It may be gathered from the preceding article that we believe in the exercise of the government’s powers for the encouragement of American industries and the protection of American labor. We are also patriotic enough to think that America is a civilized country, and that a policy of hostility to foreign art is unworthy of her. Art knows no international boundaries and is not a mere matter of dollars and cents. Even if it were, the prohibition or restriction of importations would make us poorer and not richer. Inspection of representative work from abroad is in a hundred ways beneficial to our own educational, artistic, and mechanical advancement. All this has been so fully and frequently pointed out, that we may hope some day to see it recognized in our fiscal system. The McKinley bill did indeed take a step in the right direction by reducing the duty on paintings and statuary from thirty to fifteen per cent ad valorem, leaving the tariff upon photographs, etchings, and all kinds of prints at twenty five per cent. It is difficult to see why the arguments that led Congress to cut off one half the tax upon paintings should not apply with equal force to the abolition of the other half. The Treasury order excluding photographs from the mails is surely oppressive enough to excite forcible protests. It is true that the ruling is in strict accordance with the letter of the law, which had previously been in abeyance. The annoyances—individually trifling, perhaps, but collectively serious—that its enforcement will cause, may result in strengthening the demand for the liberation of art from the customs officials. DEFECTS IN OUR PENAL CODE. Nineteenth century ingenuity has identified and christened the science of penology, but has hitherto failed to make any thorough application of its principles. The practical side of the matter is indeed in a state of partial chaos. Take, for instance, the various contemporary methods of dealing with homicides. England hangs them, France guillotines them, Spain garottes them, New York invokes electrical science to slay them with artificial lightning. The great West takes them without any tiresome legal process and suspends them upon the nearest tree. And meanwhile the best thought of the day seems to be turning toward the opinion that capital punishment in any form is unjust and inexpedient.