The Labor enquirer., 1884-05-24
.pRIsoNERs AT WORK

Above iR the headline 10 clfCuial
which was handed meby clothing mer-
chant of this city the other day. The
object. of the circular, which is issued by
he"New York State Clothing Company"
of New York city, is to furnish proof to
retail dealers that the company has facil--
ties for selling the cheaper grades of
clothing at lower figures than other man
ufacturers. The evidence brought for
wand in this circular is summed up in its
first few words. They are:
"Just one year ago this month the state
of New York made contract with us
for the labor of 45O conyicts, to be en-
ployed in the manufacture of ready-made
clothing. We pay the state rHIRTY-FIVE
CENTS PER DAY for the labor. This con-
tract runs for five years."
Think of it; thirty-fve cents per day
paid by large institution which comes
into competition with the manufacturers
who employ honest labor. I ask the
men who say the labor agitators are
cranks, whether there is not ground for
agitation against convict contract labor.
Do not attempt to- deceive any one with
the oft-repeated slush that, the working
classes are benefited by the lowering of
prices for clothing. A benefit of such a
character rebounds with deadly effect
upon the heads of the working people.
The 450 honest tailors who are thrown
out of employment by the contract of
this New York company go upon the
labor market as competitors with those
at work for other firms, and through this
competition wages are reduced, and still
reduced at every opportunity. The small
manufacturers are crowded out of the
business by the power OF this convict
employing corporation, and they (the
small proprietors)I become competing
wage-workers. The convict-made goods
are never sold lower thar a slight shade
less than the honest made, and so the
benefits which go to the consumers"
are not great enough to be noticeable {;
while every cut ma de in tRe wages of
honest producers is felt by the whole in
dustrial body.
The competitive wage system is the
curse of the producing people, at its best,
and when the despoilers of the honest
workers employ convict OF Chinese cheap
labor as means of adding to their
profits, they but the more rapidly de-
grade the working classes and riyet the
chains of their slavery.
The criminal class is enlarged with the
degradation of man, and SO the power to
starve the producers and drive them to
crime grows. The serpent grows atboth
ends, and the honest poor are cut down
by its fangs on all sides.
There is no sense in the cry that the
convicts, if left idle, must be maintained
by a tax upon the industries of the coun-
try. The people are heavily enough
taxed in every state in this Union to
provide for the comfort of the conVicts.
if the revenue were not stol len by thieves
who run the public institutions, And,
then, if anything is to be said of the idle
criminal classes which are kept by the
honest industrious, let us consider the
richly-robed criminals who are kept in
luxurious idleness, outside of prison
walls, by the honest industrious. They
are the burdens upon the people, and not
the unfortunate devils who are the lesser
criminals; or rather in majority OF
cases. the victims of the pc pernicious sys-
tenn under which we live, and the kid
gloved thieves it creates and fosters
Contract convict labor is but one OF
the means used by the capitalistic class
to rob and enslave the proletariat, and
it must be oyerthrown, even if the con-
victs cannot be fed by the state, and are
turned loose upon the fattened thieves
to devour them.