In the discussion of penological principles one of the foremost methods of reform to be noticed is that of the classification of all criminals. Perhaps Belgium was the foremost state of Europe to adopt a thoroughly practical classification of prisoners. Formerly it was considered sufficient to have a large prison pen, a foul den into which old and young, light offenders and heavy villains were thrust, taking them out only occasionally for service or keeping them without service at all. Here the old criminals, hardened through many years of repeated crimes, would rehearse their stories to the young who were soon educated in all of the tricks of the trade. Here in these horrid dens the propensities for crime were increased rather than diminished, and plots and plans were made for future depredations upon society. Within a comparatively recent period most nations have endeavored to properly classify prisoners. First a general classification, separating the old from the young, the hardened criminals from the novices. The modern tendency is to institute reform schools and work houses for juveniles, reformatories for youth, and regular prisons for hardened criminals. But in the highest ideal of prison science each one of these is to be a reformatory of a different class. Kansas has determined upon this classification. The Reform School at Topeka, the Reformatory at Hutchinson and the State Penitentiary at Lansing represent this three-fold classification. The reformatory at Hutchinson has not been completed. Its methods are to be patterned after the reformatory at Elmira, N. Y., the model institution of its class in America. The chief difficulty in the establishment of such an institution in Kansas is its great expense. It is a great undertaking for a young state like Kansas to compete with an old wealthy state like New York. Yet the Kansas reformatory may take all the essential features of the Elmira reformatory and by obtaining rather more service from its inmates may be made less expensive. It will be trying to Kansas tax-payers to provide such an industrial school for the criminals of the state as that at Elmira, while it is only by dint of close saving that they are able to give as good an education to their own sons and daughters who have never offended against the state. Yet it must be remembered that this is done for the benefit of the whole state, for the purpose of lessening crime and expense. The reformatory at Hutchinson should be completed as soon as possible as there is a great need for it that the prisoners at Lansing may be properly classified and a certain group of those most susceptible of reform should be sent there.