And  it  is  not  only  by  the  infliction  of  physical  barbarities  that
society  is  still  committing  crimes  against  criminals.  The  environ-
ments in  which  the  criminal  is  often  placed  after  he  is  caught
serve  merely  to  degrade  him.  A  sailor  who  had  seen  much  of
primitive  races  once  said,  "  I  have  never  had  any  trouble  with
natives.  I  find  that  the  way  to  inspire  true  manliness  in  a  man
is  to  treat  him  like  a  man,  and  thus  inspire  self-respect."  *  Our
prison  authorities  might  learn  something  from  the  foregoir^.
Especially  might  they  learn  that  ward  heelers,  roughs,  bullies,
and  ignorant  political  "  bums,"  who  are  tougher  than  the  prison-
ers they  guard,  should  never  be  placed  in  authority  over  men
whom  it  is  desired  to  uplift.  For  ages  society  has  busied  itself
in  preventing  the  criminal  from  ever  forgetting  that  he  is  a  crimi-
nal, in  or  out  of  jail.  Unnecessarily  harsh  discipline  has  been  a
part  of  the  machinery  that  has  impressed  his  position  upon  him.
The  distinctive  dress  and  the  closely  cropped  hair — which,  of
course,  have  their  advantages  in  case  of  an  escape — are  of  the
same  kidney  as  the  red  hot  iron,  with  which  France  was  once
wont  to  ornament  the  shoulders  of  her  convicts.  We  have  not
had  the  fieur  de  lis,  but  there  are  more  ways  than  one  of  branding
the  under  dog  for  life.
The  failure  of  punishment  in  the  cure  of  criminality  is  easy
to  explain  ;  it  has  been  directed  at  the  crime  and  not  at  the  crimi-
nal.    We  laugh  at  the  operatic   Mikado's  sublime   object  of


'Hell  on  the  Border,  S.  W,  Harmon.
■  The  Cruise  of  the  Cachelot,  Frank  T.  BoUen.
