The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-18
II. H. Windsor. in the December Popuia' Mechanics Magazine.

II. H. Windsor, in the December Popula'
 Mechanics Magazine.
 \ MASSACHUSETTS is justly proue MI of it's state roads, which are 3 WI revelation to visitors from other states; other New England states nave some. and New York is coming in'o hne trbese roads have cost millions of dollars Tha,, wa travel westward across 150o miles of thickly settled country with very ie" all-the-year-go roads until we reac' Colorado, where the good roads problem is heinz demonstrated in way which must sooner or later command the atten- ton of all the other states. There iv' miles of highway. ranking with the pest in the world, have already been con strlcted entirely with state convict laoor' And these good roads have cost IA cents which otherwise would have cost Si' III other words, the money which ordnarhy would have built one mile has. under the Colorado system, built seven miles.
 was my privilege last month to listen to Thomas B. Tynan, warden Of the COT orado penitentiary. who occasionally rnas time to leave home and tell the intense lv interesting story of how he has solved the question, not only of what to do With convicts, but how to reform them at the same time He tells part of the story In moving pictures, showing hO men in eiti- zen's clothes blsily at work drilling blasting, blowing, hauling and surfacing' in many cases.s out in the mountains m sparsely settled districts, with every 1a- eility imaginable for escape. But one looks in vain for the customary guards with long range rife at command. NO guards, no shackles, no distinctive garp' absolutely nothing to distinguish the con victs from their foreman, except that the foreman rides a horse. These men work in large bodies, often several hundred; only one barrier stands between them and escape: and it is impossible for the nov ing picture to show that barrier for It IS a mans honor In fact, the honor sys- tenn was partly result of the discovery that, to efficiently guard the prisoners, the expense was equal to the saving ef- fected by their work, and hence or no financial advantage. And so the honor system was proposed amid plenty of pre- dictions of failure and very few of sue cess.
 Now, as Warden Tynan remarks, the Colorado convict is no saint, and about 20 per cent of them are dangerous and should be confined. Of the 75 per cent some really should not be where they are, and all can be trained to better cttt- zenship for return to freedom, by treating them as men. In accordance with this theory, which has been confirmed in practice, the men who are allowed to go out on the work are treated. housed and directed in their work ike any we'll ar ranged railroad camp outfit. They con struct their own temporary living quar- ters, but there are no bolts on the doors nor bars on the windows. True, they all retire to bed and arise at one time, but so do soldiers. The men are worked in rural districts; they do not go to town, and unless man breaks rule, he need never return to the prison. He can serve his full term in the open air, and when his time expires he has become proficient in something surveying, blacksmithing, farming or other occupations for which there is demand. Not only that. but by earnest, faithful work of eight hours daily and observance of the rules he can reduce a five year term one-half
 During the pAst two years only one man in 200 has run away; he is invaria- ply recaptured and must then serve 10 years within the prison walls. Colorado