“Papers and magazines, with a liberal sprinkling of missionary tracts, are furnished. Most are necessarily out of date, and all are grimy with much handling. Those facing the windows read with certain injury to their eyes; those in the center of the room have not light enough to read at all, while the few at the rear of the room, who have light from the rear, can read with comfort. But at least half of these idlers are foreigners and cannot read at all; these can think. Such are the physical surroundings in this room, intended to house two-score and at present containing 300 to 400, with several hundred more to be added in the next few months. “These men it is who each day beg to be put to work. They feel that the hardest drudgery, indoors or out, would be far preferable to such an existence. “The cause? A simple one, say those at the head of the big prison, notably Warden T. H. B. Jones and Capt. C. W. Naas, who had charge of the contracts. They tell it in three words. The Wertz law. In 1906 the legislature passed this act, which just now is working such havoc with the penal institution. The law abolishes contract labor, at the demand of labor organizations that competition with prison made goods was unfair to labor. It provides that convicts must be employed in remodeling the institution and in making only such goods as are used in state institutions. The legislature neglected to provide money for installing machinery necessary for so doing and also neglected to compel state institutions to use the prison made product.” * * * * * _Unusual Prison Supervision Proposed in Texas._—By a bill now pending before the legislature of Texas it is proposed to place at the head of the penal system of the state an officer with the title of “Supervisor of Prisons,” who shall have had some scientific training in the subjects of criminology and prison sanitation. His salary is to be $2,400 a year and his term of service to be two years. The office is to be an appointive one, made on the recommendation of the prison commission. Two assistant supervisors may also be appointed, at salaries of $1,500 each.