The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-11-01
CONVICT CARRIAGE.

CONVICT CABBAGE.
The shameful spectacle witnessed on the
East market-space, on Saturday morning last,
was the direct result of the cheap and paltry
policy of the Democratic Commissioners, par
ticularly of Mr.. Sahm. Every man who has
ever had any business with Sahm, whether
Republican or Democrat, will recognize in
this incident an expression of Mr.. Sahm's
mind entirely in harmony with his general
policy since he became Commissioner. When
Vice president Hendricks died Mr. Sahm did
not propose that the board should lift a finger
toward the work of drapipg the court house,
and not until his party friends Jumped on
him. to use an expressive slang, did the
srnall-minded man agree to a be.
fitting observation of the death of
the Vice-presdent. This bit Of history
is recalled simply as proof that the scheme
to sell convict cabbage on the market at con
Wet prices was very natural one to come
from the heart and brain of Mr.. Sahm The
Coy's man, now superintendent of the work
house. to cast the odium upon Captain Gin
ton will not succeed Indeed, this is not the
first time the labor of the work-house has
been brought into competition with free la
Dor by the present Democratic Board of Com
missioners. 1t was done in the building and
repair of bridges, as detailed in our city
columns
We notice that, every now and then, some
gentlemen, who never did days work with
their hands in their lives affect great disdain
as to the declarations Of honest, free labor
against the competition Of convict labor.
We have yet to hear man who ever worked
as wage worker with his hands utter this
sneer. 1t is said that the amount of con-
vict goods manufactured and sold is so small
that prices not seriously affected. If this
were true which it is not, it is no answer to
the righteous indignation of free men, whose
labor is put side by side with convict labor.
No honest carpenter, no honest shoemaker,
no honest printer, can but feel Justly out
ragged if the authorities put side by side with
him convicts to work at his trade. 1t is this
outrage upon the sentiment of true manhood
in every good citizens breast and which it
should be the care of the State to foster and
develop as much as possible, that makes the
presence and competition of convict labor
hurt. Workingmen care for something else
besides the mere matter of wages, and he great
ly mistakes and misjudges the honorable, free
workiugmen of America who imagines that
they think of nothing else than money in
connection with their skill and industry A
true workingman takes pride in his honest
calling, and if convict were paid not only
the same wages as he, but double the amount,
the sting Of the competition would still rankle.
If Mr. Sahm's convict cabbage had been
offered for sale at one dollar a barrel instead
of at convict prices, every honest, free farmer
and gardener, every honest and free man and
woman who does business in the markets of
the city, must still have felt the shame and
insult. This is the core Of the convict labor
problem, and along that line it must be
solved. 1t is not demagogy to cry out against
the competition Of convict labor with free
labor. 1t is in harmony with the natural in
stincts Of every man that the attempt of the
Democratic Board of Commissioners to intro
duce convict provisions into the markets of
Indianapolis be rebuked, not only by those
directly affected, but by all who believe that
the dignity of free labor should be upheld and
protected.