infers, seizes the right and holds it to the last," can read the labyrinth into which his daily duties may invite him.

He is not burdened with the routine of the teacher, yet his daily ministrations prove first aid to the school; he is not the librarian, yet the circulation of the library is doubled through his energy and tact; he has nothing to do with the discipline, yet the very agencies which he helps to create and sustain, help to civilize the prison; the prison physician gives the medicine, yet the chaplain, without interference or trespass, is the first friend of the sick, and in the extermity, away from father, mother and friends, represents the Great Physician, whose touch is magic, and whose remedies are infallible; he does not undertake to direct the work in the shops, yet by his kind deeds and gentle but courageous words to the downcast and disheartened prisoner, he puts a new song in his mouth, and thus, what was yesterday a burden, today becomes more nearly a pleasure; he makes no arrests, yet he preaches the gospel of peace; he makes no rules nor regulations, yet he inculcates the wholesome doctrine of implicit obedience to the powers that be.

His work is circumscribed by no department nor formula; he is the moral and spiritual lubricant for the whole institution; his work is spiritual; the influence which he dispenses is from on high; the telephone wire from this heavenly station must ever be intact; the message must be fresh from the throne. Like his Master, he goes about doing good, and in the going is careful to conform to the rules and regulations of the prison; his enthusiasm or his cause is not permitted to cloud his judgment; he is as careful as he is sincere, as modest as he is brave, as cautious as diligent-zeal always according to knowledge; ready always to give advice, but never in double doses; he is more earnest about the kind than the quantity; if at all in doubt, he is not afraid to even tell a prisoner to "shake well before using;" he remembers always that

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do,

Chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages, princes' palaces.
It is a good divine that follows his own instructions:

I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done,

Than to be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT SESSION.

Auditorium Oakland Hotel, 8:00 o'Clock.

President Byers called the meeting to order at 8:00 o'clock.

Amos W. Butler, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, presented the following resolutions, reported favorably by the committee:

WHEREAS, The problem of the mentally defective is a most serious one and complicates all social problems, including that of the treatment of offenders; therefore be it

Resolved, The accumulation of accurate information and the diffusion of knowledge concerning such defectives is of great importance, and that we express our approval of the efforts of properly constituted and competent organizations formed for such purposes.

Resolution approved and adopted.

Resolved, That the American Prison Association reaffirms its belief in the importance of the establishment of a central bureau of identification, to be organized and maintained by the National Government in Washington, for the benefit of all the States, and for the purpose of bringing this matter to the attention of the proper authorities, the Committee on Organization is instructed to name a committee of five (5) members which shall report at the next annual meeting of this association the results of its efforts.

After a motion to approve the resolution, Mr. Burdette G. Lewis, Deputy Commissioner of Corrections of New York City, moved to amend the resolution by inserting after the provision for the appointment of a committee of five members the following words: "which shall have ample power to take such action as may become necessary between this time and the meeting next year." The amendment was accepted and the resolution adopted.

Resolved, That in conformity with the actions of this association advocating the indeterminate sentence law, we desire to reiterate our belief in that principle and to emphasize the importance of the enactment of laws in all of our States and the District of Columbia, that will apply this principle to misdemeanants and short-term prisoners, as well as felons.

Resolution approved and adopted.

Charles E. Vasaly, St. Paul, Minnesota : I wish to offer the following resolution :

Resolved, That the incoming president of the American Prison Association appoint a special committee of five members to be known as the "Committee on Plan of Organization", and that said committee be instructed to report at the next annual meeting a plan of organization which will allow a real expression of the will of the members, with special regard to the selection of the officers and committees; said plan to include a method of co-ordinating the work of auxiliary societies with the main organization to produce the best results; the purpose of this resolution being to secure in this organization that democracy characteristic of the countries included in its membership.

Referred to Committee on Resolutions, with instructions to report tomorrow morning.

President Byers: The first paper on our program this evening is the report of the Committee on Statistics, of which Frederick L. Hoffman is chairman. This report has been prepared by Mr. Hoffman, a man who stands, I believe, in his profession, without a peer in this country. Unfortunately, Mr. Hoffman is not able to be with us but has sent his assistant, Mr. Fisher, to read the report. I now take pleasure in presenting Mr. Fisher.

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON STATISTICS OF CRIMES AND

CRIMINALS.

FREDERICK L. HOFFMAN, STATISTICIAN PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, NEWARK, N. J., CHAIRMAN.

INTRODUCTION.

There has been no opportunity for the committee to meet and discuss the plan and scope of an original study and thorough reconsideration of the entire question of adequate, trustworthy and uniform statistics of crime and criminals for the United States or any considerable contiguous and representative section thereof. The burden of the work has, therefore, fallen upon the Chairman, who, without much special qualification for this duty, has thought it necessary to bring together such data and observations as seenied suitable for the present purpose. The distinction between statistics of crime and statistics of criminals is fairly well maintained throughout what follows, but this has not always been adhered to nor considered advisable. The urgency of a qualified inquiry into this subject can not be questioned by anyone even superficially familiar with it, in view of the enormous economic burden of crime and the deplorable moral aspect of the criminal tendencies of the age.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

What is meant by crime and criminals depends largely upon the point of view. In the legal sense of the term a crime is "an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding it." Another definition according to the same authority (Bouvier's Law Dictionary), is that a crime is "a wrong which the government notices as injurious to the public and punishes in what is called a criminal proceeding in its own name. Statistics of crime in this sense are statistics of judicial procedure, in conformity to the statutory provisions of the criminal code. Since the laws vary in the several States and Territories, it is self-evident that no absolutely uniform statistics can be had. The provisions of law regarding crime and its punishment are, however, in the main sufficiently uniform throughout at least the continental United States, to preclude the possibility of very serious

errors in at least a tentative effort to determine with approximate degree the criminal tendencies of one period of time compared with another. In the strict sense of the term, a crime is a crime whether committed under a Federal, or a State, or a municipal statute. Crimes against the person are, in the main, punished with a fair degree of similarity, but there are wide variations in the punishment of crimes against property or in the statutory provisions regarding them. As has been observed in this connection with regard to some offenses, "such as murder, rape, arson, burglary, and larceny, there is but one sentiment in all civilized countries, which is that of unqualified condemnation. With regard to others, such as adultery, polygamy, and drunkenness, in some communities they are regarded as mala in se; while in others they are not even mala prohibita." Even as regards the first group of crimes there are important differences in legal procedure, for it is quite evident, upon even superficial consideration, that the crime of arson is much more general and drastically punished on the continent of Europe than in the United States; and the crime of rape is differently considered whether it is perpetrated against a person of the same race or against a person of another. Even the so-called "unwritten law" affects the punishment of crime in certain sections, for a number of cases occur annually where a verdict of not guilty is rendered in one section of the country which would unquestionably amount to a conviction in another.

Statistics of crime are not necessarily the equivalent of statistics of punishments. For illustration, the death penalty in the United States is in force in some States and not in others. The penalty lies against quite a number of crimes in some States, and against only a few in others. Train-wrecking, for illustration, is punishable by death in California, just as rape is in Kentucky and Virginia, and arson in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, and Maryland. In some States there are three degrees of murder, and in others only two. Crimes may be classified, therefore, according to their nature or according to the degree of punishment. A classification of crimes in conformity to American legal conceptions is given in Bouvier's Law Dictionary (p. 478, pt. 1), and appended in full to this report.