The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-06-17
alneGntelli lliqeneer-
The work House.

personalities in yesterdays issue in con-
nection with the Work House project
In order to belittle Mr.. Frew's opposi-
tion to said project, both as q member oi
the Board of Commissioners and as part
proprietor of this pa per, he undertakes
to specify the Insignificant amount that 8
Work House would cost Mr.. Frew as a
tax payer, by remarking that his "indi-
vidual property tax last year amounted
to one dollar and eighty cents" To show
how grossly false is this statement We
may mention that Mr.. Frew's individual
property tax last year amounted to
SIse 46, saying nothing of the tax that he
paid As half owner of this paper and as
st6ekholder in corporations that pay
their own assessments.
to mutilate the findings of grand juries to
accomplish his ends, would not hesitate
. moment to mutilate the tax returns
where he had an object in doing so. Such
= performance Is characteristic of the
sham reformer.
A week ago this sham reformer went on
to tell the public how cheap q Work
House could be put up, u matter of which
he knows nothing whatever. and made
use of the statement that the So, 900 was to
be expended on centre building, adding
that the "wings will have to be built to the
centre building, and this the tramps and
patty offenders who are now q burden on
the community will do" As an Offset to
; this silly statement, seeing perhaps that
the employment of convict labor was not
likely to popularizs his scheme, he came
out yesterday and announced that the
5000, "instead..of depriving working
men of labor, would give quite number
employment for considerable time to
come" Any man possessed of any intel
ligence worthy of respect knows that
after the purchase of the necessary ma
terial for a Work House, even of the
most diminutive pattern, but little of
5000 would be left for wages to any
number of people worth speaking of.
Another statement made by the cham
reformer is n fit companion piece to the
above statement, viz, that "every time
that Toby Vance is up before the Police
Court and given = thirty day sentence, it
costs the ely about SD so. And so with
the rest Of his class. The workhouse
will save this expense" To show the
sbsurdity OF this statement, it is only
necessary to mention that Toby Vance
being city offender could not be sent
out of the city for punishmentl except
under some Law that does not now exist,
and that no one can say ever will exist.
But even if such law did exist, and adj
mitting that under 1t Toby could be sent
10 such an institution, how much less
than So 90 would it cost to dispose of
him2 The fees of the City Sergeant and
Municipal Court would still have to be
paid, and, in addition, there would be the
expense of sending Toby under guard,
in 9 "Black Maria" of some sort,
out to Elm Grove. "And SO with
the rest of his class" A Black Maria
kept up as an adjunct to the police court
with driver and a gusrdsman or two,
t would not be apt to diminish our police
expenses, but, on the contrary, to swell
them slightly. 1t devoIves, therefore, on
the genius who invented this argument
to tell Us what Toby's valuable services
would be worth in Work House tor 80
days. What branch of skilled employ
msnt would he follow2 The Charter OF
the city says that no city offender can be
imprisoned or compelled to labor "with-
out compensation" more than thirty
days for any offence. How much would
Toby or any of hisi class be worth for
thirty days? Ne have already city Work
House where such men as Toby Vance
can be appropriately sent, and it cost
$5,021 80 to keep it up last year. What
are We going to do with that institution
L. il likely that if we can't make the CITY
prison pay that we can make a Work
House pay? Is it not absurd to say that
it could be made self supporting by send
ing 80 day offenders there?
But, no doubt, such ignoramuses as the
Sunday Leadsr man would tell US that il
Is the design to send long term offender,
to the Work House, and thus make it self
supporting. To this statement we repl,
~ that you cannot do it under the cit,
charter, and (2) that if you could do i
You would establish a rival institution tt
Moundsville, where some 25O able-bodiec
convicts have not been able to defray tn,
expense OF their keeping except by max
ing them competitors at nominal price
for their labor with the mechanics o
this community. Do we understand tn,
the "lighter, litter and leader" TO say h,
means TO put in operation another insti
tuition Of this sort in our midst? W.
fancy that the Iaboring men of the cit,
would like to hear from him on this poin
At the Pittsburgh Work House they tax
contracts for labor, even for washing, an
for making barrels and kegs, yet wit
all these facilities, Mr.. Fleming write
that their experience has taught themltha
the best method of employing their labo
is to hire it out under the Contract sys
tenn" Ia that the design in regard t
the Ohio county Work House? And
not,how is it to be made self supporting
Let rs have an explicit statement from
this wOuld.be-thought champion of tn
project.
Mr.. Fleming, who speaks from
= long experience, and is not
quack in the matter, says that h
would deem it unwise to put tn
necessary machinery of Work Hous.