Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-21
Prison Labor.

The Contract and Public Account Sys-
 tems-Important Report by the Conn
 missiOners.
 The special commission on prison labor, immediately after their appointment by the Governor, visited and examined the prison at Wethersfeld. They examined both officers and prisoners and from this examination the commission decided that there were both a general and special complaint.
 The general complaint being against the employment in any industry, the special com plaint appeared to be:
 First-Does convict labor into competition with free labor, thereby disgrscing free workmen by making them competitors of criminals?
 second-Are wages reduced by competition with
 Third--Are the evils complained of aggravated by
 Fourth-If there evils, they tho result of the contract system?
 which should accrue to the State?
 Sixth-Are the manufacturers of the State affected by the product of convict labor?
 Seventh the contrsc ct system of prison labor is to be abolished what system can be adopted which will to the prisoner, and which will avoid the complaints Of the petitioner?
 The plan of the commissions real inquiry and the questions which they tried to decide were as follows: The system of labor at pres ent in the Wethersield prison is the contract system which has prevailed almost entirely since the prison was organized in 1927. The system which seems to be desired or asked for by the petitioners Is that of the | spublic accounts"
 State of Maine for number of years, and is still the system which prevails there. In ad- dition to these two systems there are some others, and the commission have examined each system so as to satisfy themselves of the good or bad points or qualities of each In AL examined the prisons and labor systems in ten different States. They also held public meet ings in Connecticut as single commission, and joint meetings with similar commissions from Massachusetts and New Jersey.
 In the report each system of labor is care fully examined, and the good and bad points of each system are shown, so that the friends of the system will have no difficulty in deci- ding their respective merits. As 8 result of the investigation the commission have arrived at the following conclusions There are no favored contractors in this State the com plaint of wardens and directors all over the country is that there is great difficulty in find ing responsible parties to take prison labor. Prison contracts can be had at almost any time by responsible parties Three hundred con victs are now idle in New Jersey waiting for labor.
 The price paid for convict labor is not be- low it's value. They can only accomplish half the work of free men, and they are ignorant of the work, unskilled in it, and have no in terest in working fast. The profit of con- tractors as rule is not larger than that of or dinary manufacturers, and as many prison contractors fail as free manufacturers. That with the exception of the hating trade the commission have had nothing to satisfy them that the industries of this State are affected by competition between prison contractors and this or any other State. Manufacturers and artisans have failed to show before this commission single instance where the wages of free labor have been minimized or even re- duced, except as above, in Connecticut by the combined power and capital of State, or s'by unfair and odious competition with compul- sorry labor."
 That there is justice in the demand for 8 greater diversity of industries in prison, and that effort should be made by legislators to secure such a result. That it would not be just to the State or the prisoner to abolish machinery from the prisons or to prohibit convicts from being employed at skilled in- dustry. That the 'spublic account" system is not practical under ordinary circumstances, because wardens are very seldom good mana gers of convicts and of manufacturing indus tries at the same time.
 In conclusion, the commission say that Connecticut, with it's small prison. and intel igent, bipartisan Board of Directors, needs such safeguards less than the larger States, but no State having proper regard for it's in- dustrial classes will hesitate to adopt such wise and wholesome laws as will best protect their interests. It is believed that the bill for public act herewith submitted, for which the favorable consideration of the General Assembly is asked, will afford all the protection which can be assured by the legislative action of any individual State.
 The act is as follows: That wherever it shall be proposed to employ 75 per cent or more of the prisoners confined in the State prison, by contract or otherwise, at any trade or occupations the directors of the State prison shall give public notice of the fact by advertis- ing the same in one more of the leading papers in each .city and town in the State having 10, 900 inhabitants, not less than once each week for the period of four weeks be- fore the making of any contract or selling any convict labor and shall inquire into the effect