Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-24
CONVICT LABOR.

Board discovers the kind of labor it is
looking for. it Will also find kind of labor
tolerably certain to entail pecuniary loss
upon the State. The project referred to
has no doubt grown out of the oppo-
sition Of the labor organizations to the
employment of the conyicts in paying
trades. If the State is to confine
the labor OF the convicts to strictly non
competitive occupations, however, there
should be no difficulty in foreseeing that
this labor cannot contribute much to the
support of the prisons. Non competitive
labor is, generally speaking, labor which is
wasted upon productions for which no de-
mand exists. The English system of put
ting convicts to work on the treadmill.
grinding air, or turning cranks with no
other object or result than the registration
of revolutions, would be as profitable as
this. Il would be better to attempt to
meet the objections of the labor organiza-
tions squarely, by demonstrating the fall
lacies which underlie them. For if it is
desired to make the prisons self-sustain-
ing, it follows that the labor OF the con-
victs must be employed upon business
principles. They must be put to the pro-
duction of goods for which there is steady
and profitable sale. Now in adopting bus
mess principles it is impossible not to clash
mora or less with free labor, nor is it
satisfactory settlement of the case to affirm
that the particular trades adopted do not
compete with any corresponding free in
dustry at the moment, because even if
they do not they may be regarded as pre-
venting the establishment of similar trades
by freemen.
The jute manufacture is unquestionably
open to this form of objection. If the
business of manufacturing jute has any
profit in it, then it may be said that the
State has handicapped free labor in that
industry by establishing convict work
shops. And there is no other industry
which, if adopted by the State, would not
be liable to the same criticism. Either the |
convicts must be employed upon work
which viii pay, in which case they viii
compete more or less with free labor or
they must be employed upon work which
will not pay, in which case their labor will
be wasted. These, however, are not the
only considerations involved. The sup
port of the prisons is question of taxa
tion. and the free workingmen are very
much mistaken if they imagine that by
opposing convict competition they can
relieve themselves of all burden |
in the premises. The prisons must be
supported. The convicts must be fed and |
clothed and guarded. Now, if they can
be made to earn their own maintenance, |
the public will be relieved of jdst so much
taxation as that represents. But if they |
are prevented from earning their own
maintenance the public always including
the workingmen) must put their hands in
their pockets and pay the bill themselves.
The workingmen in short must under
stand that the convicts are an unavoidable
burden on the community, and that this
burden cannot be got rid of, 10 matter
what policy is pursued. It must be met
either by competition or by taxation, and
this is the only choice left. But we have
not yet stated all the considerations in |
volved. A very important one is the effect |
upon the convicts Of the forms of labor to |
which they are assigned. Experience has
proved that useless and unproductive labor
is most demoralizing to those engaged in it.
The English crank and treadmill have
broken the spirits of hundreds of prisoners
who perhaps might have been reclaimed if
more rational and stimulating employments
had been chosen for them. Nothing de-
presses prisoner more than to feel that
though he is toiling hard he is really doing
nothing 1t is therefore desirable that the
convicts should be made to take as much
interest as possible in their occupations,
and before this can be effected the employ
ments must be made practical and useful.
The effect of steady, useful work upon the
convict class has always been good. 1t
gives them an interest and an object in life,
and if some small proportion of the money
proceeds of their labor is given to or laid
by for them, they are put in the most
favorable condition for reclamation.
Now the reclsmation of criminals is
subject in which every taxpayer pos
sesses personal and material interest.
For if the prisons are so managed that
certain percentage of their inmates is re.
turned to society cured of criminal habits,
there will be a reduction of taxation. But
if the prison management is such as to
brutalize and discourage the inmates, they
will return to their old haunts aid prac.
tices when they are liberated, and they
will swell that criminal population which
already adds so largely to the burden of
taxation. 1t is not, therefore, mere sen.
timental notion that the treatment OF con-
victs ought to be enlightened and humane.
1t is question of dollars and cents, which
must appeal to the most sordid and selfish
tIlAu4 dS IOAOlDlJ eo W SlAS DultAnLtiEOplob. |
An6 we are satisfied further that the ap-
prehension evinced on this subject by the
workipgmen has not sufficient foundation.
The competition to which they would
or could be exposed from convict labor
is really much more inconsiderable
than they appear to believe. 1t has
not been found in other States
that any i'll results of the kind anticipated
here have followed the adoption of our
plan. But even if this were not the case;
even if the competition threatened to be
tangible, that is to say it wonld still re-
main true that the considerations which
favor the employment of the conviots in
remunerative industries, very greatly out
weigh all that can possibly be urged from
the standpoint of the labor societies. Con.
Wet labor ought to have no terrors for
freemen, in fact, for whether it is compe-
titive or not it is the best and most pro-
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