San Andreas independent., 1857-03-14
The State Prison System of California.
IMMIGRATION

AfI Af1 L IA1N.
Such is the title of pamphlet, several
copies of which have been forwarded us,
for circulation. The purposes of its pub
hcation appears to embrace the object of
dlverting State Prison labor from mechan-
ical pursuits-giving many strong and
valid reasons why the prisoners ought to
be under the control of the State, and
why their united labor should be entirely
devoted to Public Works, such as improv-
ing roads, rivers, harbors, &C. The re-
clamation of the tule or overhowed lands,
is also recommended as suitable employ
ment for convict labor. The pamphlet
thus argues in favor of the plan:
While their labor thus employed would not
come in competition with that of the Mechanic,
it would add immensely to the wealth of the
State. If each convict reclaimed per day but
sufhcent overiowed land only to pay for his
maintenance, the State would be gamer; but
with the engineering talent we have among us.
the construction of large canals would drain
millions of acres, and then would be seryiceable
for the purposes of navigation. Millions of the
most productive lands could then be offered at
low prices and in reasonable quantities to the
Actual Settler, and their value applied to
ducc the Indebtedness of the State, the inter-
est OF which is gnawing at our vitals. The ar
tcles that could be- raised on this land-to-
bacco rice, sugar, and cotton-are those which
we now import at greatly enhanced cost, as we
are so distant from the countries of production,
inta hut xvifh nS 1al
agricultural crops. There is another point to
be considered The Commonwealth reaping
the labor of her erring children, could do some
thing for their reformation. On every hundred
acres reclaimed, let small per centage be dedi-
Gated to common fund, to be divided, at the
expiration of. the sentence, among those who
had labored on the lands. In this manner the
convict would have an inducement to be indus
trious, and in proportion he had toiled,
might have something with which, on expira-
ton OF his term, to commence the world. For
many years to come the swamp and overfiowed
lands will give employment to this special Ia
Dor, and would certainly prevent, if direct
ed, the ruin which now threatens our people
engaged in mechanical pursuits. The State of
California, with sea-coast nearly as large as
that of the cold thirteen" must certainly have
within it some article on which this labor can
Vise competition with that of our people AS
it now is the cost of the punishment of crime
falls upon those who labor in industrial pur-
suits Our Constitution has one merit. The
State credit cannot be loaned directly or ndi-
rectly to banks or corporations; nor can evil
dences of State Indebtedness be issued as
circulating medium; nor can mortgages on
property be issued in the form of bank-notes
And therefore, as against capital, no laws have
been framed in any way to lessen its earnings
or ought any to be enacted. So in regard to
labor, the same freedom ought to be permitted,
and no prirate individual be allowed to have
the control of FIVE hundred men for his own
purposes, even as the punishment of crime
Think of it ! Five hundred destinies-leases of
life-controlled within the limits of one mans
discretion, under the laW of California; Now
make a contrast. Give one man to use within
the limits of his discretion, five millions of the
State funds. How the taxpayers would howl !!
Why should those living by the labor of their
hands be silent?"
1t is humiliating to every mechanic and Ia
borer to know that their industry and enter
prise is liable to be injured by the competition
of State Prison convicts. With sucha system of
demoralizing labor, honest and high-minded
~
subject the author proceeds
awe have in this State the talent to make
chronometer, to build marine engine, to make
a theodolite or to mould the fast sailing clipper.
We see the smoke of foundries ascending in our
midst, and in every block we hear the taps of
the hammer or the lapstone.
Indeed labor in all its branches has estab
lished itself here and the position it may hold,
socially, and politically, depends upon the skill
and Judgment with which its friends can pre-
vent the enactment of unequal laws against its
interests. In this issue we must appeal to and
expect the assistance of the mountains. The
miners have, in the question of labor an inter-
est similar to that of the Mechanic.
Men, after learning a trade by years of toll,
have been thrown with their families on the
cold charities of the world, because some dis
honest contractor who had failed to pay his
workmen, availing of the Prison system, could
hire convict labor, and defy those whom he had
cheated. In the old States, Hatters, Cabinet
Makers, Shoemakers, Coopers, Stone-cutters,
Blacksmiths, and Taiors are the victims Of the
system And through the unjust and unequal
system many an honest man was ruined. The
events which have transpired in the Atlantic
States will be re-enacted here, and with
greater loss to the Mechanics of California than
to any other people; for the number of con-
victs, as compared with the class aganstwhom
they compete, is far greater ratio here than
in any other State of the Union"
The purport of the pamphlet apparently is to
attract the attention of the Legislature to the
blighting effect which the prevalence of State
Prison labor will have on immigration. We
hope its objects and aims may be accomplished,
and that convict labor may not be allowed to
interfere with our social and industrial relations
Supreme Court Decision.
Thn Sacramentn Ilinn nnhlishes the