An earnest inquiry has been, made by the Association into the sources of crime, and the want of clue Parental care and government has been found the most prolific of all. To improve society, we must practise upon the injunction, Tram up a child in the way he should go; and when 'he is old, he will not depart from it."' Of the approximate causes, drink is most potent. Two-thirds of all prisoners interrogated acknowledged that they were of intemperate habits, and not one in a hundred had totally abstained from its use.

Next in the scale comes, lewdness. Of six thousand women committed to jail in one year, over three-fourths were prostitutes, and near half the men prisoners interrogated confessed that they were frequenters of brothels. Theaters are sources of great evil. Nearly fifty per cent. of all committed to prison have frequented these places.

The gambling saloon' above all other places, hardens man's moral nature. Of 975 prisoners at Auburn, 817 were acknowledged gamblers, about one-third; and the same proportion was found in the prisons of Connecticut.

Ignorance and vice are found in sad conjunction. In the State of New York but two and seven-tenths per cent. of the general population are unable to read; but of its criminals thirty-one per cent do not, possess that ability.

Early indolence is another source of great evil. It has been ascertained that, of the prisoners of the whole United States, more than four-fifths have never learned a trade.

The Association has contended nobly, for the introduction of skilled labor into our prisons, and the retention of prisoners until they are masters of their trades, thus furnishing the means for honorable subsistence after their release.

The Association has ranked among its members many of the first men of the State. Its office is in Room 38, Bible House.