The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-08-11
LABOR. WHAT SHA,,
n WE DO WITH 1T?

The question of convict labor hos
been more or less a subject of opita
ton in many states, in some eHton
ing as an element into their poIiticaI
discussions. For years the custo"'
has prevailed in some of these statna
of farming out the labor of tbsss
convicts to mef>engaged in mann
featuring pursuits, who paid so much
per head a year for each, while in
others manufacturing companion
leased the penitentiaries, paying tbo
state IA given sum, and turning tho
penitentiaries into great workshops
for the manufacture of wagons, bno
giles, barrels, buckets, boots. Shoes
and various other articles. Protests
against this kind of competition went
up from great bodies of w%orkingmen
and it has to a great extent been
abandoned, and probably in the near
future will be altogether so.
The PROGRESSIVE FARMER does NOT
propose to discuss nor deal with par,
tisan questions, but it does propose
to discuss freely and candidly those
great economic questions in which
the people, regardless of politics,
have an interest, and this question
Of convict labor and how it shall be-
used is one of them.
We hold that the State has no
right to farm out its convicts 70
come in competition with honest Ia
Dor anywhere.
We hold that the State has no
right to give away the labor Of these
convicts to corporations to build rail-
roads for their own benefit.
W. hold that the people who bear
the burden Of taxation are entitled
to the labor of these convicts if they
desire it. $40 HsT Hrf
We hold that good country roads
are as essential to the prosperity of
a country as railroads.
W. hold also that whatever reason
there may have been in the past to
give the labor Of these convicts to
encourage the building of roads, rail.
roads can and will now be built with.
out such labor.
We hold that every able-bodied
convict (not Of desperate character
should be put to work upon the pub
lie roads and kept upon these roads
until good. roads were the order of
the day instead of the exception in
our State.
We hold that there should be es-
tablished by the State a thorough
system of turnpikes to and from all
the leading central market points in
the State, and that these %turnpikes
should be worked and kept in condi-
ton by the labor of these ~cOnvicts.
Thus every county would derive
more or less benefit from this labor,
and be compensated for the expense
incurred in caring for them.
The people of the counties-main-
ly the farmers-build the court
houses, the jails, pay the judges, the
solicitors, the sheritfs and the jurors,
and bear all the expenses incident
to the apprehension and prosecution
of offenders against the law, and II
anyone is to be benefited by the Ia
Dor of the ~law-breaker it is the peo-
pie who bear the expense of his
prosecution.
There are twelve hundred names
now on the State penitentiary rolls.
A very large number of these, we 40
not rememberjust how many,aren now
employed in grading railroads. The
probabilities are that the number
will be as great or greater for years
to come. With this number con
stantly employed on the public roads,
under competent overseers, what d
revolution might be made in the con-
dition Of our roads in a few years,
and how soc we might nave a
system that would compare with thai
of any other State. This is a mat
ter in which the people Of the Whole
State are interested, and it Is lor
them to demand that the State con-
victs shall be put to work upon the
nuhlif. roads