Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-02-16
CONVICT LABOR.
SPEECH OF MR.. II. L. oARrER.

NJ Dill bfforc the mouse ANoNtnI '"h>''r
TO be Worked on Public Roads ana Local
RsiIroads, Ac., &C.
Soon after IL O'Clock yesterday the
House Of Delegates resumed the con-
sideration Of the bill providing for the
employment Of convicts on the public
roads and on the local railroads OF the
State the pending question being on
agreeing to the amendment OF Mr.. Full
kerson Of Washington, as follows:
Provided that if the supervisors
shall deem it best that the convicts
furnished be employed on any turnpikes
or macadamized roads in their respec.
tive counties, the said board may so en-
ploy them, or arrange for their employ
ment on such roads, with the compa-
MES authorized to construct such
roads,"
The amendment was agreed to.
MR.. wADDILL, AGAIN.
Mr. Waddill said that as his substi-
tute had been rejected on Saturday, and
that meant the adoption Of the bill at
present under consideration, and the
perpetuation Of convict labor, he moved
to amend by providing that conVicts be-
hired out to railroads at eighty cents
per day instead OF forty, as the bill
provided.
Mr.. Echols said If this amendment
was adopted it would defeat nearly the
whole object Of the bill; that these
railroad corporations were unable to
pay that much for labor, and the conse-
quence would be that they would not
be built at all.
Dir. Van Doran also opposed Mr..
Waddill's amendment.
AN OvER-CRowDED PRISON.
Mr.. Tillar (Republican), OF Green's
vile, said that lest the views Of the
gentleman from Henrico be received as
those Of all the members on that
side of the House, he rose to
say that for one he favored the
Van Doran bill. There are now, he
said, nearly nine hundred people in the
penitentiary, while the building was
constructed to hold but four hundred.
They are crowded to death in that in-
stitution, and the only way out Of the
difficulty is to enlarge the penitentiary
or TO send the coLvicts to the country
to build county roads and to work on
local railroads. These local railroads
will give work to honest men in cutting
trees, in cutting lumber, &c.
Mr.. Tillar, in answer to questions
put to him by Mr.. Waddill, said that
he is president of railroad, but that
it is a railroad in which the county
was deeply interested.
lie thought it best for the convicts,
best Tor the State, and best for the
counties that the men, instead Of being
huddled together in the prison, as they
now are, should be sent to the country,
where their health will be improved
and where their labor will contribute
to the development Of the State.
THEY WILL DIE LIKE SHEEP If NOT
WORKED.
Mr.. Pollard said that the speech just
delivered was one of the best he had
vet heard. The General Assembly
must consider the overcrowded condi-
ton of the penitentiary the death-rate
should be regarded. If these people
are to be kept in prison and not worked
: he death. rate will increase and they
Ill die like sheep. Such disposition
t them should be made as humanity
emands. Statistics showed that un-
3 mployed convicts die very rapidly.
J he next question is, How should they
be employed? How should they be 50
employed as least to interfere with
honest labor, and yet that their lives be
preservedF There are many sections of
the State undeyeloped, and because
they do not lie in the line of the great
marts of trade, will long remain unde-
veloped unless this convict labor can be
put TO work on them.
Mr.. Pollard believed that if the
amendment was adopted it would kill
the bill. No railroad company would
employ convict labor, which required
constant watching and guarding, at the
rate Of eighty cents per day when it
could employ honest labor for that
amount. No railroad company would
consent to such an embargo being put
upon it.
DELEGATE CARTER's VIEWS.
Mr.. Carter, of Richmond, said that
as workingman and as a mechanic ne
the bill under consideration
as the best measure obtainable at this
time. 1t offered, in his judgment, the
safest solution Of the question now to
be arrived at. lie would allow the
convicts to 90 out and work on the pub
lie roads and on the local railroads, as
in this bill. The gentleman
from Henrico Mr.. Waddilll who offers
the amendment has of late appeared
as the particular friend Of the mechanic,
but on Saturday | asked him a question
" hich he did not answer"
Mr.. Waddill : What was it,"
Mr.. Carter Wait; don't interrupt
me now. Wait until get through,
and you can chin " for week if you
want to. lLaughter.l
Mr.. Carter went on to say that the
substitute which Mr.. WaGdill had offer
ed provided nothing, and was worth
nothing to the workingman, and, pro-
,eeding, he spoke Of Mr.. Waddill "as
one of the latter.day saints"
Mr.. Waddill May | ask you ques-
ion:
Mr.. Carter Yes, after get through.
laughter 1t is far in the future that