The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-01-16

onaC ciiafiSe " Feal economy. IN
digging for the foundation of this
part OF the building, aquicksand and
springs greatly impeded the work
and increased its cost, but two
strong flowing wells were secured
which promise to be permanent, and
which supply Il supcrabundance OF
good water for the Use o the whole
Institution. These will be inyalus-
bic. and much more than repay the
extra cost they have occasioned.
The Reform School continues its
valuable work, and is every year
more clearly seen to be working on
the only true principle i'll the treat
ment Of Juvenile offenders. Appen-
ded to the report Of the Commission
ers will be found the report of,a com
mittee. appointed under authority
of the Assembly, to select a piece
of corn land to add to the Farm. The
committee have selected Il farm in
the Hooking river bottoms, which.
in their Judgment, meets the wants
of the School, and, when added to
the high, hilly and thin-soiled tract
now occupied by the Institution,
will give the variety OF employment
and Of produce which is greatly
needed. The fruit culture Of the
hills has been profitable during the
past year, as the report shows; and
the addition of coru and hay land
will tend still further to reduce the
expense of the School. When it is
remembered that the whole invest
inent in this Institution for land and
buildings is not over one eighth the
cost OF some Of the Asylums having
no larger number of inmates, there
will be little hesitation in appropria-
ting the moderate sum now needed
Thc need Of q similar reformatory
for girls becomes more apparent
every year, and the propriety OF
establishing one is respectfully urged
upon yonr attention.
The administration CT the Peni-
tentiary during the Year shows an
efficiency quite equal, If not superior
to any that has been witnessed for
many years, and in one respect
that Of economy-the result is q
peculiarly gratifying one. The re-
ceipts for the labor Of prisoners have
exceeded the expenses of the prison
by the sum of thirteen thousand dol
lars This result the Directors re-
port is not produced by charging
the State with labor performed for
it, or by charges or credits for
which the money has not been paid
or received; but it is balance of
cash receipts over cash expenditures.
1t has been secured by strict atten-
ton to economy in all departments,
and a rigid saving of the waste
which is apt to become large in so
large al institution This fact is
most significantly shown in the aver
age cost per convict for clothing,
food, beddin- and hospital, which
amounts this year to S537 against
an average Of $500 for three years
before. The Directors are further
able to say that, although the ex-
penses have been so materially di-
ninished, every department has been
rs well maintained as in any former
year" They very properly give the
chief credit for this result to the
Warden and his principal assistants,
but it could, of course, be brought
about only by Jealous co-opera-
ton ia the public service Of all con
cerned, from the Directors them
selves downward.
Your candid consideration is in
vited to the reasons assigned by the
Directors why a minimum price for
convict labor should not be estab-
lished by law. The accounts Of the
prison demonstrate that since the
passage of the existing statute on
that subject, there has been clear
loss to the State Of two thousand
dollars per month by reason of the
non employment Of convicts for
whose labor responsible bids had
been made before tho law took eff
feet. | believe the reasoning of the
report Ola this subject to be sound,
and recommend the repeal of the
statute referred to. The true mode
Of enhancing the price OF labor in
the prison is to perfect the discipline
and management OF the institution
80 that the labor itself will be more
valuable and reliable, and leave it to
the zeal Of honorable and competent
Directors and officers to procure the
highest market price for it. No leg
isiation can remove the necessity of
having honest men in charge cf 50
important an institution or of conf
ding in their trustwo rthiness.
The number OF convicts in the
Penitentiary has averaged one thoa-
sand; twelve hundred and ninety
one having been in it during the
year, and one thousand and one re
naming there at the date Of the re-
port. 1t is manifest that it will not
do to put OFF any longer the task Of
providing for the increase OF con
viets, waich keeps pace with our in
crease of population. Such thought
as l have been able to give the sub
iect has convinced me that the in
crease of prison room ought to be
made by building an intermediate
prison, taking grade between the
Reform Farm and the present Peni-
tentiary, where q thorough effort
may be made to test the value of a
really reformatory system upon the
younger men and less hardened
class of criminals convicted of first
of1ienscs by the Courts.
This topic, amongst others, has
been carefully examined by the
Board of State Charities, and their
report will be found to contain a
lucid aud interesting discussion of
it. [ think their conclusions are