You will be interested in our work here because it is true that our police department was never in so good condition as it is to-day; that it is working in harmony with the Magistrates' Courts as never before, and that the personnel of the Department was never in better condition and the esprit de corps was never so splendid as it is to-day. There are several causes for this; the most telling is perhaps because of the growth within the Department in power and influence of the young men who have been chosen as patrolmen by competitive examinations instead of being chosen along the old lines as the old-timers were. Among the immediate causes, I should enumerate perhaps as first, the fact that the Mayor upon taking office unfettered the police and 'eft them reasonably free to deal with the gangsters and thugs that prowled about the streets by day and night; and second, his persistent refusal to interfere with the detailed administration of the Police Department; and in the third place, I should say, it is due to the excellent judgment shown by the capable and resourceful Police Commissioner of the city in dealing with that force. Never before, so far as many of us can remember, never before, as far as the memory of the inspectors goes, has there been a Police Commissioner who has co-operated with his whole staff as has Commissioner Woods. As soon as he took office he well understood that the thing lacking in police headquarters was co-operation between the men in uniform with the head of the Department and he started to remedy that at once. Every two or three days he has a conference in headquarters where he calls all the officers before him and they discuss their common problems and work out plans for the common welfare of the Department as well as for the development of the work.

As Magistrates, you are undoubtedly interested in experiments that are being made and developments being made with respect to the work in penal institutions as well as the work in the courts. I wish to call your attention to the Indeterminate Sentence and Parole Act which applies to cities of the first class and which has been put into effect in New York City by the appointment by the Mayor of the three citizen members of that Commission who took office on the 28th day of December. The Parole Commission provided by this law consists of five members: missioner of Correction as president; the Police Commissioner

the Com

as a member (both unpaid for this position) and three other persons appointed by the Mayor for terms of two, four and six years respectively, with a provision that their successors shall be appointed by the Mayor for ten years each. This Commission has power to provide conditions under which persons committed to institutions, that is to a reformatory or a workhouse or a penitentiary in cities of the first-class, may be paroled or released from the institution. In the case of Magistrates' Courts, it applies only to the class sometimes denominated "frequent offenders," and in the case of frequent offenders where evidence shows that they have been convicted twice previously of six different offenses within twenty-four months, or three times previously during their life and then the Magistrate must impose an indeterminate sentence not to exceed two years. That is to say, the sentence may run to two years and the term of sentence is to be fixed by the Parole Commission sitting afterward. The law provides that the Magistrate making commitment of these frequent offenders may sit as a member of the Parole Commission to pass upon the eligibility for parole of the person committed to an institution by him, so that there is no clipping of the wings of the Magistrates, as some would say. The only thing done is to change the time of fixing the sentence and likewise making it necessary for a majority vote of the Parole Commission to decide the term instead of the Magistrate fixing the term himself alone while sitting in Court. That doesn't apply to the first or second offenders. The Magistrate is left as free to-day as he ever was in making any disposition in the case of first and second frequence; it is only in the case of frequent offenders that this provision of law operates. You who are acquainted with the congested calendars of the Magistrates' Courts of New York City will appreciate what that means. Here the Judges are burdened with a great number of cases, particularly by a host of frequent offenders who go around the vicious. circle of arrest, trial, conviction, sentence, a ride to the workhouse, stay a few days, a ride down the river, a discharge; which routine is followed through again by the police courts, district attorney and probation officers through a vicious circle.

Some fail to appreciate what that means to the institution. A commitment to the institution of these offenders under short terms is practically useless for the reason they are not held long enough

to cure them of disease. Eighty-seven per cent. of the women committed to the workhouse have been shown to have serious blood diseases in positive form. In the case of others, the pickpockets and jostlers, you cannot bring the fear of God into their hearts, if the most you can do is to give them six months. They don't mind being sent to prison provided they can go on the circuit again in the cities of the United States and then winter in New York at the expense of the city. But if a man needs to be held for more than six months and has been convicted several times previously under this Act after a careful scrutiny of his case if it seems necessary he may be held more than six months and the fear of God can be implanted in his heart so he won't return again.

I would like to give you an item or two from the report of our finger-print expert of the workhouse. There were 19,809 persons committed to the workhouse in 1915. Of this number 6,249 had been there three times or more; of this number 9,338 had been at least once before; 3,089 had been there twice before; 1,157, four times; 756, five times; 550, seven times; 437, eight times; 272, ten times; 197, eleven times; and so down, running to one person who had been there thirty-seven times.

