_Legislation in Maryland._--Prison reform legislation, as a result of the year’s investigation of Maryland State prison and the subsequent discussion of prison conditions in that State, eventuated through a report on February 19th by the Penal Commission to the Governor of Maryland. The report advocated a considerable amount of progressive penal legislation, mainly as follows: One bill provides for an unpaid advisory board of parole, in order that all the essential features of the indeterminate sentence principle may be worked out. Further bills provide for the suspension of sentences, for indeterminate sentences, and for the release of prisoners on parole. A state board of control is established for the management of the State Penitentiary and the Maryland House of Correction, and provision is made for the establishment of a State prison for women. The operation of a penal farm is recommended in connection with the State Penitentiary or the House of Correction. A hospital for tuberculosis prisoners is recommended. _The Lash in Delaware._--The “Umpire,” which is the prison paper of the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, reprinted from the _Delinquent_ the article by Governor Miller, of Delaware, defending the whipping post, and published the following editorial as a rejoinder: “Governor Miller’s argument in defense of the whipping-post would be simply unanswerable if it were applied to any other state in the Union, but Delaware. “Delaware is an agricultural state wholly, with only one city worthy of the name, and that, Wilmington, which by its close proximity to Philadelphia, is really a suburb of the latter. There are no large number of factories, business houses, or thickly settled residential sections of the wealthy classes offering temptation to the professional burglar of other cities. A few banks are there, but bank robbery has been classed among the lost arts for some years, and rarely attempted anywhere. “Within the past six months, Wilmington has been termed by the daily press, as a “veritable hot-bed of crime.” Highway robberies, burglaries, and assaults have been so common that citizens formed patrols for mutual protection of themselves and property. The authorities were not only compelled to largely increase its police department, but to enlist the services of a former superintendent of the Philadelphia Police to reorganize it. “If, as the Governor claims, professional thieves from other cities give his state a wide berth, the inference is that these recent crimes were committed by natives. This being so, why doesn’t fear of the lash act as a deterrent to those who are so fully acquainted with its frequent use?