Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-09-22
THE CITY.
MECHANICS, AND MANUFAC-
TURERS' ASSOCIATION.
The Penitentiary Question.

! . The Penitenttary Question,
A meeting of the Association was he'll
last evening.
In the absence of the President, JOSEPH
L Weakley was called to the chair.
Mr. Wand, from the Committee on By
Laws, submitted the following for adop
ton, in addition to those already adopted
l. 1t shall be the duty of the Committee
on Banks and Finance to perform such
duties as the Association may from time tc
time require. ~
2. 1t shall be the duty of the Committee
on Apprizement and Statistics, when re.
| quired, to make an estimate of stock on
hand and cash valuation of same, and OBJ.
tain such statistical information as may be
of interest to the Association.
3. 1t shall be the duty of the Judiciary
Committee to watch over and protect the
| interest of mechanics and manufacturers
In so far as State, county and municipal
laws affect the same.
4. 1t shall be the duty of the Committee
on Printing and Publication to have such
| printing done as is necessary.for the asso-
citation, and revise all publications of the
association.
). 1t shall be the duty of the Committee
on Transportation. to examine into and
compare our facilities with other cities and
report the same.
6 1t shall be the duty of the Committee
on Elections to decide ali disputes of cleo
tons of the association, and to advise with
the Committee on Judiciary as to the best
steps to be taken to serve the interests of
this association by the election of munich
pal, county or State officials.
On motion, the report was received and
the committee discharged.
Mr.. Wand stated that the Association had
received an invitation from the officers of
the Tennessee and Pacific railroad to at
tend the jubilee at Lebanon on Thursday
The invitation was on motion accepted.
Mr.. Wand stated that he had badges
printed for the members who would attend
on that occasion.
The Association then proceeded to the
election of a marshal Mr.. Wand was
nominated and elected by reclamation.
L. II. Jones, from the committee APP
pointed on the Penitentiary, submitted
report, including communication to be
presented to the Inspectors of the Peni-
Tertiary. The report was received and the
communication endorsed by the Associa-
ton. The communication from the COM
mittee to the Board of Inspectors is as fol-
lows:
Mcssrs. McNairy, Atchison and Nancy, Commits
sionsrs for State Penitentiary:
Gentlemen: We, as a committee ap-
pointed for that purpose by the Mechanics
and Manufacturers Association of Nash
vile, and as members of that class who
are now and have been the greatest suf-
ferers from that unfortunate system of
legislation which has placed convict labor
in direct and T1i11Ous competition with
their honest industry, and the only means
by which they can supply themselves and
families with bread, and as representa-
tives of an element whose welfare and
success are co existent with and
essential to the growth and prosperity of
the city and State-we, confidently believ-
ing that in yOu, from your intimate knowl-
edge of all the surrounding circumstances,
we will find warm and able friends, and
earnestly desiring hearty cooperation on
your part in the effort to reform system
which has already seriously damaged, and
is threatening to subvert and crush out the
mechanical and manufacturing interests of
our State, would without any spirit of die.
latIon, or interference in State or private
affairs which do not directly affect our in
terests, most respectfully represent and
submit the following facts and questions
for your consideration and reply
l. Assuming as fundamental principle
that 1.-The government is subordinate to
the people; but as the agent and repre-
sentative Of the people, it must be held
IN uvb1 nh in thaT,nS
selves ought never to be granted, and
which, where they do exist, should be
abolished as speedily as possible; and
assuming that government was formed for
the protection of the individual, and every
act of the government, State, Federal or
municipal, which tends to inhict injury
upon the honest industry of the citizen, or
to bring it into unfair competition with
capital or penal labor, is contrary to the
spirit of our government and the intention
of its founders we would call your atten-
ton to the fact:
2. That the present system of controll-
ing and working convict labor in the State
Penitentiary is a dangerous monopoly, huge
in its proportions, and destructive to the
interests of those engaged in the produc-
ton of such articles as are manufactured
at that institution that it is driving some
of the most energetic and enterprising
manufacturers, who are employing large
number of hands and good capital in their
business, from our midst,
8. That the principle in our national gov
eminent of which we have ever been more
jealous than any other, has been equal
rights, equal tG,UGtGOI5, equal justiceto all,
and yet we find State adopting the SUI
cidaJ, unjust and outrageous policy of tax
ing class of its citizens, Gts most vslu-
able element, while it is the least able to
bear the burden imposed upon them, of
any other, by depriving them of the work,
and the profit arising therefrom, which by
right belongs to them, and giving it to
felOgS for the support of a public iRSti
tuition which is intended for the
benefit and protecAen Of every
class OF honest society in the State.
That it is discouraging and preventing an
influx of capital and immigration, which
would otherwise even now have largely
enhanced the value of property and the
material prosperity of the city and State,
and that it is literally turning from our
doors or forbidding the entrance of large
class of active and useful citizens, who
would speedily build up the exhausted
finances of the State from its own natural
resources, and give a new impetus to the
spirit of progress in our midst.
4. The State Penitentiary is called a
"self-sustGjning institutiOn." Let us
see. If its manufactures did not
come directly in competition with
large class of honest mechanics; or if a
market could be found which no other kind
of work could supply, this claim might bs
substantiated- instead thereof we find
the following facts staring US in the face.
The Penitentisry works from four to six
hundred able bodied men with force con-
stantly increasing. The average wages of
these hands, if honest employees and me-
chanics, would be at 81 per day: One
thousand per day; six thousand per week.
twenty-four thousand per month, and five
hundred and seventy-six thousand dollars
annually, counting working days--paid to
working men simply, as wages for the con-
struction of the various articles manufac
tured by convicts, and which would give to
our city five hundred honest, hard working
men, with their own invaluable acquisition
of experience and mechanical skill, the adj
dition to our population of their families,
and the increase of the State revenue by the
taxable value of several hundred Thousand
dollars worth of property-this, altogether
outside of the millions of dollars actually