The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-09-11

sandwiched in between a miserable NANCY set
the very dregs of criminal humanity
what would you propose?"
The proposition was before the legislature.
the principle of which believe are right and
are of general application. The principle of
upon good behavior. The court sentencing
Offenders to the state reformatory at Elmira
snail not nix upon, state, determine, or limit
gers may send to the state prison any prisoner
who was more than thirty years old at the
u,ne oI MS conVlctOn, or VINO mas been preVl-
ously convicted OF crime, and any incorrigi-
Die prisoner, whose presence is seriously hurt
iui 10 the Others. The managers are TO estaD-
nsn series OF marks, under which every
prisoner is to be credited with good conduct
OF all kinds and charged with all offense and
negligence; and they are to release any
prisoner when they are satisfied that there is
strong or reasonable probability that his re-
lease VIII not be incompatible with the well
rare oil society. The managers may also per-
nit prisoners to go out upon parole under suit
able rules, the managers still retaining GUS
tody and supervision. This is plan which
and with great success It is reasonable and
approved by those who have studied the SUBJ
ject."
"You believe it practicable?"
II do. Ii could only grade the penitentiary
In such manner that the better men who
were capable of improvement could be placed
would arise from it,"
"Could you make any suggestions in regard
TO the kind OF work that would, in your mind,
least affect outside industries"
AS have said before, we pay no attention
deepen the Illinois and Michigan canal, OF do
any public work near the penitentiary, but
, .hst c would only be temporary, snd not stop
would be up In arms then, and they are more
numerous than mechanics. IL is my candid
opinion that industries are but little affected
by penitentiary labor. Since the state has
taken the stone department we have been I'M
able to compete with Chicago firms. They
the convicts build all the railroads, and they
nave terrible time with the men. Not long
since had man apply TO me for position as
guard. 1 asked him his qualifications He
replied that he had been engaged seven
months d guard in the Texas penitentiary.
and during that time had killed seven mig
gers informed him that his qualifications
were not satisfactory. This is the difficulty of
employing cOnvicts on public works"
"Ifthe cost per day of labor is as small as in
dicated in the figures of the contract, why is It
mat contractors can not undersen outside
firms and In consequence degrade laborG
"a man in the penitentiary will not do over
two-thirds what man outside will do In a
day. Compulsory labor is not productive of a
fun days work. With il is, Here, YOU get
out so many paii of boots or there is the soli-
tary.' The class of fellows we have in the
tate prison don't take 10 labor much, and II is
hard work to make them work. You have got
TO drive them all the time, and contractor
has to stand the loss"
"But don't you think that If convicts were
kept at manual labor exclusively the effect
would be felt the less, because It would be
drawing men from the millions instead of the
thousands?"
Perhaps you are right about that. 1t is a
profound question, and the greatest of our
statesmen can not answer it,"
The above is substantially the interview,
though, of course, the exact language of the
value, because he has had considerable practi-
cal experience with eonvicts, and an apparent
fairness. in discussing the question, is observ-
able throughout the interview.
Since, under radical rule, crime has in
creased to an extent never before witnessed
in this or any other country, it is not sur
prising that the prison problem is regarded
as one that our great statesmen" can not
solve. 1t involves punishment and reform
alton, and at the same time such an amount
of production of manufactured wares as viii
make penitentiaries profitable institutions
to the state. 1t will be noticed that in
one department of prison work at Joliet
: stone work - the state is not
able to compete with Chicago firms. The
prices paid for convicts on marble and stone
work are set down at 45 and so cents per
day, and still these figures are too high to
enable the prison to compete with outside
work. The warden says that it is impossible
to get more than two-thirds of days work
out of a convict. Admitting this and allow
ing for il, marble and stone work costs the
contractors 81 = and rs cents per day. Thus
it will be seen that the Chicago firms all
else being equal, would have to employ
honest labor at lower prices than are
paid for convict. The policy of the radical
party has had the effect to create an army of
idlers of vast proportions Many of these
idle people are steadily drifting into CRIME
and are on the road to prison. 1t is phase
of radicalism well calculated to arouse the
attention of working people as well as all
other classes and should be a powerful rea-
son for voting the infamous party out of
power.