Morning journal and courier., 1883-01-26
Friday, Jan. 26, 1888.
CONVICT LABOR,

The annual attack upon ssconvict labor" is | in progress. A bill has been prepared for presentation to the Legislature of New York abolishing the system of convict labor in the prisons and providing for the employment of all prisoners on Estate account" hereafter. The bill also provides that no more than fifty conVicts shall be employed in any one trade; that they shall produce no articles of ''Amer- joan manufacture' except for supplies to the State; taat the Sing Sing prisoners shall be 1 employed in the lime quarries and those st Clinton in the iron mines. A resolution in- quiring into the expediency of changing the system of convict labor in the prisons of this State has been introduced in the Legislature.
 This action is due mainly to the idea that the prevailing system of making convicts more or less valuable is an injury to honest workingmen. It is true that repeated close and scientific investigation has failed ag furnish good foundation for this idea, but it continues to exist, and persistently exhib- it's itself at every opportunity. We do not sup pose that any amount of argument or any col lection of facts will change the opinion of some concerning this matter, but we invite the attention of our fair minded readers to the following presentation of the case made by the New York TJn,es
 If contracts are let under proper condi- tions the labor of convicts will be subject to competitive bids and will bring all it is worth. It. is the testimony not only of con- tractors themselves, but of investigators of the subject, that it generally does bring all it is worth, and that those who use it do not and cannot proftably underseH the market i-7skI &1oIu I1,s- s- great deal of evidence could be adduced in support of the statement the point of attack is simply the fact that some 2, 800 men are employed in this State (New York; in the production of ironwsre, hollow ware, har- nesses boots and shoes, hats. collars, and axles. and in laundry work, who would oth- erwise be supported by the State in idleness or employed in less profitable way and sup ported in part by the State. These men have been thieves, or law. breakers of some kind, preying upon the community and living at it's expense. If instead of being sent to prison they could have been trans formed into industrious members of society, they would have become stove-makers, shoe makers, hat makers, or producers of some kind they would have been added to the forces of productive labor, would have earned wages, and occupied places in shops or mills
 or other places of work. Now, would that be misfortune to the community, wrong to other laborers and an injury to the trades in which these men might be occupied? If not, then there is no misfortune, no wrong and no injury in
 the State putting them to employment under contracts with men having charge of estab
 lished industries for the purpose of making them support themselves while undergoing confinement for their crimes, and if possible self supporting when they shall bs discharged; provided only that the best price is obtained for their work that it will command under fair competition, so that no interference will be wrought with the normal condition of the market for their products. If there is any thing that needs investigation or legislative remedy it is not the contract system itself, but the conditions and terms on which con- tracts are let. If these are what they should be the system is beneficial to all concerned and injurious to no one Any other conclu- sion is based upon the theory that labor would gain by having more thieves and idlers instead of by having everybody employed in some of the processes of production.
 We commend these remarks especially to the Consideration of the members of the Leg islature. They will find if they will take the trouble to examine the very complete and thorough report concerning convict labor prepared by Judge Deming of this city few years ago that the argument of the Times is supported by facts.