tion.

The management of the affairs of the penitentiary, during the past
year, has been good; discipline has been maintained; under kind and
judicious treatment the prisoners have been industrious and
orderly, and the pecuniary results are satisfactory. The number of
prisoners, on the 31st of October, 1869, was 974, and the number of
convicts admitted during the year ending on that day was 347. This
is a decrease compared with the preceding year, of 27 in the
number of convicts admitted, and of 67 in the number confined in
the penitentiary.

The earnings during the year ending October 31,
were $175,663.06
The expenses were 143,635.83
----------
Excess of earnings over expenditures $32,027.23

Last year the earnings were $171,037.45
The expenses were 141,794.95
----------
And the excess of earnings over expenses
were $29,242.50

A large proportion of the convicts, when admitted, are quite young.
The age of about one-third does not exceed twenty-one years. More
than two-thirds of the inmates of the prison are now under thirty
years of age. It will occur to any one who considers these facts
that, under our system of prison discipline, too little effort has
heretofore been made to reform these young men. A high authority
has said, "No human being is so debased and wicked that he can not
be reclaimed." It is believed that, under a wise system, the young,
at least, can be reformed and prepared for useful and worthy
citizenship. The present system has two capital defects--the
mingling in intimate association of the young with the hardened
criminals, and the failure to educate the convicts in habits of
thrift and self-control. The defects are in the system. The
convict, when he leaves the penitentiary, is exposed to greater
temptations than ever before, and the result of his prison life is
that he has less power to resist evil influences, and, too often,
less disposition to resist them. I do not enlarge upon the