crimes are not actually permanent criminals, and whether they pass their time of imprisonment in the pleasant occupations of Elmira or in ordinary prisons they will not, after release, again commit a crime.

The statistics of the Royal Society for Aid to Discharged Prisoners in this country show many instances of convicts who, after their release, continue honest and reasonable members of the community. There is absolutely no evidence whatever that the absurdly easy system of Elmira is the cause of preventing convicts from relaxing into crime after their release. It is, however, certain that the system, having no deterrent effects either on the criminals convicted or on the general population of the country, must act as an incentive to crime. Crime, indeed, is rendered positively attractive under this system. Some examples of it as it is carried out at Elmira will clearly show this.

Take, for instance, the account of part of the occupation of the day :

'At 1 o'clock work is again begun, and at 4.30 ceases for the day. From 5 o'clock the General Superintendent is accessible to the prisoners for private audiences, and for this purpose a ticket must be placed beforehand by the particular individual in the private letter box. In the evening the time is occupied by instruction in the school and technical department, as well as by lectures, by scientific and entertaining discourses, and occasionally by musical performances, &c. Morning, noon, and evening, whenever the prisoners are assembled for any purpose, they are carefully counted.

The cells are in winter warmed by steam pipes, and in the morning, as well as in the evening up to 9.30, are well lighted with gas, so that in their free time every opportunity is afforded for mental occupation, reading, and studying.

'On Sunday mornings the letters and packets delivered during the week are distributed to the prisoners privileged to receive them; similarly writing paper, when it is required for writing letters either home or in connexion with the securing of a situation on conditional discharge; and the weekly journal of the institution, "The Summary," is distributed.'

In addition to this we may give the diet at Elmira, which may be regarded as better than that of most mechanics :'The bill of fare for the prisoners of the first and second grade for one week is, for instance :-

'Breakfast:-Beef hash, potatoes, bread, coffee, sugar.

'Dinner :-Three times soup and meat; twice mutton stew; once beef and turnips and roast beef and gravy, always including bread. In addition the first grade receives daily, and the second grade four times in the week, coffee and sugar; and, besides, the first grade sometimes receives dessert, preserved or dried fruits.

"The diet of the third grade is exactly like that of the second, with the exception of tea and coffee.

'Besides his ration a prisoner may ask for more, but in the third grade such supplement consists of bread only. Meat and all other provisions are of the best quality.

'The diet may appear to be extravagant. When particularly questioned on this point, Mr. Brockway replied: "We simply keep in view the pursuit of our purpose―i.e. reform. Good food is, for every one, of the first necessity for orderly life, if he wants to make the fullest possible use of the powers of his body; and my long experience has taught me that I obtain far better results with the subjects by supplying a good diet."'

It appears from the figures published by the Society that out of 2,295 prisoners who have been liberated on parole 1,389 served well and are regarded as absolutely reformed, though in point of fact a considerable number of them are merely sent out of the State.' This calculation, as will be seen by the following abstract, is altogether fanciful :—

"That one half can be assumed to be reformed, appears to be completely justified. The whole of the reform system and the schooling in the institution is of such a nature that on no subject can it be without special effect and influence on future life. The fact that correspondence is interrupted, and the subject lost sight of, does not necessarily show that he has relapsed into criminal courses; and, even if the half who are assumed to be reformed do not on the average reach the level of those individuals who are shown to be reformed, yet the specific improvement of the whole number is certainly not set too high by assuming the half.' (P. 157.)

But the wholly untrustworthy character of the calculation is made more apparent when we observe that the 1,389 prisoners who had obtained this absolute release are treated as reformed men. Many of these men would if discharged from any other prison have remained honest. But many would not, and many, it is certain, do not, continue honest. They had simply so far as Elmira is concerned--disappeared, and may now be imprisoned, for all that is known to the contrary, in other prisons of the United States.

A striking commentary on the effect of this system is to be found in the message of Governor Flower, of New York, for 1892. For the fiscal year 1891 there were 208 more prisoners; in fact, whilst there were 3,913 prisoners there was only prison accommodation for 3,737, so that in some cases two prisoners are necessarily confined in one cell. Therefore Mr. Flower suggests that the Legislature of the State of New York should take into consideration the question of more prison accommodation. But the message

shows that the effect of the Elmira system is neither to deter nor to reform criminals, otherwise it is certain that the prison population of the State would not continue to increase. The existence of the Elmira system is, in truth, another instance of the fact that there is no sound general public feeling in the United States in regard to law and order. New York itself gives constant evidence of the lawless character of the community. Crimes of violence are of daily occurrence: there is an obvious necessity for stern, quick, and sure justice: yet the Legislature and the public hand over large numbers of criminals to a group of faddists, who make the lot of the ruffian who shoots his boon companion at the bar of a drinking shop better than that of the honest and orderly citizen. The effect of such treatment on a society which contains many elements of disorder must be obvious: the conviction of past crime does not act as a prevention of crime in the future.

