lly
completed within six years. In less time than that, however, we shall
have attained a marked degree of security.

The experience and results of the past year demonstrate that with a
continuation of present careful methods the cost of the remaining work
will be much less than the original estimate.

We should always keep in mind that of all forms of military preparation
coast defense alone is essentially pacific in its nature. While it gives
the sense of security due to a consciousness of strength, it is neither
the purpose nor the effect of such permanent fortifications to involve
us in foreign complications, but rather to guarantee us against them.
They are not temptation to war, but security against it. Thus they are
thoroughly in accord with all the traditions of our national diplomacy.

The Attorney-General presents a detailed and interesting statement of
the important work done under his supervision during the last fiscal
year.

The ownership and management by the Government of penitentiaries for
the confinement of those convicted in United States courts of violations
of Federal laws, which for many years has been a subject of Executive
recommendation, have at last to a slight extent been realized by the
utilization of the abandoned military prison at Fort Leavenworth as a
United States penitentiary.

This is certainly a movement in the right direction, but it ought to be
at once supplemented by the rebuilding or extensive enlargement of this
improvised prison and the construction of at least one more, to be
located in the Southern States. The capacity of the Leavenworth
Penitentiary is so limited that the expense of its maintenance,
calculated at a per capita rate upon the number of prisoners it can
accommodate, does not make as economical an exhibit as it would if it
were larger and better adapted to prison purposes; but I am thoroughly
convinced that economy, humanity, and a proper sense of responsibility
and duty toward those whom we punish for violations of Federal law
dictate that the Federal Government should have the entire control and
management of the penitentiaries where convicted violators are confined.

It appears that since the transfer of the Fort Leavenworth Military
Prison to its new uses the work previously done by prisoners confined
there, and for which expensive machinery has been provided, has been
discontinued. This work consisted of the manufacture of articles for
army use, now don