The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-11-27
TIE pM1rENT1ARY coNv1crs.

The uniform sentiment of the people is
that the maintenance of the convicts
in the penitentiary should not be
a charge upon the toll Of the honest Ia
borers Of the State, by way of tax to
support them within the walls Of the pen
itentiary. Hence the Legislature has by
law directed the Board of Directors to
farm them out, so that instead of being a
charge to the State, they should become
source of revenue. This we have re-
garded as wise policy, with the restric-
ton that this labor should not be so en-
ployed as to antagonize the honest labor
of the country. 1t should not be en-
ployed in agriculture, nor should private
corporations be permitted to avail them
selves oft. 1t may be very proftably
employed in developing the material en-
terprises of fpublic corporations, in which
the corporations are not so much inter-
ested as the people generally. In this
way this labor becomes not only profit
able to the State in revenue, though
small, but builds those great public i'm
provements which will for centuries con-
tribute to the prosperity Of every class of
the citizens of the State. During the last
two years there were sent out from tie
penitentiary between seven and eight
hundred convicts, mostly to work on
railroads in this State. The reports from
all the companies employing them, with
q single exception, are most satisfactory.
That exception is the Greenwood & Au-
gusta Railroad, which obtained a large
number of the -convicts, and the death
rate among them was so very great that
it has produced considerable feeling and
discussion in the State as to its cause.
The Ncus and Courier, to ascertain the
facts, as FAR as possible, with commend
able zeal, sent special reporter to hear
all sides, and to give correct statement
of the version of all the parties, that from
it the public may judge for itself. The
report occupies eight closely printed
columns in that paper, and is two long
for our columns. From this report we
gather that in twenty-five months the
Greenwood & Augusta Railroad obtained
2s5 convicts, of whom in that time 12S
died. The question here arises, Why
this unusual and fearful death rate. II
the story of the convicts is to be believed,
it resulted from the cruel punishment in
ficted on them, over-working them, and
Withholding from them necessary pro-
visions, even water sufficient to allay
their consuming thirst. IF this story is
true, not Only the civilization of the age,
but humanity, condemns in no measured
terms the authors of the outrage on help
less human beings, and they should re-
ceive punishment according to the wrong
they have done. Convicts, under the
sentence of the Court, have rights, among
whichis pre-eminently that of life, with
all that is necessary to its continuance,
and this whether the sentence inflicted is
designed to be punitive or reformatory,
or both. But, is the story of the convicts
true? and, if not, how is the fearful
death rate to be accounted for? The lead
ing citizens, whose statements we must
believe, say that it is not true; that the
convicts were not harshly treated further
than was necessary for their proper gov
ernment, and that the death rate was the
result of the diseased condition of the
convicts when received, the sickness OF
the season, and their being unused to ex-