New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-05-31
CONVICT LABOR.
ID DIT sprrPy,s DISMISSAL AT ALBANY.

.ho most of superintendent Of the Albany Peni-
.on,;arv in obedience TO the demand of the Work
;ncmens party of this city. merits the attention OF
.boso who dislike Communistic ideas and OF
,hose who desire to see prisons made sclf-sstaining
A roclless disregard of the consequences to the
,oooprv of the city and a lack OF gratitude to
,i,bful pnblic servant characterized the act. The
come men would as rclentlessly remove Mr.. Plls-
-. from the charge Of the State Prisons if they
hoI the power no matter if by their action the
prisons would be made to cost the State, as for
merlv 81 OOO, 900 year to support
The administration of the Psburys. father and
coll every one will admit ought to have received
better reward after nearly thirty years valuable
service TO the County OF Albany than u summary
ending without even word of thanks. What is
the financial record of that administration which
made out of an obscure provincial penitentlary one
Of the most famous prisons in the world? Below II
is given IN condensed form:
From 1s49 TO October 81, 1872. under Gen
cral Amos FIlsbury, carninGa over oid- oo, 90, y,
From MA" octobcr III so, TO october 81. 1877.
under Louis u. Psbury, earnings over
ordinary expenses ...............--...- l6S,1oo %
Total S375,1Oi IS
The penitentiaTy bad originally only ninety cells ;
now il has go cells. 1t has been enlarged to more
than five times its original size shops have
beer built and Il wall built nclosing the entire
ward of the prison. These and many other minor
improvements have been PAID for ont Of the earnings.
without calling upon the county treasury, at cost
of S1G3393 Is. In addition to this there has been
maid in cash into the county treasury, or by order of
the county authorities, $l40,237 So. The balance
of gain is accounted for by cash on hand" debts
due and property on hand" at the close of the
last fiscal year.
What had the Board of Supervisors of Albany
Al, Il. .n,1
showing that the county had been at no expense
whatever for years for the support of its criminals
The Supervisors said nothing; the subject was
ignored. But the board passed the following reso-
lutions by an almost unanimous vote:
Whereas. 1t is claimed that many of our industrious
and worthy mechanics are now ont Of employment III
consequence o; general depression Of business and
IL being alleged by certain classes OF them that their
failure obtain work is due IN some manner to the III.
reference of prison labor with their legitimate trades
R,soIred, That a committee OF five members Of this
board. together with the Mayor and Recorder he a-
pointed whose duty shall Ice to inquire into the man
ner in which contracts have been and are made Tor
labor aud the compensation received for the same bY
the superintendent OF the Albany Pcnicntlary. the
duced. and the relative cost OF the Labor on such articles
compared with the cost 81 labor ON smi! i
effect Of prison labor conducted IN THIS Institution
and skilled labor III the county Its eject on our local
manufacturers engaged in the production OF md arti
and IN what manner II any, II ELECTS the sked lahrI
and financial management of the affairs of the insttu
ton.
cabllty Of substituting other kind OF abor for that
in which the conycts in the said Ienentiary are now
employed and whether II can Dc made source o fCNe
nue. to the county.
One of the supervisors of advanced views de-
sired TO put an end al once to Mr. PIlsburys odious
business management of the Pcntentary and SUBJ
stitute that of the politicians. He accordingly
introduced the following resolution:
Resored That the contract system existing in the
Albany PemtentaIy he and the same Is hereby a3oi-
ished and that all contracts hereafter made By or on be-
half OF said penentary he first submitted 10 this board
and approved by II before being entered INTO
The resolution was voted down as beng too
frank but it received in its favor among other
votes that of the recently elected Mayor of this
city, Mr.. Michael y. Nolan-the chief theme of
whose inaugural message was municipal economy.
The Supervisors then elected as superintendent OF
the pententiary a Mr.. John McEwcn, who ac-
CURED it seems, an intimate knowledge OF prison
management by taking prisoners to tie peniten-
tary while serving as deputy sheriff. What the
cause of this sudden change of management and yiO-
lent attack upon the sef-sustanne quality of the
penitentiaryl 1t is because at the late municipal
election the convict labor question made the
chief issue and CONQUERED. The candidates for
MAYOR and for Supervisors were questioned respect
ing their views on this question and II became
widely known what their. opinions were
There were three candidates, Democratic
Workingman and Republican. The Demo-
crat and the Workingman IT was known would
do all i'm their power 10 Dust Mr. llsbury and stop
the cOnycts from making any more shoes lfhcr
chief occupationl. The Republican was known 20
be earnestly in favor of continuing MIR. PIlsbury at
the head of the pcnitcntary and OF not interrupt
ing the system of labor Indeed Mr. Young. the Re
nnbcuu candidate, ha. been an inspector of the
nenitcntiarv for over fifteen years and necessarily
had approved Of the system by which the conNlCis
had been made To pay their own way. during the
canvass the Ironmouldcrs of the CITY were especially
hitter in their attacks upon Mr.. Pllsbury III conSc-
quence of his putting the convlcts oil sing sing al
work upon stove mouldIngs a year bcioir' ana
thereby bringing 10 a sudden end great ana long
strike Of the moudcTs.
What was the result of this PLAIN issue between
the city's interests and the workingmcn'sf The
Democrat received 5000 votes; the Nottingham
5000: and the Republican 5000. Usually the
Democrats carry the city by only small majority.
and within five years there has been "a Republican
Mayor The great shrinkagc III the Republican
vote was due chiefly III the opinion of politicians, 10
the fact that the Republican workingman voted for
the Workinguens candidate. The Democratic work
ingnan was not offended by the views OF the candi,
date of Li4 paitV on the prison labor question, ana
all the traditional feeling OF fidelity to party ielt ny
Democrats was experienced by him and hc accord
ingly deserted the N"rkingncns parry, At ne
eleventh hour and voted the Dcmocratlc tlcket Al
though they p0lcd a vote which ast"nl 'hcd an thr
politicians of Albany, the leaders ol the WORKING
mems oarty did not express any delight when II was
announced 10 them, but on the contrary lndig-
nantlv said that they had been dclrandcd ont
of at least 2,GO0 votes. A. Albany hasn't good
Registry Law and the inspectors OF election were
either Democrats Republicans II IS possible that
this claim may have been just. 80 Significant was
this vote for Mayor and supervisors deemed III
relation to the system of convict labor III the pch-
Tertiary that when the Board of Supervisors came
to elect "a superintendent lMr; Plsbury's term
expires next March, Mr.. Pilsbnrys name vas
not even mentioned. And the strongest candidate
in opposition To the successful Democratic one was
the late candidate OF the WOrkngmcns party for
Mayor This maneuyTc would have placed the
WOrkingman at the head of the pentcntary If the
Democratic Mayor and Recorder Of the city, who
had TlPht 10 ON the question. had not boon