a right to know as a warden. No man has a right to make such a statement. It is a cowardly thing.

Mr. Sulzberger-Do not accuse me of cowardice. What I said is that the prisoners are fastened up, handcuffed, against the wall, with their faces to the wall, let down for their meals, put up again, put down to sleep and then put up again in the morning. I have the statement of twenty odd young men who have come from a reformatory. I have interviewed each one in a separate cell, and each one without knowing what the other one said corroborated that statement.

Timothy Nicholson, Indiana---I call for the question.

Chairman Patton-Pardon me a moment. I think I can enlighten the Association. I have no doubt the gentleman refers to the Pennsylvania Industrial School at Huntingdon, of which I am the superintendent. I am not ashamed to say to you gentlemen that we do just what this gentleman says. If it is necessary to put a man in solitary, we put a pair of cuffs on him and let him stand that way. We take him down and give him his meals, and if necessary to put him up the second day we do it. If you would thoroughly acquaint yourself with prison work you would find that that is not an exception. More than that, the law of the State of Pennsylvania requires every prison to submit a report to the State Board of Charities every three months showing every punishment that is inflicted, and if you will consult the printed report of the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory you will see that every three months we report the number of every one of such men that we put up in that way. I am aware of where you got your information. It was from inmates that we transferred to the penitentiary. You do not need to go there to get it. Look at the printed reports and you will see that we spread broadcast before the people of our commonwealth every punishment we inflict. We are not ashamed of it. We do not take it back.

By unanimous consent the motion was laid upon the table. Major McClaughry--At the meeting yesterday in which Bishop Fallows, Mr. Sloan and myself were appointed a committee to consider a proposition which had been stated in rather general terms, concerning the wages of prisoners, this committee was asked to report at this session of the Congress. I beg to present that report:

To the American Prison Association, in session at Richmond, Va.:

We the undersigned, having been appointed a committee to consider a proposition to permit prisoners, while confined in penal institutions, to receive credits for good behavior and labor in the shape of a small allowance each per day, which amount may either be used under proper supervision, to relieve the necessities of those dependent upon them, to accumulate a fund for their own assistance when discharged, or in certain cases to make restitution to those who have been injured financially by their crimes, beg to report that a hasty consideration of the subject opens up questions that are too important to be properly considered in the time we have at command. We, therefore, beg to refer the whole matter back to the association with the recommendation that a committee of five be appointed to give it full consideration and make full report at the next annual meeting of the association.

The report was unanimously adopted. Messrs. Cheney, of Connecticut, Patton, of Pennsylvania, McClaughry, of Kansas, Sloan, of Ohio, and Fallows, of Illinois, were later appointed a committee to act in accordance with the above report.

Chairman Patton-I take pleasure in introducing Mrs. Frances A. Morton, superintendent of the Reformatory Prison for Women, Sherborn, Mass., who has kindly consented to take Dr. Davis' place on our program and speak to us on "Outdoor employment of women prisoners."

OUTDOOR EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN PRISONERS.

MRS. FRANCES A. MORTON, SHERBORN, MASS.

I regret very much that Dr. Davis has been forced by ill health to take a long rest from all labor. We hope that in due time she may be returned to her work fully rested and with renewed strength. The subject "Outdoor employment of women prisoners" was hers to present to us. I doubt if we can do better than to recall the fine paper she gave us when we were in Lincoln, Neb., in 1905.

At a late hour I was asked to give a short talk pertinent to the question. I can do little more than repeat what I have long advocated, that pure, fresh air and sunshine, combined with regular hours for work and rest, either indoors or out, together with good plain food, will do much to incite new hopes and feelings and will oftentimes create the desire to forsake old ways and to begin an industrious, honest life. I would prove to you this is true in many cases, could I but read extracts from letters received from many who I know have been living correct lives, some for a number of years, happy in their own homes and with their own families. Not all do this, but we are heartily thankful for the few even, and take heart and go on, hoping for many more. Society will be the better for even the few reclaimed.

