as natural to him.

Another view of the subject is this: I have read that out of fifty
criminals who had been executed it was found, I believe, in nearly
all the cases, that the shape of the skull was abnormal. Whether
this is true or not, I don't know; but that some men have a tendency
toward what we call crime, I believe. Where this has been ascertained,
then, it seems to me, such men should be placed where they cannot
multiply their kind. Women who have a criminal tendency should be
placed where they cannot increase their kind. For hardened criminals
--that is to say, for the people who make crime a business--it
would probably be better to separate the sexes; to send the men to
one island, the women to another. Let them be kept apart, to the
end that people with criminal tendencies may fade from the earth.
This is not prompted by revenge. This would not be done for the
purpose of punishing these people, but for the protection of society
--for the peace and happiness of the future.

My own belief is that the system in vogue now in regard to the
treatment of criminals in many States produces more crime than it
prevents. Take, for instance, the Southern States. There is hardly
a chapter in the history of the world the reading of which could
produce greater indignation than the history of the convict system
in many of the Southern States. These convicts are hired out for
the purpose of building railways, or plowing fields, or digging
coal, and in some instances the death-rate has been over twelve
per cent. a month. The evidence shows that no respect was paid to
the sexes--men and women were chained together indiscriminately.
The evidence also shows that for the slightest offences they were
shot down like beasts. They were pursued by hounds, and their
flesh was torn from their bones.

So in some of the Northern prisons they have what they call the
weighing machine--an infamous thing, and he who uses it commits as
great a crime as the convict he punishes could have committed.
All these things are degrading, debasing, and demoralizing. There
is no need of any such punishment in any penitentiary. Let the
punishment be of such kind that the convict is responsible himself.
For instance, if the convict refuses to obey a reasonable rule he
can be put into a cell. He can be fed when he obeys the rule.

If he goes hungry it is his own fault. It depends upon himself to
say when he shall eat. Or he may be place