The Rev. Dr. A. J. McKelway, in speaking on “The Abolition of the Lease System in Georgia,” gave a history of the system, described its inhumanities and traced the steps by which its abolition came about. Beginning when one hundred convicts were first let out for $2,500 a year, the system grew to such proportions that in 1903 the price was $225 a man. Many of the men were sublet at $630 a year, and those who thus trafficked in human beings became known as “convict kings.” The abolition goes into effect on the first of April of the present year, and after that date the convicts are to be worked on the roads under State supervision, and on farms which are to be established. The reform was brought about by the overwhelming pressure of an aroused public sentiment; and Dr. McKelway summarized the present public opinion on this subject in the South as follows: “First, it has been burned into the hearts of the people that it is not good for the State to make a profit on crime. “Second, that the State should not delegate to any person or corporation not under its complete control the duty of punishing crime or of caring for the criminal, old or young, white or black. “Third, that the working of felony convicts on the public roads or public works is an infinite improvement on the lease system; and that the working of misdemeanor convicts in the same way is an immense improvement over the old county jail system. “Fourth, that the State farm is the best solution yet offered, with such manual and industrial training as may be given. “Fifth, that the retributive idea of punishment is giving place at last to the reformatory idea. “Sixth, that at least a fair proportion of the profits of the convict labor should be set aside for the helpless family, or as a fund for a start in the life of freedom.” On motion of Joshua L. Baily, President of The Pennsylvania Prison Society, a resolution was passed congratulating the State of Georgia on its abolition of the convict lease system. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19 MORNING SESSION Mr. T. B. Patton, Superintendent of the Industrial Reformatory, Huntingdon, Pa., presented the report of the Committee on Prevention and Reformatory Work; and Mrs. Frances A. Morton, Superintendent of the Reformatory Prison for Women, South Framingham, Mass., spoke on “Outdoor Employment for Women Prisoners,” describing especially the various forms of outdoor work in her own institution. AFTERNOON SESSION “Prison Discipline,” especially in reformatories, was the subject of a most interesting address by Mr. J. A. Leonard, Superintendent of the State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio.