Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-11-07
PRISON CONGhESS REPORT
OFFICE OF THE
oTTlSG OE lhE
NATIONAL PRIsoN ASSOCIATION,

NATIONAL fRlSOS ASSOCIATIONS,
$50 Broadway, N. Y, Oct. 30, 1874.
To the Editor of the Kennebec Journal:
SIR The National Prison Association
held its third Annual Congress in ST. Louis,
May 1916 of the current year. The tram
sactions Of the Congress, an octave volnme OF
nearly 700 pages, in full cloth binding, will
be issued from the press in a few days. Ii
contains Il. Opening Addresses by the Pres,
ident and others III. Annual Reports Of the
Six Standing Committees, with discussions
thereupon. III. Annual Report of the Sec
rotary of the Association. ~. Papers sub
mitted to the Congress. " Present State OF
Prison Reform throughout the civilized world.
vi. Miscellaneous Matters, containing
among other things, full account of the pro-
ceedings of the International Penitentiary
Commission at Brussels, in June last VII.
Closing session of the Congress. with Resolu-
tons submitted by Business Committee and
the discussion elected by them-also the Val
edictory Of the President, Hon. Richard Vaux.
VIII. Appendix. containing "Analytcal Out
line of Penal and Penisentiary Reform, by
NJ. Bonneville de Marsangy, Member Of the
Pententiary Commission of the National As
sembly of France"
The Reports Of the Standing Committees
on Criminal Law Reform, Police, Prison Dis
cipline, Discharged Convicts, and Preventive
and Reformatory Work, are papers of rare
excellence and thoroughness, prepared as they
were by such men as eX-President Woolsey
ex- Governor IIaines, Mr.. Sanborn, Mr.. Brace,
DR.. Pierce and Judge Walker. The discus.
sons elected by these reports. were largely
participated in by the practical men of the
Congress, and thence bear a stamp which
gives them a professional value, as embody-
ing both information and opinions which are
the result of experience.
The Report of the Secretary on the State
Prisons, Houses of Correction, and Juvenile
Reformatories of the United States, fills near
ly 200 pages Of The volume, giving a resume
of all their latest Reports, and probably the
most complete body of penitentiary and re-
formatory statistics ever published in Ameri-
ca.
Some idea of the exceptional merit of the
papers offered to the Congress, and printed
in the Transactions, is afforded by the fact,
that among the authors are Miss Mary Car
penter, of England; Sheriff Watson, of Scot.
land; M. de Marsangy, of France; and
| Messrs. Vaux and Brockway, of America.
The fourteen papers detailing the present
stare Of the peI iss2.asy Sasstiee, t,,s1o ghoot
the greater part of the civilized world, are,
with but one or two exceptions, the work OF
distinguished specialists resident In the coun-
tries to which they relate. They show the
world to be, at this moment, a busy intellec-
tual workshop on this vital question of prison
reform. In some respects, they have an in.
| terest wanting to the more elaborate Reports
sent by governments to the London Congress
being of more familiar, off-hand character,
and having less of the stateliness and Stiffness
of official documents.
The paper of M. de Marsangy. printed as
an appendix, is q treatise in itself-compre-
hensive, profound, mastery. Ii alone is
worth the price of the volume.
The work is placed at the low figure of two
dollars per copy. or two and a half dollars
when sent by mail to any part of the United
States, with postage prepaid-which is at least
fifty per cent. less than a work of the same
size and style would be afforded by regular
book publisher. Orders, which will receive
prompt attention, may be addressed to the un-
designed, No. 800 Broadway, New York.
E. c. WINES,
Secretary.
P. S.-The estimate placed on this series
of Transactions by competent judges may be
seen from the following statements:
Mr.. Stevens, the eminent Inspector Gener
al of Prisons in Belgium, was so impressed
with the value of the Transactions of the Gin
cinnati Congress (the first of the series, that
he requested his government to cause the en-
tire volume to be translated into French, and
issued as public document. The govern
men,, declining the proposition in that form
because of the heavy expense it would involve
nevertheless had considerable portions of the
work translated and published, agreeably to
the suggestions of the Inspector General
Of the second volume, containing the Tran
sactions of the Baltimore Congress, and also
a Report by the Secretary on the Congress of
London, Mr.. Polls, an eminent jurist of Hol-
land, who represented the Netherlands Gov
eminent at London, says: "The volume
will remain a standard work on prison reform,
and ought to be carefully studied by all legs-
lators." Ofthe same number, the Melbourne
Argus, published at Melbourne, Australia,
the ablest and most influential journal in
az ease Efitisl pass esessns ii, the East de-
clares: "This volume is the most compre-
hensive encyclopedia of the penitentiary ques-
ton ever compiled, ard quite supersedes all
other works of the same kind. 1t is full to
overlooking with information, and forms a
perfect storehouse of facts. 1t is model Of
condensed and careful writing. The book is
simply invaluable in its department, and
takes the place of whole Libraries of theoreti-
cal discussion on the subject of crime and its
treatment"
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