Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-03-10
=fAvoRAsls TO CONTACTS
The Majority Report OF the State Sen
ate Committee


The following Is the text Of the majority
report OF the Committee GA Prisons IL TIE
State Senate:
sWe cannot TOO strongly commend the
fidelity ana ef1cieney OF Mr.. Pond, late
Warden, a. displayed by the manner Ia
which he performed the delicate aud respOn-
sible duties which deyoiyed upon hln.
From the arden your COMMITTEES obtained
now IN prison, 10; OF which number lS2 ART
al work under contract by the day, and there
are also g. conyicts ca piece-pflce contract
making broOms, leaving 10 of the eonslets
engaged IN miscellaneous work for the State,
excepting those who arr disabled OF unit Tor
duty.
Under the existing law the Board of In
speciors are aathorizen 10 make such ar
rangements for the Employment OF any
conyicls not employed Oh any contract
as M their Judgment viii promote
the interest of the State, and, there fore,
your committee, do not deem any new iegi--
lati0n necessary. Perhaps there Is no more
important question relating TO prison man
agegient than that which pertains to the
system upon v @hleh convict labor shall be
employed, and upon this question there a.
wide diversity of opinion. That cOnylcts
should be employed IA some useful and
necessary industry Is proposition the cor
rectness of which will be accepted by all.
In the judgment of your committee II Is not
the system of labor but the fact of prOcuc-
ton which affects TO some extent the inter
ests of free labor. IL Is wholly immaterial
TO the free laboring mechanic whether a
thousand wagons, or any other
article of essential utility, shall be
manufactured in our State prison under
the contract system, or whether like num-
Der are made under the piece price or public
fta
from such production would be the same
under all the conditions named. In the sol
ution of the complex problem of labor and
in determining what policy is best for the
State To pursue In the employment of prison
convict labor, il is well 10 inquire concerning
results of different systems of employing
convict labor adopted by other States, that
we may profit by their experience. From re-
ports made by wardens and inspectors of
State prisons of other States, your commit
tee have gathered the following facts:
Illinois tried the public account system for
focr years and five months, and Warden
McClaughry says of its history IN the prison
at Joliet that ''the institution had had APP
preparations tothe amount of S6yi,OOO. was
in debt S374 ,699. % and fell short of being
self-sustaining S5i4.699.9j an additional
appropriation of Sl75,0O0 was granted 10
meet that indebtness, the balance being
paid by sales of surplus property"
In New York, prior 10 1876, the systems of
prison labor were both public and contract,
and resulted In an aggregate deficiency
amounting to 80, l45, 7l7.J6. Since 1876 the
prison labor in that State has been per-
formed by contract, and has been nearly
self sustaining. From all that your COM
mittee has been able 10 learn, II appears that
the contract system of labor IN the prisons
of the States of New York, New HAMPSHIRE
Connecticut, Ohio Michigan. Indiana, Illi-
an
souri, have been nearly, if not quite self-sus-
tanning.
A popular clamor in the States of New
York and Ohio, induced those States year
ago to substitute the public account for the
contract system, change which has thrown
out of employment large number of per-
sons and the wardens of Sing Sing prison,
New York, and also of the Ohio penitentiary,
say that, 'unless the Legislatures of their
respective States make large appropriations,
nearly all of their prisoners Will be unem-
ployed" The wardens of those prisons, to-
gether with the wardens of the prisons of
Illinois ard Missouri. estimate that a 81 ,0O0
per contract will be required from the State
as an investment wherever the public ac-
count system Is adopted. Your committee
further find from an examination OF stats
tics that the percentage of convicts In the
prisons of the United States who are en-
ployed in mechanical labor, TO the citizens
employed in corresponding industries, is a.
as one to sixty-two, while the reiative eff
cheney of convict labor is much less than
that of free labor.
In view. then, of the smalness of the num-
Der of convicts who are engaged III mechan-
ical labor, compared to the citizens engaged
in like industries, no fears need be enter
tanned of any perceptible injurious effects
upon the interests of free labor. And finally,
your committee reaffirm the incontroyertible
truth that the manufacture of articles, with
out regard TO the particular system by which
they are produced. determines the question
of competition, and that PRICES of manufac-
tured articles are governed by the inflexible
law of supply and demand, and believe that
no radical change or innovation in the long
established policy OF the State, in the en-
ployment of prison labor is desirable or ex-
pedient.