and one in the Canton of Appenzell. But by far the best and most successful, and perhaps the most successful penal colony in the world, is Witzwyl, in the Canton of Bern. It was established in 1895 on 2,000 acres, near the northeast end of the Lake of Neuchatel. All the land in the vicinity was considered useless, water-logged soil, and was subject to repeated inundations. Extensive works of redemption, however, have, after many efforts, redeemed the land, and twothirds of it is now under cultivation. The colony is under the control of the police committee of the Canton of Bern. It receives persons sentenced by the criminal courts for terms of imprisonment up to three years, and also those convicted of habitual vagrancy or refusal to work. It has accommodations for about 200 men, though it rarely has more than 150. It had, in 1906, an average number of 144, varying from 166, February 22, to 126, September 1. The total number who passed through the colony that year was 236. The management consisted of a staff of 45 persons. This small number of colonists can obviously be handled very differently from the 5,000 at Merxplas, and perhaps the key to Witzwyl's success is in the personal contact of the staff with the men. The surveillants, who are unarmed, work with the men. Mr. Edmond Kelly has given a somewhat enthusiastic, but, it is believed, a correct account of Witzwyl. («)

The first thing that strikes the visitor at Witzwyl is the absence of all those features which render Merxplas attractive. The roads are not kept like the carriage drive of a private park, the borders are not machine mown and rolled, nor are the hedges trimmed like those of a suburban villa. The inmates do not work in squads, and the surveillants are not armed, nor is there the atmosphere of military discipline and order which characterizes the Belgian institution. The roads, though inelegant, are good farm roads, the buildings are sound farm buildings; the surveillants are hardly distinguishable from the inmates, and work with them. To this last feature the director attaches great and merited importance. As he says in his report of 1904, by working with the men "it is easier to gain their confidence than by polished discourse in an office kept warm in the winter and fresh in the summer, where the inmate will never be able to rid himself of the impression that his superior has no idea of the difficulties he has to overcome nor of the hardship of the work he is called upon to undergo." Moreover the surveillants, by working with the inmates, not only earn their wages, but serve by their example to give the atmosphere of work indispensable for the success of such an institution.

The nourishment is not only sufficient, but is strengthening. The director states that good nourishment is the best means for curing drunkards and those who have fallen into a condition of physical degeneration.

There are very few escapes; from two to five per annum. There are two surveillants for ten to twelve inmates at Witzwyl. Every inme has a cell of his own, which is locked upon him at night. These ces are lit by electricity, and the inmates are encouraged to decorate them so as to give them as homelike an appearance as possible. The walls of some of them are covered with pictures cut from newspapers, bts of carved wood, family photographs, evergreens, rushes, and all the other inexpensive methods of decoration which an ingenious person can find in such an environment. Conversation is not forbidden during work time, but the presence of a surveillant keeps it free from the evils which penitentiary conversation is likely to involve. There are punishment cells, which are similar to the other cells, except that a plank is substituted for a bed. Months often pass without using these cells, and then again it is sometimes necessary to use them two or three times in a single month. Inmates who do not yield to the good influence of the place are brought by the director before a magItrate and sent to a penitentiary. Those inmates who are deserving get 5 francs [97 cents] a month for their work. These are the financial results of the year 1905:

the proceeds of the workshop amounted to.. Proceeds of agriculture--‒‒‒

Francs. 12. 202.00

[$2,354.991

140, 549. 41 [27, 126.04]

After having paid all their expenses there remained a deficit of 19,957.95 francs [$3,851.88]. But the inmates during the year built the following:

Deducting from this sum the deficit of 19,957.93 francs [$3,851.88]. which was furnished by the State, the balance shows a profit of 1150 francs [$16.813.29] represented by new buildings, machines, ,, and improvements.

the excellent financial result is due to the fact that the director is aled farmer. Witzwyl, before it was purchased by the Canton of was exploited by a company at a loss so great that the comtailed and it was put up at public auction. Mr. Kellerhals, by plication to this domain of sound agricultural methods, has t pay. It can not be too often repeated that the colony is in rather than industrial. It will be seen that the proagriculture for 1905 amounted to 140,549.41 francs [$27,whereas those from the workshops amounted only to 12,202 34.991. The expenses of surveillance disappear in view that the surveillants earn their salary by working with

s not all. This colony not only manages to pay its exsalo, by a very simple method, it reforms all those capable

