Commissioner Out

"They may be interested in aviation but they don't care a continental damn about prisons abroad," was last week the particular opinion which one U. S. citizen had about U. S. citizens. The one was alert, freckled B. Ogden Chisolm who was testily quitting the post of U. S. International Prison Commissioner, to which President Coolidge appointed him in 1923.

Many a citizen, not unwilling to lend an ear to the plight of "prisons abroad," nevertheless wondered why the President had ever appointed one of their number especially to deal with such a subject. The answer is: In 1878, there were a dozen international conferences. One, at Berlin, had to do with peace (Disraeli v. Bis marck). Another, no longer mentioned in history books, had to do with prisons and resulted in a commission to which Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, etc. each contributed a commissioner. Mr. Chisolm was the U. S.'s fourth contribution. To succeed him, the President must appoint a fifth before the next prison conference, 1930.

Meanwhile, outgoing Commissioner Chisolm advised the President that prison conditions are so radically different in different countries that "I couldn't reach any com mon ground or make any progress." He also flayed the U. S. for giving him only a "measly" appropriation.