presenting this resolution of Congress, accompanied by a letter of the President of the United States, to the International Prison Commission. The invitation was enthusiastically received and accepted; and the eighth International Prison Congress will be held in the United States in the year 1910.

The summer months were occupied in making the trip to Budapest, where the Congress was held, and in visiting some of the penal institutions of Hungary and other countries. A brief account of the session of the International Congress is appended. A detailed report will be prepared by me as commissioner of the United States for presentation to Congress.

THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL PRISON CONGRESS.

The International Prison Congress, which holds its session once in five years, held its seventh meeting at Budapest, September 3-9, under the presidency of Jules Rickel De Bellye, Director of the Hungarian Prison System. Hungary must now be classed among the most progressive of nations with reference to prison reform, and nowhere has the Prison Congress been received with more interest or enthusiasm. The attendance of local and of foreign members was large. Twenty-eight countries were represented. The invitations extended by the different governments to this Congress are always official, and the Congress was received with the usual official dignity and ceremony. It was formally opened by His Imperial Highness, The Royal Archduke Joseph, who set forth in his opening address the value of the idea of prevention and correction in the war against crime. The Minister of Justice likewise gave an address, broad and progressive in spirit, laying great stress upon preventive means, the reformation of social conditions producing crime, the improvement of the

penal code and the importance of paying special attention to young delinquents. Mr. Rickel De Bellye, the active president, in his opening address, showed how comprehensive is the field of work of the Congress and how complex and varied are the problems submitted to it, embracing, as they do, the whole field of preventive, educational and corrective work.

Not all the delegates commissioned by the United States Government appeared; those who were present were Judge Simeon E. Baldwin of New Haven; Professor Charles R. Henderson of Chicago University; Dr. S. A. Knopf of New York; Mrs. E. E. Williamson of New Jersey; Rev. William J. Batt, Chaplain of Massachusetts State Reformatory, Concord; Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows, and the official Commissioner of the United States, S. J. Barrows. Dr. Knopf and Mr. and Mrs. Barrows were also accredited by this Association.

The Congress, as usual, was divided into four sections, the first relating to Criminal Law, under the presidency of Felix Voisin, one of the judges of the Court of Cassation, the Supreme Court of France. The second section, relating to Prison Administration, was under the presidency of Dr. Engelberg, Director of the Prison at Mannheim, Baden. The third section, relating to Preventive Means, was under the presidency of Mr. S. J. Barrows, and the fourth section, relating to children and minors, under the presidency of Dr. Brusa, of Italy, Professor of Law at the University of Turin.

First Section.

The first section, considering the problem of the imposition of fines, made recommendations with a view to improving the application of this form of penalty. The most important suggestions

related to the payment of fines by installments combined with the efforts to avoid the application of imprisonment in such cases. The necessity was pointed out of revising modern legislation in different countries so as to furnish better protection against various forms of modern swindling not recognized or safeguarded in the older codes.

The law section also voted that the receiving of stolen goods should be regarded as a special offense, to be punished in the country in which it has been committed. To facilitate the.prosecution of this offense, international agreements or treaties were suggested. Numerous and valuable reports were furnished on the subject of a reform in the jury system. These reports represent the attitude of different countries and furnish a body of interesting and valuable information and suggestion; but the subject is of such magnitude and so complex that the Congress decided not to make formal, and what might be inadequate, recommendations on a matter closely related to the political constitutions of different countries. It was felt that the best service was rendered in securing the body of information presented to the Congress. The section therefore contented itself with a resolution to the effect that the laws of different countries should admit in as large a degree as possible the participation of citizens in judicial and penal judgments.

Second Section.

In the second section, the question of greatest importance related to the moral classification of prisoners, and the most exhaustive paper on this subject was prepared by Mr. Z. R. Brockway. This paper is one of the best contributions to penological science that Mr. Brockway or any one else has ever made.

The

English version is printed in the sixtieth annual report of the Prison Association of New York.

In this section, as at previous congresses, the reformatory system came in conflict with the separate system, so much in vogue in Europe. In defending the reformatory system, it was pointed out by Mr. Barrows that the separate system does not establish classification. It avoids the problem altogether. Isolation is not classification, which involves the grouping together of prisoners in different relationships. He pointed out also that the moral development of prisoners means some opportunity for moral activity, and that this can only be secured when prisoners have some social and ethical relations with each other; that while isolation might be necessary in jails and for temporary discipline, men who have violated their social obligations can only be trained into their duties as social beings by having social relations. It is this conviction in America which has left in the United States but a single example of the separate system, the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia, and even here the system has been virtually abandoned.

A warm discussion, carried from the second section to the General Assembly, related to the indemnity to be allowed to prisoners in consequence of accidents arising in penal labor. Here it may be noted that Austria not only provides by law for indemnity to free laborers suffering from accident, but also allows it to prisoners. The Congress accepted this idea as wise and just, and recommended its introduction in countries in which indemnity is accorded to free laborers; but all right to the indemnity is to be excluded if accidents are caused voluntarily or through disobedience to prison regulations.

The Congress also voted that it is desirable to have special establishments for the treatment of inveterate drunkards combined with agricultural and other forms of industry. In this respect the experience of England for the last three years constitutes the most recent and valuable contribution to the legal treatment of drunkenness.

Much attention was also given to the subject of the employment of prisoners in the open air, and this view was strongly supported by the Russian delegate, Mr. Strémookow, the head of the prison system of that country, an ardent advocate of out-of-door employment for prisoners.

Third Section.

In the third section, valuable papers by prominent experts were presented on the subject of the influence of alcoholism upon criminality. This subject has already engaged the attention of the Congress for the last ten or fifteen years.

On the subject of tuberculosis in prisons, the report of Dr. Ransom, of Clinton Prison, New York, which has been published as a United States congressional document, was one of the most valuable. Dr. S. A. Knopf, a distinguished specialist of New York city and a delegate from this Association, made an effective address which was warmly received. The Congress proposes, through special committees, to determine the best principles upon which to construct and administer penal institutions with a view to avoiding the scourge of tuberculosis.

Fourth Section.

The fourth section, relating to youthful delinquents, was largely attended and had an importance in the general discussion which