The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-04-13

aemsfmry.A
A bills pending in the Legislature
which proposes to continue the lease Of
the Penitentiary for the period of fifteen
years from the LIST November, 1871-the
expiration of the present contract The
measure, if enacted into Law, strikes
such serious blow at the interests OF
artisans and mechanics, and at honest
industry in general, that it has naturally
aroused the opposition and indignation OF
those whose business and prosperity are
to be Immediately affected Hence the
public meetings which have been held al
the Capitol during the past week. to In
vestigate, expose and protest against the
measure. The large attendance at these
meetings attest the deep and absorbing
interest of all classes of the community
in this important matter.
The bill proposes that one hundred and
twenty thousand dollars shall be expen
ded by the State in rebuilding the variou:
shops, increasing the heighth of the pre-
sent walls, ETC., but that the machinery
necessary to carry on and conduct
wooden and cotton manufactures, and the
manufacture of agricultural implements,
blacksmith avork, shoes, and other manu-,
features, shall be furnished by the lessee,
at his expense, to be used by him for the
period of fifteen years, and then to be
come the property of the State. What
amount is thus to be expended is left tc
conjecture, as is also the deprecated val
ue at the expiration of the lease.
The bill contemplates a monthly ap
preparation of fifteen hundred dollars, OIL
eighteen thousand dollars year, or two
hundred and seventy thousand dollars fol
the fifteen years, to be paid out of the
State Treasury, toward subsisting the
convicts on the following bill of fare =
Four pounds of bacon or pork per week
II pounds of meal coffee and tea once
day; molasses in exchange for pork, as
change, and vegetables daily for dinner,
if possible. The clothing to be suitable
for the employment of the convicts. In
addition to the certain labor of say 25C
convicts for period of fifteen years,
here is an actual bonus of two hundred
and seventy thousand dollars which it is
proposed shall be paid out of the State
Treasury. 1t is the experience, we be
lieve, of most persons who employ labor,
that they have to pay quite high rate Of
premium for the article. Two hundred
and fifty reliable hands for fifteen years,
with absolute power to control, direct and
enforce their labor, would be an extra
ordinary monopoly IN the hands of any
one person. 1t is a proposition SO mimi
cal to free labor and honest industry, that
we trust will not be created.
We have before us the estimate of a
responsible merchant of this city, pre-
pared to give ample bond and security
for carrying out the same, that he will
feed and clothe the 245 convicts now in
the Penitentiary, as above, for the sum Of
sixty dollars yeaI, per head, being $14,-
700 per year-and $40, 500 less for the
fifteen years, than the sum named in the
bill.
Penitentiaries are not established as
money-making institutions, either fol
States or individuals. Their object is tc
protect society, punish crime, and reform
the unfortunate. In the elaborate and
conclusive argument made by General
Wharton last Tuesday night, it was
shown that these institutions, under State
control, were generally self-sustaining,
and in many instances, sources of revenue
to the public treasury. The reports OF
the officers of the Mississippi Penitentia-
nv, from the first establishment of the
institution up to the war, shew that the
institution has seldom been a burthen upon
the State, and that when the labor was
directed mostly to the manufacture OF
cotton and wooden goods, instead of to
shoes, buckets, tubs, plows, &C., it was
most remunerative.
We are free to admit that neither the
State nor the present enterprising and
indefatigable lessee can employ to adj
vantage two hundred and fifty convicts
without sufficient accommodations and
the necessary machinery. Hence, Mr..
Richardson has been obliged to keep
most of the labor employed on cotton
plantations. 1t is due to him to say that
he has creditably sustained his contract
with the State, and that while no doubt
adding considerably to his own assets, he
has relieved the State, for the time-being,
of an expense which other lessees had
proposed but failed.
1t is our opinion, however, that the
leasing policy should be discontinued,
and that the convicts should be employed
within the prison walls. IF it shall be
found necessary to use them outside, the
many railroads projected would doubtless
employ every available hand, and, be
sides feeding them, pay the State for the
labor.
Plain talk, To the POfuf.