The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-15
Convict Labor.

To the Editor Of the Indianapolis Journas
And now come the County Commissioners Of
Marion county, and, not having the fear of the
knights OF Labor before their eyes, propose to
set the prisoners at the work house to doing
something, and they modestly suggest the max
Ing of drain tile. Have not drain tile makers
any rights that the County Commissioners are
bound to respects The tile there made must
come iii competition with the tile manufactured
by "workingmen;" or, are not tile-makers work
lngmenf 1t has been suggested that they be put
to scraping the Streets but professional street.
scrapers object; it is taking their bread In
snort, Mr.. Editor. this whole scheme of working
convlcts Is all wrong. and 1t is specially de-
nounced In the bill of rights of the Knights of
Labor The reason is manifest. The in
mates OF our penitentiaries and jails
never did work, or have not
worked lately. They are professional
consumers, never producers; and now for the
State or the county to set them to work is to in
crease the number of producers, which must
necessarily interfere with the rights of the
knights. Let the commissioners go slow in
setting their Jail birds to work. Wash them
wen, clothe them we'll, feed them WELL but see
to 1t that they do not work. for Convict labor"
Is tabooed in the constitution of the order The
poor convict He wouldn't work, and that's why
he is convict and now the Knights won't let
him work. His lot would be an unenviable one,
except that he doesn't much want to work any.
how. and he lives better in our county work
house. so-called, only there is no working done
there, than he ever did in his life since he quit
working.
soberly, Mr.. Editor, Is not this posher about
convict labor" the sillest twaddle you ever
hearda And yet some men of tolera BILE sense are
troubled most to death over it, as if the few pen
itentiary inmates would clog the market with
wares and starve honest men to death, and their
wives and children, too. Now the simple fact is
that there are fewer men in the Michigan City
penitentiary than are employed in any one of q
dozen shoe factories in Lynn and other Massa-
chusetts towns. Would the rights of labor be
outraged If somebody should start another shoe
factory OF large dimensions in Lynn or in Mich
igan Cityf The work done in any pententiary is
q mere drop in the bucket as to the work de-
manded in any branch of business, ard it is
shere nonsense to talk Of its affecting any occu-
patton. If the Michigan City penitentiary
should be converted into huge shoe
shop, IT would not affect the price of shoes
the half OF per cent, and, other things being
equal, a shoe mandatory working 1000 men
would work to as good an advantage. within a
stones throw of the penitentiary, as if there was
no shop within a thousand miles-nay. better.
But this craze must have it's run, suppose.
like several other Meanwhile dema-
goRues will rail out against convict labor" the
shoemaker wont allow it, nor the carpenter, nor
the brick-layer, nor the wagon-maker. nor any
other industry" Perhaps it would be good
thing to kill the prisoners for awhile, and get
them out of the way. for, If we turn them out
they Will go TO work at some of these trades, and
just as effectually compete with the Knights of
Labor separately as they do collectively, or they
would 60 to stealing again, and become con-
please the Knights well. At all events We will
have no more tile made by our working prisoners
if our local tileworkers belong te the Knights Of
Labor. u. L. SEE.