Then another report, summary of the annual report, which is very interesting to us, shows that in January there were 28 persons committed to the workhouse twice within the month of January; in March 27 persons were committed twice; April 28; May 25; June 31; July 22; August 20; September 18; October 6; November 14; December 23, were committed twice within that month.

During the year 1915, 242 persons were committed to the workhouse twice within a given month, and eight were there three times within a given month,

One of the most difficult things we have to do is to teach these people how to work and reform them, if possible. It is pretty hard to talk to a man about reforming him if he happens to have gotten six months for the same job the other fellow got ten days for. It is a difficult thing dealing with these fellows because of the lack of uniformity in their sentences. This makes them cynical and gives them a careless attitude toward the officers of the law. You should hear their discussions of the magistrates, of their

peculiarities, how to work them or attempt to work them. They have all the magistrates lined up; they know whether to weep before some or stand in righteous indignation before someone else. It is all worked out and it is a great game.

In discussing this particular phase of the question, I wish to point out that this law makes it possible in our courts and in our Department, working together with the district attorneys, to take up the cases that are serious from the standpoint of human welfare and hold them so that the doctor can have time to do his work or so that the institution can do its work.

Because of the feeling among some labor men, I want to say I have seen very few people who could be taught in three years enough so as to seriously endanger any man in a trade in New York City who was a journeyman. These men haven't the ability to concentrate upon any thing; their hands are not trained; they are not trained in any way. Very few have reached the fifth grade in public schools. Thirty thousand of the eighty thousand in our department last year could neither read nor write, and 50,000 could only read, so you can appreciate what the educational problem is.

Then the discharge day comes. Under the new system it is possible to discharge a prisoner on parole under conditions, so that unless he does his duty, he is put back in the institution as a prisoner, and that is the worst thing that can be done from his point of view.

We put the Police Commissioner on this Commission and I believe it is a good check, just as I believe it is a splendid thing to provide in the more serious offenses that the judge should have an absolute veto as to whether a prisoner should go out again or not. on parole. In the General Sessions and County Courts and Supreme Court a man cannot be released from the Penientiary unless the judge who makes the commitment approves the recommendation of the Parole Commission recommending that re'ease. You can see that this is a great check against any possible political action which may take place with respect to a commission which has the numerous powers that this Commission has.

I want to say a word about the drug evil. I can speak about it from the standpoint of trying to handle the drug addicts within the institution so as to bring about the cure of the victims.

I am glad to say we have gotten the greatest help from the act which Judge Collins drew, which provides in case a man is brought into any of our courts, if the doctor of our institution reports that he is addicted to the use of habit-forming drugs, the Judge can commit him to a charitable or correctional institution or hospital so he may receive treatment there, until the doctor of that institution pronounces him cured. That cure must be, if we can carry it out, a real cure, not putting a man through treatment for ten or twelve days and then releasing him in worse condition than he was before. The magistrate may make a commitment to Bellevue or some other hospital and then the man may be brought back and sent to the Warwick Farm Colony in the country. If you see these men who have been dragged down through the influence of drugs, as you do, and realize how weak they are in body and mind, how this drug has affected the lungs and made many incipient tuberculosis cases, you will appreciate that this medical treatment is only the beginning, and it is necessary to make provision for them to be held for treatment. Dr. McGuise in the Tombs, and other physicians, feel that frequently it will take one year's time to carry through the work that should be done in giving them the treatment, opportunity for rehabilitation and then release on parole.

When Judge Collins became a judge of Special Sessions he was appalled by the seriousness of this prob'em. I think anyone who looks into the criminal field will be appalled by the seriousness of this awful drug traffic which makes criminal of young men who cannot earn enough to supply themselves with these drugs and who are able to secure the drug only by petty and grand larceny. The second week after Commissioner Davis and I took office in 1913 we found in our district prisons 27 drug addicts held under different charges and all but three were under nineteen. On investigation we found every one was there for stealing something which they could sell to buy drugs with. Then we asked them how they began to use drugs. Some said they went to a sniffing" party in the Bronx; this party was held every night in a certain section and when young people came to dance, after working all day and being tired, about eleven o'clock someone would come along and say, "Sniff this, and you can dance until

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