes, fine condition. [With:] ANS (n.p., n.d.), drafting a resolution, and a Telegram to Round, 12 September 1887.
A FORMER PRESIDENT'S CAMPAIGN FOR PRISON REFORM. After leaving the White House, Hayes dedicated the last decade of his public career to a range of good causes including African-American education (he personally gave a scholarship to future author W.E.B. Dubois), temperance, and the National Prison Association, of which he served as President. From 1883, Hayes carried on a thoughtful correspondence with prison reformer William Round (1845-1906), a member of the N.P.A.'s executive committee. The unpublished letters to Rounds amply and thoroughly document the former President's energetic efforts in the reform movement which sought to radically change the "atrocious" American penal system. A few samples: 28 December 1883: "While I would not make a special point of the atrocious [penal] system in the South, it can not be overlooked." 17 January 1884: "...you are doing especially good work in getting the practical Prison people interested...there has perhaps been some ground for saying that the talking and theorists were on one side and those charged with responsibility and practical duty were on the other. Let all sides be heard." 23 September 1885: When in New York, Hayes will "have a few questions as to No. of Prisons in the Country...number of inmates..the total number of our criminals, in and out of prison..." 26 January 1886: Hayes declares that "a good head, a strong will, and devotion to the Cause, if the cause is a good one, make a majority in all cases." 15 March 1885: Complaining of financial pressures: "I feel rather poverty stricken just now by reason of a loss of $12000 in a recent fire in Cleveland. It takes all my ready cash to repair damages--borrowed cash at that." October 1888: "Work--useful work-- must be done in Prisons or they become nurseries of crime."
30 August 1889, he explains the name of his home, Speigel Grove: "you will ask...why called Spiegel, the german word for Mirror? My uncle perhaps did not carefully consider when he named it...[but] Mirror--hence image--hence ghost, or spirit. Evil spirits are Bogies. Spiegel is a good spirit. 'Spiegel Grove' therefore is the House of good Spirits: referring either to our friends departed who hover around us here...Three good persons who have lived here have gone to a better world...May we not therefore.. hope that good spirits are around us?" 22 September 1890, on a farm school for troubled boys: "Nothing can be more gratifying than such blessings as Saving the young--even if it is only one in a hundred." (19)
A FORMER PRESIDENT'S CAMPAIGN FOR PRISON REFORM. After leaving the White House, Hayes dedicated the last decade of his public career to a range of good causes including African-American education (he personally gave a scholarship to future author W.E.B. Dubois), temperance, and the National Prison Association, of which he served as President. From 1883, Hayes carried on a thoughtful correspondence with prison reformer William Round (1845-1906), a member of the N.P.A.'s executive committee. The unpublished letters to Rounds amply and thoroughly document the former President's energetic efforts in the reform movement which sought to radically change the "atrocious" American penal system. A few samples: 28 December 1883: "While I would not make a special point of the atrocious [penal] system in the South, it can not be overlooked." 17 January 1884: "...you are doing especially good work in getting the practical Prison people interested...there has perhaps been some ground for saying that the talking and theorists were on one side and those charged with responsibility and practical duty were on the other. Let all sides be heard." 23 September 1885: When in New York, Hayes will "have a few questions as to No. of Prisons in the Country...number of inmates..the total number of our criminals, in and out of prison..." 26 January 1886: Hayes declares that "a good head, a strong will, and devotion to the Cause, if the cause is a good one, make a majority in all cases." 15 March 1885: Complaining of financial pressures: "I feel rather poverty stricken just now by reason of a loss of $12000 in a recent fire in Cleveland. It takes all my ready cash to repair damages--borrowed cash at that." October 1888: "Work--useful work-- must be done in Prisons or they become nurseries of crime."
30 August 1889, he explains the name of his home, Speigel Grove: "you will ask...why called Spiegel, the german word for Mirror? My uncle perhaps did not carefully consider when he named it...[but] Mirror--hence image--hence ghost, or spirit. Evil spirits are Bogies. Spiegel is a good spirit. 'Spiegel Grove' therefore is the House of good Spirits: referring either to our friends departed who hover around us here...Three good persons who have lived here have gone to a better world...May we not therefore.. hope that good spirits are around us?" 22 September 1890, on a farm school for troubled boys: "Nothing can be more gratifying than such blessings as Saving the young--even if it is only one in a hundred." (19)