But this matter should, and must be, undertaken by the State, for philanthropy cannot deal with it; and when the State does undertake it, consequences unthought-of will follow, for the State will be able to close one-half of its prisons.
It is the helplessness of weaklings that provides the State with more than half its prisoners.

Is it impossible, I would ask, for a Government like ours, with all its resources of wealth, power and influence to devise and carry out some large scheme of emigration?
If colonial governments wisely refuse our inferior youths, is it not unwise for our own Government to neglect them?
In the British Empire is there no idle land that calls for men and culture?
Here we in England have thousands of young fellows who, because of their helplessness, are living lives of idleness and wrongdoing.
Time after time these young men find their way into prison, and every short sentence they undergo sends them back to liberty more hopeless and helpless.

Many of them are not bad fellows; they have some qualities that are estimable, but they are undisciplined and helpless.

Not all the discharged prisoners' aid societies in the land, even with Government assistance, can procure reasonable and progressive employment for them.
The thought of thousands of young men, not criminals, spending their lives in a senseless and purposeless round of short imprisonments, simply because they are not quite as big and as strong as their fellows, fills me with wonder and dismay, for I can estimate some of the consequences that result.
Is it impossible, I would ask, for our Government to take up this matter in a really great way?
Can no arrangement be made with our colonies for the reception and training of these young fellows?
Probably not so long as the colonies can secure an abundance of better human material.

But has a bona-fide effort been made in this direction?
I much doubt it since the days of transportation.
Is it not possible for our Government to obtain somewhere in the whole of its empire a sufficiency of suitable land, to which the best of them may be transplanted, and on which they may be trained for useful service and continuous work?
Is it not possible to develop the family system for them, and secure a sufficient number of house fathers and mothers to care for them in a domestic way, leaving their physical and industrial training to others?
Very few know these young fellows better than myself, and I am bold enough to say that under such conditions the majority of them would prove useful men.
Surely a plan of this description would be infinitely better than continued imprisonments for miserable offences, and much less expensive, too! I am very anxious to emphasise this point.