of reformation. The inmates are offered at the expiration of their term the choice of working for a period at the free colony of Tannenhof, or of working in some of the numerous small colonies which the director is engaged in instituting around Witzwyl. This is perhaps the feature of Witzwyl which is most worthy of our consideration. It represents the natural growth of such an institution as Witzwyl and Tannenhof under the direction of a man who is as much concerned with reforming his inmates as with making the institution pay. Tannenhof includes not only vagrants, but also indigent persons of the Canton who are unfitted by age, illness, or accident from earning their bread in the open market. The tariff of wages given at Tannenhof is therefore low, and able-bodied inmates of Witzwyl are unwilling to work at Tannenhof on account of the low rate of wages prevailing there. This naturally suggested to the director the idea of organizing around Witzwyl small colonies to which able-bodied inmates of Witzwyl could be sent after the expiration of their term, and where they could be at once employed at a fair salary removed from the temptation to drink. There has sprung around Witzwyl, therefore, such colonies as Nusshof, Neuerhof, Eschenhof, and Birkenhof, where the inmates of Witzwyl at the expiration of their term can not only save money, but be gradually prepared for restoration to the open-labor market. * * At these subcolonies the inmates eat with their employers. They are allowed to smoke, they have good nourishment, they are not confined in their cells, and they generally come to such a good understanding with the managers that after departure they often return on a friendly visit. The director has even, in a very small way, begun reconstituting scattered families by furnishing them with a cottage for which they pay 80 francs [$15.44] rent a year, by employing them on the colony and by furnishing to their wives and children lodging for a cow and ground enough to cultivate vegetables. This part of the experiment is comparatively new, but the director states that already some families are in a position which has made it possible for them not only to support themselves, but also to begin to put away money.

This account is correct; nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that Witzwyl is a prison. In some of its appointments it is more prisonlike than the great dormitories at Merxplas. Most of the colonists at Witzwyl eat, sleep, and spend their free time in their cells, which they contrive often to make homelike. Work hours begin at 5.30 a. m. in the summer and at 6 in the winter. Dinner is at 11.30, and each man takes his ration from the kitchen to his cell, where he remains till 12.30 p. m. Only men working at a distance have their dinner taken to them. Much instruction is given in evening classes, and religious exercises are prominent. A chaplain makes weekly visits. The terms of detention may be shortened one-third by good behavior. A small bonus is given for good work, and fare as far as the frontier is paid on dismission:

Agricultural work is the main occupation, the guiding principle being "to improve the land by men and the men by land." The director believes that most men can be taught to work and saved by work, and that agricultural work is best. The first year only is made. mainly punitive. Statistics as to the number of men permanently reformed are not available, but it is probably much higher than at the free colonies. Many believe that the vicious are usually more capable of reform than the morally weak. On discharge from the colony the men are provided for, if it is possible, either as a paid laborer of the colony, by a discharged prisoner's aid society, or by admission into a voluntary farm.

Witzwyl has the somewhat remarkable record of being self-supporting, chiefly through the sale of the dairy product. It receives Government aid, which is mainly used for extensions and improvements, but the reclamation of the land has probably more than doubled its original value, and the property with improvements is worth more than the original sum paid for it, plus the grants which have been given. The following statistics are from the report of the colony for the year 1906:

AGGREGATE DAYS INMATES OF WITZWYL PENAL COLONY, SWITZERLAND, WERE NOT EMPLOYED AND AGGREGATE DAYS EMPLOYED AT EACH KIND OF EMPLOYMENT, BY MONTHS, 1906.

The colonies around Witzwyl are mainly small, but the following quotation from Mr. Kelly regarding them is interesting:

RULES AND REGULATIONS OF NUSSHOF COLONY.

1. The Witzwyl colony has a home at Nusshof for discharged inmates, the object of which is to provide those among the latter who wish to make better use of their liberty with a home, to be considered as an intermediary stage between the forced labor colony and the outer world.

As long as there is room unemployed workmen are free to enter the home and to work there on the same lines as the other colonists.

2. Employment is given and a contract entered into between the foreman and the colonists.

3. Colonists must furnish proof that their late conduct has been satisfactory. Cripples or workmen suffering from infectious diseases are not admitted. 4. Colonists must obey the rules of the establishment.

Drunkenness and unruly behavior are followed by immediate dismissal.

5. Colonists are not allowed to leave Witzwyl without an authorization from the director.

6. Colonists who have shown industry and capacity can attain positions of trust.

7. Colonists receive free board and lodging, and working clothes.

Special agreements are entered into with skilled laborers as regards remuneration.