The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-07-19
CONDEMNATION WITHOUT BE
Election.


Quite number of our exchanges are
mourning out Walls of wrath against the sys>
tenn Of leasing the penitentiary oohVic's'
and strange as it may appear, the grounds
Of their hostility are as various as their oo-
ieotions. Some oppose it because OF its alleged
cruelty and inhumanity others because IL
amounts to no punishment at ALL some
object to it because the State makes the on
forcement of punishment source OF rev.
enue to the treasury others because the
lessees are supposed to make proiit out Oh
tba convict labor which rightly belongs to
the State.
The nature and frequency of these cons
r,oints show very clearly that our breth-
rem of the press have not given the subject
the reflection and investigation which 1t de-
serves. The truth is, the discussion upon
if neutralizes itself, because the grounds OF
complaint are so conflicting
That the system has its disadvantages no
fair man will deny; but before we begin 10
indulge in wholesale and reckless eondem-
nation of it, let us consider the SITUATION
and necessities of the case. The number
of conyicts is too great TO be confined with
in the present walls of the Penitentiafy
building. If they are required to be con-
contracted here it would Immediately entail
an expense Of fifty or one hundred thousano
dollars to enlarge the limits OF the feni1en-
tiarv sufficiently to receive them' ana al
expenditure OF two or three hundreo
thousand more to provide machinery TO en-
ploy over a thousand operatives prontaoly'
Such an outlay and such an lminense
smount of machinery would, of course
demand heavy current expense to keep IL
in running order, and whom the number OF
conyicts fell off fifty or one hundred pei
cent the loss which would tall upon the
State would be heavy in the item OF cur
rent expenses.
BESIDES, four-iifths of the convlcts whicn
are sent to the penitentiary, are uneoucateo
and unskilled laborers, and IN halt th'
cases. before they could be trained to BIZ
usoful in a new line of industry, thell
terms would expire. The average negro II
trained to the farm and common labor, ah'
can be made useful in such place and NJ
where else.
The leasing system not only saves tn
State from any expense, but is positive
source of revenue. OF course, it is pre-
sumed that the lessess make something gu
of the contract, but if they were required
TO hold them all inside of the walls, evel
after the State had gone to the immens
expense of charging them and provioin
suff;cen, machinery. no man or set of mel
with any responsibility or powers OF calcu
lation, would take the lease without larg
pay from the State.
Until the leasing system was inaugurate
the Penitentiary was great drag upon tn
State, and this too, when the number c
f convicts was numbered only by the hun
, dreds, and belonged for the most part to tn
| white race and to a class of men capable o
of being readily taught in any kind of work
5 Now, when the number is swelled to owe
thousand, and comes mainly from con
5 mon negroes, who know nothing but con
= mon labor, and who are hard to teach any
thing else, the expense of running the inst
: tuition inside the Penitentiary enclosul
y would be enormous.
: There are many other points which strif
us as pertinent to this subject, but we hay
no time to advert to them now. In tutul
. numbers of THE COMET, we may consid'
4 them. For the present we content oursolv
by asking our contemporaries to weigh IL
u matter we'll before enlisting in war whic
~ if successful, would entail heavy burdt
VI upon the tax payers to support the Penite
tiary. For ourselves, we are in favor
% any just and equitable system which W
" relieve our people of this burden, and v
can at present see none better calculated
D. effect this purpose than the present leasir
system.