Thus, whether we turn to the West with its inefficient police system, to the South with its rude habits of lynch. law and its leased prisoners, or to the populous East with its system of reformatories, we find everywhere all things tending in favour of the increase of crime and favourable to the growth of lawlessness. For, in a word, the survey which we have now made establishes clearly certain conclusions. It has been shown that there are a police which is not effective and is often corrupt, a procedure which is productive of delays and of impediments to justice, a judicature which the public do not respect, an extraordinary difference in the incidence of punishment in different States as well as a faulty prison system, an absence of judicial statistics, and a tolerance of mob law. Here, as is obvious from the foregoing review, are some of the most characteristic features of the criminal system in the United States.

In an earlier part of this article we gave an extract from a book of travel by the late Mr. Freeman. In it we find the historian suggesting that there may be some relation between crime in the United States and the democratic constitution of the country. It is obvious that there is here a wide and interesting field for dispassionate consideration. As the tendency of the world is towards a more democratic state of government, it is not pleasant to be compelled to admit that the condition of law in the United States clearly proves that progress in the administration of the law is certainly not a necessary characteristic of a highly democratic community. This ought to put an end to the wild

talk (which, perhaps, is not quite so prevalent as it was) about the progress of the world being increased by the spread of democratic government.

On the other hand, seeing that in Canada and the Australian colonies the administration of justice is in a far more satisfactory condition than in the United States-and the former are very democratic societies-it is obvious that the example of the United States must not be too strongly relied on by those who assert that the government of the people by themselves is likely to be productive of an indifferent state of law and order. We must look beyond the mere form of government. The main cause is that same public indifference to the public weal which has allowed the political and municipal life of the United States to become steeped in corruption. For this the prevailing temper of the American people is largely responsible. The whole nation is stamped with the character of its most vigorous minds; these are bent with feverish activity on the acquisition of wealth; this pursuit takes different forms in different parts of the republic, but its influence has permeated the mass of the nation. On the other hand, large numbers who have secured great riches are bent solely on the pursuit of pleasure; the result is that such matters as the just administration of the law are passed over without notice or with a contemptuous indifference. We note in individuals the growth and force of habit; but there can be habits in nations as in individuals, and each year that passes shows that in the United States has grown up a habit of lawlessness. Thus it is clear that nothing except an extraordinary change in public opinion can improve the present state of the criminal system; but of such change, there is neither sign nor probability.

ART. II.-1. Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator. With Maps and Illustrations. By EDWARD WHYMPER. London: 1892.

2. Supplementary Appendix to Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator. By EDWARD WHYMPER. With Contributions by H. W. BATES, F.R.S., and other Naturalists. London: 1891.

3. Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter: An Account of Canoe and Camp Life in Colombia, while collecting Orchids in the Northern Andes. By ALBERT MILLICAN. Illustrated by GUSTAVE GUGGENHEIM, from Photographs by the Author. London, Paris, and Melbourne: 1891. 4. Resa i Central-Amerika, 1881-1883. Förra delen med 75 Illustrationer och 2 Kartor; senare delen med 133 Illustrationer och 4 Kartor. Af CARL BOVALLIUS. Upsala: 1887.

MAR

APS have been employed to show the distribution of land and water, of coal and chalk and sand, of political opinion, of religious belief, and in many other ways, to represent with graphic conciseness the arrangement of the world in special relations and at particular epochs. It would be a worthy task for some ingenious chartographer to construct a literary map of the world, showing where the fountains of poetry have welled forth, where in solitary peaks or mountain ranges philosophy has reared its head to the skies, and, in general, setting forth to view the level tracts, the undulating ground, the wide provinces or secluded islets, which would represent the favoured homes of science and romance, of history and fable. As with the maps of the geologist, such a chart would need to be accompanied by vertical sections. For there are buried literatures as well as fossil animals and plants, and the surface stratum may be very different from that which lies below.

In some provinces of South America the accumulation of books is made difficult by the rapidity with which the socalled white ants, the termites, devour paper and parchment; but in others, which do not suffer from this inconvenience, archives are preserved, libraries are formed, the taste for knowledge is aroused and gratified. The literary life of these countries, however, makes little impression upon England. It is not studied in our universities; its recorda would be usually asked for in vain at our great lending

VOL. CLXXVI. NO. CCCLXI.

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