such a rule would be justified in a very large proportion of actual cases.

Answering, now, the question which is the subject of this paper, I submit my opinion that indiscriminate visits to the prison and the prisoners should not be permitted.

Before closing this address, however, I wish to submit remarks which, strictly speaking, do not refer directly to this question. I wish, in the first place, and in further justice to myself, to explain somewhat more fully my position as to the complete separation of the prisoner from the outside world, lest my true meaning be misunderstood. I do not wish to be understood as meaning that the prisoner should be kept in ignorance of what is going on in the world. On the contrary I strongly urge the wisdom of keeping the prisoners thoroughly informed regarding all current events which would be elevating and educational, and useful to them when again they are free. But I also even more strongly urge the gross impropriety, as well as real danger, of allowing prisoners to have access to stories of crime and criminals, and to those scandals in so-called society, the details of which are published with disgusting fulness. Stories of crime frequently beget new ideas in the criminal mind, while such scandals as have recently filled newspapers beget naught but lewd and libidinous thoughts.

A careful and discriminating officer to whom should be assigned the duty of supplying proper information, can find thousands of interesting and elevating subjects in high class newspapers, magazines, books and periodicals, and the labor of selecting these subjects and making them known to the prisoners can bring no greater reward in any other field of prison work.

Lack of time prevents me from further explaining my idea of segregation, or separation from the outside world, but I can assure you that keeping the prisoner in ignorance of all proper knowledge is no part of my idea.

Adjourned at 12 noon.

MONDAY AFTERNOON SESSION.

COMMITTEE ON DISCHARGED PRISONERS.

The Congress was called to order at 2:40 p. m. by the president. Col. Joseph S. Pugmire, Toronto, Ont., chairman of the Committee on Discharged Prisoners, was not present. The Rev. F. A. Foy, of Nutley, N. J., took charge of the meeting in his stead.

Father Foy-We are all sorry that Col. Pugmire is not here. My duties as chairman are considerably simplified by the fact that he has sent a paper, which is to be presented by Col. Richard E. Holz, of the Salvation Army, Philadelphia, Pa. There is therefore no necessity for me to make a formal address. If I were to make one I should not attempt to convince you of the necessity of the work for the discharged prisoner. That is now a foregone conclusion; it figures in the program of these conferences year after year and will until the problems involved are solved. It takes on the form, I assume, of the state extending treatment to the prisoner after he is discharged and of assistance which social forces and individuals must render toward the readaptation of the prisoner to the new conditions of life. These conditions involve difficulties which the ex-prisoner alone is not able to surmount. The state and the community should feel that his success in life should be equal to that of any other man in the community and opportunities must be supplied where he himself cannot effect them. I take it there are some distinctions as to how far the state should go in its care of the discharged prisoner, but where the state stops, the community certainly must take up the problem. The subject of the discharged prisoner has a larger aspect than that of the treatment of the criminal behind prison walls. There he is the concern only of the officials, but when he goes into the larger life he is our brother and we are all his keepers. Therefore every one of us should seriously consider this problem in all its aspects.

I take great pleasure in introducing Col. Holz, who will read

Col. Pugmire's report.

man.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DISCHARGED
PRISONERS.

LIEUT.-COLONEL JOSEPH S. PUGMIRE, TORONTO, CANADA.

To begin with, let me say that I regard the ex-prisoner as a Whatever his past may have been, and however far he may have gone into sin and crime, he is still a man, and well worth an effort to save. He is human flesh and blood like any other man. Sin-stained, hopeless and despairing, and perhaps brutish, yet he is a man, with a soul to be saved, a man for whom Jesus died on that central Cross on Calvary's summit to redeem from sin and all iniquity. An authority has said, "A man is not to be helped because he is a prisoner, but because he is a man and in a needy condition." There are on this continent 100,000 human beings confined within prison walls, a great number of whom during the next year or two will have received their liberty. What is going to be done with them?

