The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-03-04
co.. Wet LABOR IN ILLINOIS.
10 the Stone Cutters Of the General Union
Of tn United States and Canada:

NO.N VIZ hADOR AAN A6hAANOA0s
IL the Stone Cutters Of the General Union
of tn. United States and Canada
CHICAGO, III. March lst, 1876.
Ii NAV not have come to your knowledge
THAI W. 81 the Chicago branch Of your Union
have been for sometime suffering from gross
perversIou OF the political - stem. to Wit
tj,e contract system Of prison id5or This
abuse bv the authorities has lasted Tor some
considerable period Il time, but owing 20 the
large amount Of work done here after the
great ire, and that the Illinois State House
kept the convicts pretty well employed, the
drau-ht on this city has been such that the
stone cutters felt 1t but little, and then only
III he limestone branch Of the trade. During
TINS period Of passive indifference on the part
Of the one cutters, the prison contractors
had built up An immense business, and It was
only last summer that these parties secured
several Of the leading buildings that vere
being erected that the stone cutters awoke
I, se.se Of their position. One OF these
bu Nm 2 belonged to a prominent Congress
man who had often solicited the votes Of the
worAiugmen OF this district Having the
most approved machinery and getting able
W lied convicts for hfty-tive cents per diem.
competition by contractors employing honest
men is useless. especially in limestone, on &C
count If the contiguity of the Joliet quarries
to the States prison; this, coupled
With the fact that they can get as
many foremen and instructors from
a class Of INSCRIPTIONS mechanics as
they want, and they employ a good many,
enable them to make the convicts available
ia short space Of time there being such a
disparity between the figures paid for the
couvicts and those necessary to sustain.
much less remunerate the honest mechanic
And again. the rate which the labor is flood
ed with these convicts is alarming There
are few Of these convicts that are life pris-
oners. and majority Of them are sentenced
or five years aud under. about the time Of
an ordinary apprenticeship, with, at the
present moment three hundred of such con
victs employed at stone cutting alone, to say
nothing Of the number employed at wagon
making, shoe making, cigar making, marble
cutting. cooperage, etc.
Here Is a viliaInOus system Of concentrating
all the discharged criminals Of the State into
these few trades, to their utter degradation
IN short time What respectable and
right minded parent will apprentice his
ca Id TO any trade where he Is with certainty |
t. come IN daily contact with the vIles- |
criminals and blacklegs in the country. Add |
a. this the fact that respectable mechanics |
aIr.aIx IN hs, hr1s1 VyiIl f.,
ployment elsewhere on account Of the uu-
equal competition, and the State has the |
cheering prospect before il that at no very dis
tant day it viii have To depend principally |
IN discharged 5onvIcts, for the majority of /
aforesaid trades will, under the existing |
STATE Of affairs, necessarily consist Of them |
The advocates OF this system pretend that
they are seeking the reformation Of the erin
inals If this is 50 the means taken would
Sc, m t. defeat the end, as by keeping them
MD ed with workn IN who are not prisoners
they cannot he strictly disciplined. and il
does away with the terrors Of confinement I'll
a great extent, converting the prison into a
mere workshop. such treatment will have
V ~ little effect on criminals who are, b.
abr and repute, such.
The real object is To make places for lot
~ political dead beats whom the party in
power have got to provide for, and also to
enable the wardt to have favorable show
ing on his books at the end of the year: ia
fact it resolves itself into case Of profit and
loss, the government claiming that it is
profitable for the State Let us look at this
view If the case a moment. The contractor
for the cut stone department pays fifty i've
cents per diem for able-bodied convicts, and
their expense to he State cannot be over
twenty cents Of this the food will cost |
l.. l.
amply sufficient 70 cover the other expenses
Incidental At tins calculation the State 4
supposed to make thirty-fve cents Der diem. |
per capita but stop does the State not
ma anything out Of its free citizens Has
she not a tax on everything which they own
,r consume, and even II she did make such I
beggarly profit, would it be policy thus |
o offer premium On crIme' Few men at 1
he present rate Of wages manage To hoard I
much and their taxation on all necessarles a
vii not fail much short Of the profit made !
N the prisoners. IL this the realization Of .
he grand scheme ~ liberty and equality, for
which thousands ~ 70 persisted on the battle
ields Of our nation? r. it thus that the men J
Who are yearly paid and honored with office
erve the men who place them there and who 7
ne the mainstay Of our political system, thus
Ieating al aristOcracy Of capital, and 81. :
epting capital from bearing a last proper. I
ion Of the burden it should bear! Did I 3
ay an AristOcracy Of capitall Yes, and an 4
ristocracy Of labor a. we'll. '
Governor TIlden. Of New York. in Al. =
ointing q commission to inquire into the
he prisons of that State. is credited with
aging that penal institutions should b. self
Importing which is all very well provided
hey could be made 90 without conflicting
nth honest labor, OF should they he en-
loved in the occupations from which they q
rere drawn, why should not some Of these 4
1ake- believe philAnthropists advocate the c
ducsting of these felons to some of the pro- C
sssionsf That would certainly be elevAtip0 L
hem in such . way that those who now crV !,
,udest for prison labor, would be the first il
D perceive the ruinous effect of this mawk- |
N sentiment. HdrperS Weekly, in an arti- h
l. ON "Prisoners and PenitentiAries, says
Whether they can be made productive Of !,
.venus or mot, the highest public interest
emands that they shall be conducted with
nnI1aant reference to the purpose of penal
r1Iitutions, and in the light Of the most IN
eTI;oent experience, and that the produce Of a
- labor shnU nerer be turned to the disad- Q
100, AZ honest labor eiseschere. We have :
.Len steps here in Chicago, and, indeed, C
,tsnd 70 make il . State question, and we 0
ave- the surbOrt Of the various trades or q