Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-01-09
TO THE TAX.RAYERS Or IOWA.
From the Mt. PleasanG Journsl.l 4s

Il Il u
tFrom the Mt. Plsssans Journal.l ss
At the last session Of the. Iowa Leg.
islature bill was passed giving aH-
I, thority to build new pcnitenfiary,
and m appropriation Of iifty thousand
tdollars made to start said project. Fif-
teen thousand dollars was also appro-
priated for the purpose Of purchasing
. stone quarry, making in all sixty-five
thousand dollars. The money, / am
Informed, has all been expended. or
nearly 90, and the building hardly
con. menced, and it Is reasonable to ex-
pect that ut this rate the new building
and machinery will cost not less than
three to five hundred thousand dollars.
This the taxpayers Of Iowa will have
to pay. Now / want to give some
plain facts 80 that the tax-psyers OF
Iowa can see just what their represen-
tatives at Des Moines are doing with
their money In my ofRlcial capacity,
| have to 90 to the Penitentary 1T IT.
Madison with prisoners, and being one
OF the many citizens of Iowa that have
been led to believe that the prison at
Ft. Madison was full, and could not &C.
commodate any more prisoners-that
the building of another penitentiary
was a necessity, You can imagine my
surprise on investigating the matter on
the 2lst of this month to find the fol-
lowing facts as they sse. First, the
penitentiary at Ft. Madison has not
been full, nor is it ut this time. There
is room for one hundred and fifty more
prisoners. That ON examination in
person, found No. II, building 90
feet long, nearly empty-only five men
employed in 1t. This building can ac-
commodate 40 more men. No. IL can
accommodate 10 more than what is In
i at present. The foundry, a building
70 feet long-5 men now employed in
this building. It has . capacity for 80
to 40 more. The machine shop 86 feet
long, l found only one third full, can
employ twenty more men; and every
shop that I saw in the enclosure, /
found that more men could be accom-
modated. made inquiry Of the con-
ductor as well as the Warden, Mr..
Craig, how It was 80 many work shops
had no men in them, and was informed
that they had all the men employed
they had in the prison, and was further
informed that they had work and
sleeping room for 15O more conviets
than they had in the place. On further
investigation I found that there IL suf.
ficient room on the North side of the
enclosure to put up work shop with
capacity for eighty workmen, and
would accommodate all the prisonera
that will be sent to the penitentiary
for the next twenty years, counting at
the rate of per cent. that has been re-
ceived for the last fifteen years.
Now, the facts in the case are lust
this. The taxpayers of Iowa are be-
ing bled to fill the pockets of a ring at
Des Moines. Further, l can prove
to the Governor and Legislature OF
Iowa, that the building of q new peni-
itentiary is useless expenditure of
the peoples money at this time and
that the contractors at the penitentiary
are anxious TO employ all the persons
that are received-that if Governor
Carpenter will appoint q committee Of
gentlemen that arc not personally in
terested or biased, that they cannot
report adverse to the building of new
penitentlary at this time, and that it is
useless expenditure of money taken
from the taxpayers Of Iowa to fill the
pockets of . certain set of gentlemen
that would not be hard to name, and if
called on viii do so. Further, section
3, of the billpassed ct the last legislature
gives power 70 the cOmmissinnAra or
Wursfru to transfer number Of prison
ers from the old to the new penitenfia-
ry AS soon as it is ready. That AN order
will be Issued from the proper person,
there is no doubt, as it is the object of
the ring to get lot of conyicts taken
to the sixty-five thousand dollar stone
pile at Anamosa, SO as to compel the
Legislature TO make another appropri-
alton this winter. This is the little set
up, as am informed from good au-e
thority-that the cells were being
pushed forward this cold weather for
no other purpose. Shall this be done !?
Is it humane to take q lot of unfortu-
nate men from the old prison where
they have comfortable quarters to 4
damp stone pile, 30 as to enable certain
gentlemen to accomplish their designs
Let the people of Iowa demand of
Governor Carpenter and their Repre-
sentatives at Des Moines, to stop ap-
propriating their money until an i'm
partial investigation can be had for l
charge again that the project of q new
Penitentiury is solely for few gentle
men, and not for the State of Iowa.
More anon. S..ss7 II RooT. r
EH-