Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1868-11-12

Durlrs the Is session OF Congress n sugges-
tIon was offered to the Committee on the Dis
triCt OF Columbia, earnestly recommended by
our Board of Trade. looking TO the employment
OF our ConNicts IN the work of deepening thu
channels and retaining the low grounds on
our rIVer front We hope the subject will be
revived this winter, and We submit that there
IS much III II 10 challenge the attention of our
Legislators. Prem the time that il BECAME
necessary for the Government to use our old
Peniteniiary for the storage of ordnance, we
nave sent from Wash 'ngton TO the Albany PEN
Iiertary an average of from one hundred and
nifty TO TWO hundred convicts per annun, for
periods ranging from one to eight years. Bring
ING conyict labor in competition with honest
skilled industry has long been a legitimate
SUBJECT OF complaint. These convicts are en-
p1oyed IN albany in broom making, shoe aud
boot making. and in the manufacture of doors,
sash, and blinds; and, though their board Is
paid oy tie United States, their labor is con.
tracted out, and they are a source of profit to
he State of New York.
The Penltrntlary system Is concededly a
great improvement over the STYLES OF pun
iShnent formerly in vogue; and the oues-
ton naturally arises in a progressive age:
Cannot this system itself be improved upon,
The Interests of honest skilled industry have
Wet labor IN manufactures. The idea OF the
Chain-gang- &c. is behind our age. The Iaborer
as well a. the mechanic objects 10 being brought
INTO competition with the convict. How, then
snail convict labor be utilized, No better
mode can BE- suggested than In grea. works OF
pubic Improvement, necessarily tending TO
ihe general good, bur AZ the same time of such
y character that they do not earnestly force
themselves on the public consideration. Their
execution through the agency of convict labor
wculd not be looked upon as a competition
with honest mechani,s or Iaborers
oi such character would be the work of
Dredging tue channels of the Potomac by the
convIcts annually sent from our city to the
Albany penItentiary. There, they are a source
If expense TO the General Government; here
their labor could De male AT least remuneratiys
They cculo readily be confined in any IRON
sad or other secure vessel belonging to the
United States. They could be approached by
the same moral I-ifiuences while thus in i'm.
Priscnmeni hat would be advantageous were
'hey held under the penItentiary system, and
neai'hiui iaoor Tor them in the open air would
secure tor US most desirable Improvement
This idea is by no means theoretical II having
been reduced 20 successful practice in Ireland,
whe-e convict labor has been utilized ON a
large scale IN retaining marshes and cult
Nsuhg tne land reclaimed. A large extent of
miasnatic and utterly worthless marsh mas
been converted 10 excellent land. II is found
that the eonvicts employed upon the work
require fewer guards than are ordinarily
iequired, propor;ionsbly 20 numbers IN close
prisons they are more tractable and docils
ana me Improvement IN morals over eonyic.s
nrio IN close confinement is very marked
In view OF these facts, the experiment Ia
worm trying OF employiu sonyiet labor in
work that apparently viii not be executed in
any other way. Our rIyer channels might
thus be kept dredged, and our pssti,-nt,.I
marshes reclaimed almost without cos, IL
would moot assuredly be n MATER of economy
20 the Government, and some portion of the
land thus eciaimed might aGvantageously h.,
used as the site for prison. The field OF o.
erarons for the convict force ON the marsas.
adjacent to the city are ample. The Corpora
ton itself has some sixty squares of grouad
now covered with water between Bennius's
Bridge and the Poorhouie that might BE- con-
verted into valuable land; and on the Potomac
frort we have an ample extent Of flats suscep-
nbls of reclamation.
We call attention 10 this matter As worthy of
,hou nj -