cellent substitute may
be found in the Penal Colony. Here the chief object should be, not to
educate, elevate, or redeem the criminal, but to render him as useful as
possible, so that he does not prove too great a burden on the community.

Penal colonies should be situated on islands or in remote territories,
that is, completely isolated from populous districts. The agricultural
colony at Meseplas founded by the Belgian Government is a model worthy
of imitation.

In this colony the convict population is divided into four categories:

1. Turbulent and dangerous individuals, who exercise an injurious
influence over the other inmates of reformatories and prisons;

2. Recidivists, ticket-of-leave men, escaped and mutinous convicts;

3. Persons of bad reputation, who have hitherto avoided conviction;

4. The better types, who have been convicted three or four times only
and although not depraved, lack moral stamina and are constantly
yielding to temptation when at large.

All the common necessities of life are supplied by the colonists
themselves, beginning with the dwellings which are erected as they are
required and according to the resources available. In this way,
extensive building operations are carried out at a very slight cost to
the State. Cattle and crops are raised on the land, which is cultivated
by a number of the convicts, while others manufacture articles which
find a ready market in the vicinity and for which they possess suitable
tools.

Any convict refusing to work is imprisoned on bread and water. All work
is paid for in special coin current only in the colony itself, but
which, on the release of the owner, is exchanged for the coin of the
country.

The "Open Door," an institution on similar lines, was founded by
Professor Cabred for the insane of the Province of Buenos Ayres, and
judging from what I was able to observe during my short visit, it
fulfils its purpose admirably. It consists of a large village populated
by some ten or twelve thousand lunatics. With the exception of the price
of the land and the cost of erecting the first buildings, this colony
does not cost the community anything; on the contrary, the colonists are
able to make large profits.

The ultimate plan of the village with streets and edifices has already
been mapped out, and the patients are continually occupied in erecting
new buildings, etc. There is a brick-kiln, a carpenter shop, and a
smithy, which produce all the mat