must have work. Who will employ a convict? Should a man, just from
the prison, come to you and frankly inform you that he was recently
discharged from a felon's cell, that he had been convicted of
horse-stealing, for instance, and wanted employment with you on the
farm, how many of you, my readers, would give him work? You would be
afraid of him. You would decline his services, and who could blame
you? But the convict must live, and it is easily seen, how, that after
applying to several for work and being refused each time on account of
his past trouble, he would, after a time, become discouraged and return
to a life of a criminal. Hunger drives him to deeds of desperation, and
more especially is this the case if he have a wife or helpless children
depending upon him. On his discharge from the prison the State presents
him, with a shoddy suit of clothes (very cheap), buys him a ticket
for the town from which he came, and then lets him shift for himself.
Disgraced, penniless, friendless, helpless, how is it possible for
anyone of them ever to secure another foothold in life.

Something should be done, to help these men to secure work for a time
after their discharge from prison. This would prevent a vast majority of
criminals from returning to the prison after their first term. That my
views on this subject may not be considered visionary, and that I may
not be regarded as standing alone in my suggestions, I will give a
portion of the report of Rev. J. Gierlow, ex-chaplain of the Missouri
penitentiary.

"The increase of crime is necessarily attracting the attention of all
thinking people, and there is abundant evidence that crime-causes are
increasing, for which there seems to be no adequate prevention. It has
been said, that nearly all crime originates in the saloon, but this
statement requires discrimination. Very few professional thieves are
inebriates. That class of criminals are sober men, they could not ply
their trade without a clear head, nor do they go with those who drink,
for they talk too much. No, intemperance to a considerable extent, is
only a secondary cause of crime which must be reached by well-ordered,
sanitary, hygienic and educational measures. Diseased bodies and
unbalanced minds are largely characteristic of criminals; and these are
two factors in producing crime.

"There is a numerous class in whom crime seems to be hereditary, a taint
in the blood. In the same family there are generations of