The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1847-12-10

Penitentiary, and moral and religious in
brought into requisition,
the largely increased library for
the use of the cunyicts. collected by the
Rev. Mr.. Finley, are exercising, | trust,a
wholesome influence upon their charac.
ter. No duty intrusted to government is
more difficult of execution than that of
the punishment of crime. The great OBJ.
jcct to be kept in view is, the protection
of society," by the confinement. and es-
pecially by the reformation of the crimi-
nails, III such manner as shall at once de-
fray all expenses and train the convicts
to habits ofindustry;not forgetting though
fallen, that they are yet men, with minds
to be heightened and hearts to be ami
mated by The lessons of morality and re-
ligion 1t is not true that we have d.
rected our attention too mnch to the Fl
nancia view alone of this great govern.
mental oblgationl Having succeeded
in making the Penitentiary defray its
own expenses, aid in erecting other in
sttutions, and pay balance into the
treasury, have we not overlooked the
nature of the contracts by which the con
victs have been hired out and transfer
red from hand to hand; and have we not,
in some respects, forgotten what is due
to their minds and bodies? May it moi
well be questioned whether unremitting
and unreqmtted toll, from early dawn ill
night, under the eye of an interested task
master, without an hour to read by day
OF ight to read at night, constitutes the
great road to moral reformationl Is it
right to continue in the hands of one indi.
vidual monopoly of between two and
three hundred laboring men, at only thir-
ty-three cents per day, boarding lodging
and workshops found? Is it just TO keep
up that monopoly at that price in com
petition with the honest mechanics of the
State! Is to be tolerated that such a
contract is claimed to be perpetuall !
submit to your deliberate judgement
whether the Warden ofthe Penitentiary
had power, either by virtue of his office,
or by any legal enactment, to limit or con.
troll legislation, by such perpetual con
tact, and whether the General Assem-
bly, has not undoubted right, in the ex-
elcise Of its discretion, to abolish the
penitentary system entirely, or to adopt
solitary confinement. either in whole or
III part; or if the find the present system
detrimental to the industrial concerns
of the State, whether, from the nature oi
government and the terms of the con.
tracts themselves, they may not employ
either the whole or a part of the convicts
at the public buildings. And | would
further submit to the wisdom of the Leg.
islature, whether the work on the State
House ought not to be Immediately and
earnestly resumed; and whether convict
labor ought not to be Withdrawn from
avocations injurious to mechanical pur
t suits and directed to this necessary OBJ
/ ject. taking care, in its gradual withdraw
} al, to work no injury to any just rights o
contractors. And ifby this direction tc
d the labor Of tho prison, or portion Of it
f appropriations become necessary to pay
, for the stone quarry purchased, and tc
, support the institution, whether the,
: should not be made. Is it not better tt
p. do that than either to hire out convicts a
: thirty-,hree cents per day, and emplo,
other laborers TO do the same work a
: one dollar and fifty cents per day; or t,
{ suffer the foundation laid, and material
provided for the State House, as well a
k our archieves 10 60 to ruin.
!, The National Government having 70
# the time being at least, abandoned on
y lakes and rivers, aud directed all the en-
= ergy and resources Of the nation to wa
IS of foreign conquest, it becomes the NOR
l. important, especially as it is the settle
e policy ofthe State of Ohio not to increas
= her debt, but to pay it of; that all prope
= encouragement should be given to sue
organizations as will bring the priva,
: enterprise of the country to hear on it
o physical improvement. The Railroad
d extending from Boston, New York, Phi
If adelphia and Baltimore towards Buffalo
d Dunkirk, Pittsburgh and Wheeling mu.
Q all in two or more concentrated chains
i, cross the State of Ohio. at right angle
with our canals and railroads from Tolt
y do, Sandusky and Cleveland to the Obi
Il river, and connect with other roads 500
t. to be completed to the Mississippi rive
If at Galena, Quincy, Alton and ST. Louis
a, In all truly democratic government
v. where the policy ofthe law is to distril
+. ute, not to concentrate estates, and whel
Of there are, consequently, few rich me
r associated wealth and effort become il
s, dispensable to the accomplishment
II, great enterprise. tits thus that corpor
n, tions emanate from and exist as the eff
ID cient instrumontalties of Republican L
rs stitutions, and are multiplied in dire
at proportion to the enterprise and freedo
of ofstates and nations.
g. For these amongst many other reason
D. would recommend the passage ofamo
b. efficient general law Incorporating ma
Of uiacturng companies, with proper lir
Nc itations. To call into active use dorma
capital, to build up manufactures, to a
of young men of small means to begin bu,
II, ness, to create for the husbandman ma
IN kct at his own door, to develope the +
le sources of the State and to ropress en-
id grafton from it, the tendency ofsuch la
i'll is not only obvious but sanctioned by Il
ne experience of Massachusetts and 9th
Il. States.