The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-06-03


$4,000 per annum pay this cost and give the
State profit of $1,000. But instead of this what
does the assembled wisdom of Florida do?
Why, il turns the convcts OF the State-gener-
ally between 800 and 400-bOdy and soul. over
to MIR. c. K. Dutton of New York, to work on
his immense turpentine farm in Suwannee
county. Nay, it does more; it gives him the
round sum of $1,000 a year to take care OF
them
Now let us sec what the State OF Florida is
doing for this citizen of New York. Mr.. Dutton
has something over 100 crops, 105OOOOOO
boxes AS the State pays in money $4,000 for
their support, his net income on the number OF
boxes in cultivation cannot be less than $45OOO
or $50 600 Do these figures startle you? They
are a par with the salary of the President, it
is true, but they nevertheless approximate the
truth very closely.
Now, if Mr.. Dutton had to run his business by
free labor it would cost him not less than $35-
900, and great deal more trouble and give him
only a profit of about SIS 000 Thus you will
see that the State OF Florida helps Mr.. button
to about $780, annually, and antagonizes free
labor and legitimate turpentine operators TO that
extent Now the genius of our plan OF govern
ment is against all plans and systems that tend
TO degrade labor, or strip it of any OF its emolu-
ments. On the contrary, the great heart OF the
Union has ever beat in sympathy with the sentl
men that seeks to make honest toll respectable
Why is it that Florida isOlates itself from this
general feeling? Surely there can be no collu-
sion of her officials with Mr.. Dutton. There
ale thousands of acres of pine timber here that
turpentine men would like to work, and would
rent or buy if their only competition was tree la
Dor. AS the State gives Mr.. Dutton 300 convicts
with bonus of IS 900 a year, he can afford to
pay fancy prices for land Hence turpenne
men who have TO work free labor cannot COM
pete with him. and they hunt other places to in
vest their money. Until Florida remodels her
convict system, turpentne producers will be
slow TO locate upon her soil. NAVAL STORES.
1t is constantly occurring that persons
quite uniformed and frequently quite
irresponsible go into print with chap
ter of blunders; and sometimes it occurs
that persons who are informed as to sub
ject furnish to the press deliberate mis-
statements in the matter. "Naval Stores"
is in one category or the other; we don't
know which, but might charitably place
him in the former for the reason that
none but silly person, prone to blunder,
would twaddle the stuff about the "ge-
MUS of our plan of government" Flor
| ida isolates herself" etc, in this connec-
ton. Yet he could easily have avoided
| blunders in his statements if he had
wished to be correct, for at Live Oak,
near the convict camp, he could have had
accurate information for the asking. He
would have ascert aimed that there were
| not 300 convicts, for the 24O there now
| is much larger number than ever before.
He would have ascertained that the State
does not pay Mr.. Dutton $4,000, nor one
dollar. He would have ascertained further
that from the moment prisoners are SEN
fenced they cease to be an expense to the
State, the lessee sending guards for them,
paying all charges of transportation to the
camp, and even for their food in county
jais until they are removed.
1t seems unnecessary to retute the sug-
gestion that Florida is exceptional in
placing convict labor Sin competition with
free labor" In every penitentiary con-
victs are employed in occupations COM
mon to persons outside of them-in
manufactures in which the product
of free labor is undersold by the
product of thousands of convicts !;
while the work of Florida's few convicts
in the production Of a great staple of com
merce amounts to nothing as affecting the
price in the markets of the world. BY
the way, "Naval Stores " places Mr..
buttons boxes at over a hundred million
() more than there are
AS to the intmation that there may be
collision of "officials with Mr.. button
there seems more knavery than blunder
ing concerned, but conceding the blunder
in consideration of Ignorance as to the
character of officials, we would inform
"Naval Stores" as to the record in
this matter of leasing the cOnvicts:
Sealed proposals for leasing the convcts
are regularly called for by advertisement
in papers of the State, and the bid most
favorable to the State treasury accepted.
In l8Sl-S2 the State received from the les
see Sc, 7O5; in lss3-S4, $4,000. In the fall
of 1884 bids were advertised for as usual,
but there were no bidders, and the con
victs were about to be thrown upon the
State, which has no penitentiary buildings,
but would have had to provide them, and,
of course, pay all expenses Of transporting
prisoners, feeding, clothing and guarding
them The required outlay for the year,
buildings Included, would have probably
Appropriated a hundred thousand
dollars-and there was no appropra-
ton for the purpose. Under these
circumstances it was very wise to
pay Mr.. Dutton $500 to take charge
of the convicts for the year 1885. Mr.
button made the lowest bid for the cur
rent lease, taking them for nothing, and
relieving the State of all expense from
the time of sentence, as above stated.
The bidders against him asked bonus
of the State.
Under Republican administration the
convicts cost the State more than S2O, 900
a year, and their number was less than
half that it now is. Since the Democracy
captured the State they have paid some
money into the treasury, and now they
are costing it nothing, at all events.
And here we would remark that the talk