All

In Sherborn a great variety of work is given women to do out in the open, such as will come to women in every well regulated country home. Men may build the houses, but it is the woman who should build the home and place upon its altar the divine seal of righteous living. She should be able to look after the affairs of the home on the outside as well as indoors. outdoor employment such as women can and may be expected to do is undeniably conducive to health and will do far more than medicine for our women prisoners, restoring to normal condition tired and exhausted nerves and healing the many ailments which they contract from the debauched lives they lead while having, as they term it, a jolly time. Short, as they all admit, nevertheless jolly while it lasts.

Our women are always sent out in the early spring to drop the seed after the ground has been properly prepared. Later follows the weeding. Still later, when berries, fruits and vegetables begin to ripen, they gather for table or winter's use. All this kind of work is engaged in with never a murmur, and really is considered more of a recreation than a drudgery. Our physician keeps her patients out of doors every day, summer and winter, and cases are exceedingly rare that do not improve in strength and take on flesh. Then, too, the hospital garden affords employment all summer to those who are able to work, and the good results to soul and body therefrom are manifest in no small degree. Almost invariably to women who are actively engaged from early day till, wearied, they seek repose at night, will come many new and helpful thoughts, thus crowding out evil inclinations. Work for women prisoners, either in doors or out in the open, will always be found to be as necessary for rest of mind as for health of body. Exercise of muscles tends to keep the body in health, and from all this will emanate new and better thoughts and we trust an earnest desire for a new life.

In the absence of Mrs. Emma O'Sullivan, superintendent Mercer Reformatory, Toronto, Canada, her paper, entitled "Women offenders in Canada," was read by title.

WOMEN OFFENDERS IN CANADA.

MRS. EMMA O'SULLIVAN, TORONTO, CANADA.

The study of criminal statistics will show that in Canada few women are guilty of what are termed the more serious offenses. In our penitentiaries there are but twenty-six females. It may be well to mention here for the benefit of those not conversant with Canadian prisons that penitentiaries are controlled and maintained by the government of the Dominion of Canadathe federal government. They are situated in the different Provinces of the Dominion. We have in the Province of Ontario a penitentiary at Kingston; in the Province of Quebec the Saint Vincent de Paul; in the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) the penitentiary at Dorchester, N. B.; in Manitoba that at Stony Mountain; in British Columbia one at New Westminster; in the new Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan one at Edmonton, Alberta, while in the Yukon territory the guard rooms of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police at Dawson and White Horse are used as penitentiaries. The officers commanding at these points are wardens, while the noncommissioned officers and constables of the force perform the duties of guards and keepers.

As to those who may be confined in a penitentiary I quote from the Criminal Code, Section 955: "Everyone who is sentenced to imprisonment for life or for a term of years, not less than two, shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary in the Province in which the conviction takes place."

The female population in these penitentiaries is distributed as follows: Kingston, fourteen out of a total population of four hundred and fifty-eight; Dorchester, N. B., twelve out of a total population of one hundred and ninety-four. At the date of the last report no women were confined in any of the other penitentiaries. No special industry is carried on in any of these places outside of laundry work, and of this, as might be expected from the small numbers, not a great deal is accomplished. Sewing, knitting, mending and cleaning constitute the labor of the

women.

The gaols in Canada are much the same as those in the United States. These gaols receive all prisoners first, and from there they are transferred according to sentence to the central prison, the reformatories or the penitentiaries. Sentences under six months are usually served out in the gaol. In Ontario, in the year 1907, 11,804 prisoners passed through the different gaols, and of these 1,228 were females; 5,964 completed their sentences in the gaol. Of the 1,228 women, 109 only were received at the Mercer Reformatory, and yet it is doubtful if the more than a thousand who remained in gaol to serve their sentence of ten or thirty or sixty days received any benefit from their short incarceration. We know those competent to judge say that "short sentences are amongst the causes of recidivism," and again an authority states "the short sentence has very little deterrent effect, does not amend, often degenerates, discourages and plunges into misery." As a matter of fact after several of these short terms are served for the same offense the offender, looked upon as a hopeless case, is sent as a last resort to the reformatory for six months to be cured of her disorders.

In Ontario the institution of which I am superintendent receives the female offenders whose sentences are over six months. There is nothing in any of the other Provinces quite corresponding to the Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory, although in