French economists think that money has never been more wisely spent than for such institutions, as the returns show that ninety-three per cent. of the inmates after their liberation become useful members of society. It seems to us that no country in the world would carry out penal colonization schemes with greater advantage and better results than the United States. The peaceful conquest of large tracts of lands in this State, means the acquisition of more domain within our own borders, in which there may be homes and farms for hundreds of our surplus population. There are several thousand criminal and vagrant idlers who at the beginning of winter go before Justices of the Peace in the country towns and are committed to the county jails for several months, where they live in idleness on the fat of the land. Such people ought to be in some colony and kept there till cured of their delusions. Section 690 of the Penal Code lays down the statute very clearly on this subject: “Where a person is hereafter convicted of a felony, who has been before that conviction, convicted in this State, of any other crime, or where a person is hereafter convicted of a misdemeanor, who has been already five times convicted in this State of a misdemeanor, he may be adjudged by the Court, in addition to any other punishment that may be inflicted upon him, to be an habitual criminal.” Section 691 says, “The person of an habitual criminal shall be at all times subject to the supervision of every judicial magistrate of the county, and of the Supervisors and Overseers of the Poor of the town where the criminal may be found, to the same extent that a minor is subject to the control of his parent or guardian.” Another large class of persons who are totally unfit to be at large are kleptomaniacs, dipsomaniacs, pyromaniacs, epileptics and incendiaries. They should be placed permanently in an asylum. If necessary they could be deported to some island, where many of them could be put to work to cultivate the soil. What we shall do with our unemployed criminals who roam the country in search of plunder is becoming a very serious problem. It is said that New York has from forty to fifty thousand ex-criminals. This is a low estimate. Whether it is true or not I am not prepared to say. At any rate, there are enough to keep over ten thousand policemen busy watching for this fraternity night and day. It is safe to say that New York alone has a floating population of twenty thousand habitual criminals, who are ready at any moment to commit crime, without a moment’s warning, and then sail under a new name or leave for parts unknown. There are also at least forty thousand men and women habitual misdemeanants in New York, who have been in prison for small offences, such as drunkenness, disorderly conduct, assault and petit larceny, from one to fifty times, and even more. What is going to be done with these?