The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1868-12-12

We arc indebted % ~ Daliimore 8un.
Ior the following kindly nolies:
WonxrxcxAx's ADvooAsa This q The
tile of handsome 9eskly journal puhlilhed
& Ch5oaxo. and devoted onelusssely e The
interests 81 Tie producing CLASSES. h b
conducted with sbilIty nd eontsins fauch
information or interest % ~ Workiag peo-
81. including letters q crespspondents from
baltimore, Phi ads'p hia. Me- Yerk ard othsr
prominent cities
TINE palson csaIakeT sTsTEm.
sass Meetsax Of weshissnem aa ResA-
ester, N. r.
A large and enthusiastic msesing the
workingmer Of Rochsstss, WINS held On
Thursday evening", Dae. l0shs for the pnr-
pose Of expressing their We've on the VIII
famous prison contract sysssm Which pre-
vaiIs In the State Of Noe York. sad TAXING
steps to bring iss iniquisy more PFonihsnsly
before iss citizens.
The Mayor Of the city, Hon. HssW l.
Fish ~ called 70 the chair on m6lid4 Of
Mr. J. O'Donobae, presidents Of the work
ingmen's Assembly, Who, after thankingsths
meeting for the hena- conferred, SPOKE as
follows:
81 am glad TO see such goodly attend
ance. The city owes ito progress 70 the
mechanics who had made RochesteF ~ pros
porous. You are here to protest against
the contract system ~ carried On II this
county. have suffered for the past fovr
years from this contract syssem. The busi-
ness in which am engaged has for . mum
Der of years been controlled BY = system Of
co.traets, that system being controlled 81 q
rir-. The cost Of oar peuitentiaFy and the
additional debt thrown upon the county, II
because Of the letting Of the labor OF these
institutions for less money even than II
costs to feed the con victs, lowering the
price Of labor OF honest wo-kiDgmsn. You
are here 30 demand change, and you pro-
pose TO ask the Legislature 70 FemodsE the
whole system Of penal service, aad We are
here to further your wishes 10 lhis respest.'
(Applause.)
The organization vas then perfected %
follows:
Vice. presidents-J. O'Donoghue, Jane.
Shaw, A. Dalton, NJ. Furtherer. 7. Kennedy,
J. g. Whiting, Bernard uaghes, P. Barke,
]. Qlinn, j. z. Roche. @. P. Gillard, Henry
Smith, George Langdale.
Secretaries Lenhihan, Charles
Shevlin.
Committee on resolutions s. -(iraham,
e Mspes, n. Gillard, HI. Cribben, W. r
McksnEon.
Strong aad eloquent speeches we're mad,
by the Hons. Jno. G. ChamaserV, JOIN
M'Convill, Henry Cribbsn, and N. G. Brad
street.
The Committse on resolutioas, through
Mr.. Cribben. then presented the following
which were unanimously adopted;
BIZ THE WcRKNGxEs or MosRok coUxrr II
Mass hKsTIEG ASSEMBLED:
Whereas, increasing evils 90 ling endured b,
the commonwealth and the people OF Aew Yori
are known to necessarily result from rhe prevail
ing system Of leIting the labor Of eoavicts b
contract iE our state prisons, peuiientiaries and
-hoaees. ct -relaxes aad 4
whereas. While sbSinssssss "a IA ckz
are injured b. this syskens, none sa9tr 70 naefe
rally a. the workinguhau, whose wsge6 arc ~
seBed In many insssncee hy cs@pegiks6n wisl
the laborof c6hsicfe, AZ forty or fIty cents pc
dsv, and whose very calling lie degraded by be
ing made r-nalty for crime aud
| Whereas. No compromising advantages Or
found TO accrue 70 the commonwealth, who's
treasury Is annually depleted by large sauna sp
propriated 70 pay the sxpenss al Fapaingt Ties
pel,al Institutions a. : loss; nor 20 any Werth
class Of citizens, whose property and labor sr'
taxed 10 make GOO these same defeiencaes no
to the criminal himself delivered over like
I very chatsel slave to the tender mercies OF mes
censry taskmasters; nor yet 70 the boy Of ten
der years. the ward Of the state, sent for som
tri6ing ofense 20 the House Of Refuge, Their
20 be forced into intimate daily associarion wal
Ne worst and the viIest examples Of sin an'
sice, and all tor some mans gain, whose inter
est and power h il, and whose choice d may b,
to keep him there even until Ear beyond nj
majority, aud finally send him forth animates
curse, seyepfold more . child Of hell than I'd,
worst be leaves behind and
Whereas, The only ,Sc directly ADVANTAGE
BY this system is the prison contrncsor, who
whatever his social standing or his professions
pious or otherwise, stands, in view Of the fore
going facts, on a level with the common thief
virtually saying, ''the public may be robbes
but my purse shall be flied" and deserving o
consideration only from his parasites, corrap
state officials and hireling creatures, Legislative
and other, who. wink az the 0fiense when he Il
presses an honest calling or apprentices iafant
to vice In order to make money and
Whereas, A plan has been devised whicl
clearly obyiates many Of these evils, As hai
been demonstrated By years Of experiment q
the Clinton prison, where q net annual FePsnul
Tor three years has accrued 60 the state Of over
S30, 900; against an annual deficiency Of a mucf
larger sum for term Of years preceding there
fore be it
Ress.~sh, That the sense of this meeting and
Of this com nunity demands radical change ia
the system 81 managing penal institutions In
this state, either by substituting the CIintoa
plan or . modification thereof, together with
proper regulations preventing undue competiifon
between the products Of prison labor and thoss
Of honest labor outside.
Resolved, That pending such change, public
sentiment demands Of The state prison Inspect
or, aud In bis default, Of the attorney general,
to see 10 the enforcement Of existing statutes,
like the Law Of ls47. requiring eonvicts 70 bs
assigned only 10 such branches of skilled labor
AZ they should Be found proficient 10 preyiou1
to incarceration, and which have been devised
70 sbate the evils OF the present systesn-
Resolved. That we invite the co-operafion Of
manufacturers and others sensibIs Of Injury ~.
sulting 70 their business from the present. sys.
tenn to assist our efforts for les abronstion and
Organized woskingmsa end oshsr citizsuu
throughoat the state 70 swell the petitions "a
the Legislature nos 10 circulation with this
object
Resolved, That to abats The enslavinr Of ID.
fants 90 the twolpld boodara NJ masnsnnn .nd