New Big House

Lewisburg, Pa. was last week by way of acquiring the connotation that attaches in the public prints to Leavenworth, Kans., McNeil Island, Wash, and Atlanta, Ga. Attorney General Mitchell signed an order by which the U. S. is to pay $95,000 for 1,014 acres of land near Lewisburg as a site for a badly-needed new Federal penitentiary, the country's fourth.

In rich coal and farming country, near the Susquehanna River within a few miles of Shamokin Mountain, it will be the first Federal penal institution in the northeastern quarter of the U. S. Not casually was Lewisburg selected for the honor. Abundant fuel and water supplies, the joint accessibility by many railroads from Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati and the eastern seaboard, healthful climate, a long agricultural season for working convicts and the persuasiveness of Senator David Aiken Reed were all factors in the choice. Also, Lewisburg is the seat of the Federal Court in the Middle District.

Confident is the Attorney General that the structure he plans will be in all ways a model institution. Congress last session appropriated $3,850,000 of which $1,700,000 is available for an immediate start. Once authorized and appropriated for, prisons can be built quickly. The "big house" at Lewisburg will be ready for 1,050 guests by July 1931.

Erection of a new penitentiary is the first step in President Hoover's prison-reform program, supported by Congress (TIME, July 14). Next structural step: site-selection and construction of a reformatory for men "west of the Mississippi River."

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