In order that all shall be treated absolutely alike, petitions from outside persons for the release of any prisoner will not be received or acted upon. The initiative is to rest with the board, and it may modify its conditions of parole during the period the prisoner remains under its observation. The prison warden is made a member of the board because of his intimate knowledge of the prisoners. Another feature of the proposition is that the prisoner loses his citizenship when he is sentenced, and its restoration rests with the governor, to whom the board of parole is to certify when it grants an absolute release, stating the reasons for the release. Addressing himself to the merits of the general proposition, Mr. Hall declared that the deterrent of crime is not the punishment, but the fear of conviction. What any person respects more than anything else is his honor, and he shrinks from being branded as a criminal. The system proposed puts him on his own honor and gives him hope and ambition. * * * * * _Changes at Atlanta._--Widespread newspaper attention has been given to proposed changes at the Federal prison at Atlanta. Hereafter the emphasis will be placed upon reformation instead of on punishment. The convicts will no longer be regarded as dangerous and unmanageable animals, to be subjected only to hard labor, coarse diet and various degrees of punishment, but they will be treated as men: men facing a future filled with the opportunity of reformation, and the influences of prison life will be directed towards the development of their manhood and the creation of new hope in their bosoms. In the prosecution of this new plan a prison library will be inaugurated, a school established, concerts given by a band to be formed among the inmates and games permitted in the leisure hours. Good behaviour will be rewarded by increased opportunities for instruction and amusement; bad conduct will be punished by curtailment of privilege. * * * * * _A Governor to Stump for Prison Reform._--The Boston Advertiser reports that Gov. Foss having pardoned 51 convicts, and broken the record, will make prison reform an issue on the stump. He says: “I have pronounced ideas on the subject. I have received many letters commenting favorably on the reforms that I suggested in my address before the American Bar Association. Massachusetts is standing still on the treatment of its prisoners. “There are hundreds of so-called criminals in the prisons who may be cured just as people in hospitals are cured of disease. “Only a very small number of the men in prison are habitual criminals. I don’t wish my ideas to be misinterpreted. Some of my political opponents are attempting to picture me as opening the doors of the prisons. As a matter of fact, I have very decided ideas on the protection of the public from the habitual criminal.