a year. The various courts and juries of the different
states fix different penalties. Even in the same state there is no sort
of resemblance to the punishments generally given for similar crimes.
Some jurisdictions, some juries and some courts will make these three or
four times as severe as others for the same things. Some days the same
judge will give a longer sentence than on other days. In this judges are
like all of us. We have our days when we feel kindly and sympathetic
toward all mankind. We have our days when we mistrust and dislike the
world in general and many people in particular. Largely the weather
influences those feelings. Therefore, the amount of time a person spends
in prison may depend to a great extent on the condition of the weather
at the time of conviction or when sentence is passed. The physical
condition of judge or jury, and above all, their types of mind, are
all-controlling. No two men have the same imagination: some are harsh
and cruel; others kind and sympathetic; one can weigh wheat and corn and
butter and sugar; one can measure water and molasses and gasoline. When
one measures or weighs, one can speak with exactness regarding the thing
involved. Justice and mercy and punishment cannot be measured or
weighed; in fact there is even no starting point. The impossibility of
it all makes many of the humane and wise doubt their right to pass
judgment upon their fellow man. Society no doubt is bound by
self-protection to resist certain acts and to restrain certain men, but
it is in no way bound to pass moral judgments.

Under any system based on a scientific treatment of crime, men would be
taken care of as long as it was necessary to restrain them. It would be
done in the best possible way for their own welfare. If they ever were
adjudged competent to enter society again, they would be released when
that time came. Neither under a right understanding, and a humane,
scientific and honest administration, would it be necessary that places
of confinement should be places of either degradation or misery. In fact
the inmate might well be put where he could enjoy life more than he did
before he was confined. It might and should be the case also that he
could produce enough to amply take care of himself and provide for those
who would naturally look to him for support, and perhaps make
compensation for the injury he had caused to someone else.

It is obvious that this cannot be done until men have a d