The work of reforming a criminal, transforming him from a dangerous to a useful member of society, is a very difficult undertaking. Men usually commit crime to gratify some unlawful passion. A proper reformation destroys the power of these passions, and thereby the inclination to commit crime is gone. To accomplish this, two agencies are necessary-the Divine and the human. We know that God's great father-heart yearns for the salvation of these men. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Then let us cooperate with Him, doing our part to reach out and save them. Doubtless there are some who do not wish to be cured, who will refuse all our offers of help. Still, there is a good percentage who, if real trouble is taken with them, can be led into a better way of living.

The day of the prisoner's discharge is a most critical time. So much depends upon how he starts life again. The attitude of society towards the released prisoner often hinders those who are trying to save him, and makes his lot so hard. They say, "There goes a criminal-give him a wide berth; he is not to be trusted, but is coming out to do what he did before." I do not excuse his wrong, but I plead for such to have a chance. It is not enough to lecture him, and even pity him; we must go beyond that. What impresses me with regard to these men (and I have dealt with thousands) is not that they are resentful and vicious, but that they are as helpless as babes, powerless to help themselves. I contend that we are doing society a great injustice, as well as the prisoner himself, to allow him to step into liberty again without some careful oversight. What the discharged prisoner needs is a real friend, who will give him the opportunity to rise and do better on the causeway of redemption, meeting him at the prison doors, arranging a helpful environment, and providing him with employment of some kind, for

"Satan finds some mischeif still for idle hands to do."

But, however we may view it, crime presents many problems. Still, it is a hopeful sign that people are beginning to think seriously on these problems, and are putting forth strong and earnest efforts for the uplifting of those who have fallen in the battle of life. The man who remains a criminal is a menace to society, a burden upon the state, and a heartache to those who have any pity for him.

When the question is asked, "What is the best thing to do for an ex-prisoner?" I always reply, "Begin earlier. Get in touch with him while he is confined within prison walls, gain his confidence, let him express to you his sorrow for the past. If there is any desire on his part, let him unravel the story of his life. Kindly, but faithfully, show him the results of his own sinthat it may be forgiven and although he cannot undo the black past yet the future is before him."

In Canada every large prison and penal institution is open to the Salvation Army. The Central Prison in Toronto, with Dr. Gilmour as its chief officer, led the way. The others soon followed, and I would like to put on record that we have received nothing but kindness from Canadian prison officials, from the Minister of Justice down. Nearly ten years ago Dr. Gilmour opened the doors of his prison to me for the purpose of doing something for the men under his supervision, and from this institution alone the Salvation Army has handled five thousand men.

We will suppose a prisoner is serving a twelve months' term. During that time he attends probably thirty of our evangelistic services, is spoken to privately a dozen times by our officer, to whom he opens up his heart, tells how he feels, recalls his mother's prayers, sorrows over the past, and with tears of contrition expresses a desire to live a better life. When he is discharged we know our man and can judge what kind of work he is best adapted for, and, as in hundreds of cases, he is happily and suitably placed.

Recently I was asked if I really believed in the possibility of a criminal being reclaimed. I unhesitatingly replied "I do believe." Michael Angelo found a piece of discarded Carrara marble among waste rubbish beside a street in Florence, which some unskilled workman had thrown away. No doubt many sculptors had noticed the fine quality of the marble and regretted that it should have been spoiled, but Michael Angelo saw an angel in the ruin, and with his chisel and mallet he carved out from it one of the finest pieces of statutary in Italy-the young "David."

Let us take another look at these 100,000 human beings. What an army of them, men, women and children, many of whom have thrown away every chance and lost everything--friends gone, in some cases health gone, character gone, prospects gone, everything gone; but beneath it all are hearts than can be touched, souls that can be awakened and just as precious as any others on the outside. Can we not believe that, however weak and erring, the love and power of our Heavenly Father, together with some human sympathy and help, will enable them to

"*

*

*

rise on stepping stones
Of their dead selves to higher things."

Very few societies have sent in any returns for persons directly or indirectly assisted during the year. The following figures are taken from the returns at hand: