The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-11-15
4 PAYING INSTITUTION.
4 Good Suggestion for Utilizing the Labor
OF the Penitentiary So to Give Per-
Inanent Benefit to the People.
IGrecuville News.

'JIttIlH lilc news.
! The Columbia correspondent Of The
News and Courier reports that the caSll
! receipts Of the penitcntiary this year
have been S>5.WG.I4 and the cXpense>
! SSl .G2l.9l, giving a net cash profit OF
s., ii444'223. Tie institution owes Sl4. lG2.-
! ~ Of past indebtedness and has 70 cover
that sum $4,000 due from contractors
and 2D0 bales Of cotton the TWO items
being estimated at S2t.DGu This will
give an actual cash surplus Of some
thing more than Sl3.4W.
tbs is q good showing and goes II
confirm the general public impression
that the institution is we'll managed.
50 far as its immediate working is
concerned.
The report goes farther back than
last year and undertakes 10 prove that
the penitentiary has during tie last
eight years given the State a profit OF
S297 ,0O0 over ali expenses. including
the SlQ5,00O Of appropriations for the
eight Years and the S35trN advanced
last year.
This is very large sum and ought
to make Us happy. ii Iiwould, but for the
fact that the taxpayers have received
direct good from only a very small
part OF it, so, 600 in cash paid into the
treasury and $3.50 in work done on
the State House. The balance Of the
S3222, 600 Of total receipts by the State
is made hy improvements in the pen
ltentiary buildings, $lS3. 900; work and
cash on the Columbia canal, $40, 900 {:
face value of Sl5, 900 in railroad scrip
and $1,000 of land purchase, stock
and equipments, farm improvements.
etc.
Now that we have had ali the ''iIu-
proving that occasion can be found
for, let us earnestly hope that We will
hereafter have some cash balance t. be
turned into the treasury 10 reduce
taxes. II the penitentiary can do as
well in thu eight Years to come as
these figures show it has done in the
past it ought TO turn in an average OF
S35, 900 year to the treasury ; Or, max
ing liberal deductions for circunl-
stances, it should pay S2o,oyo any
how.
We hope, however, that there will
be an entire change in the system Of
management. The public will not OBJ
iect to pay the full bills if some visible,
actual return Of which the entire
State will receive the good can be OBJ
tanned.
TIE best work the penitentiary force
can do is on the public roads Of the
State That would stop an immense
leak in the county treasures and be Of
vast help to the people. The combina-
ton of the regular road forces with the
trained and disciplined convicts and
the county funds devoted to road re-
pairs would within d few years give us
system Of MacadamiZed roads tromone
end Of the State to the other. Another
advantage of such use Of the convicts
would he their removal from active
competition with free and honest me-
chanics.
The present road system is as bad as
it can possibly be. Under it the people
pay thousands upon thousands of dol
lars every year, not to improve their
roads, but to keep them in such con-
dition that their use is possible. In
every part Of the State there are hills or
holes which have each cost the people
thousands of dollars and they are no
better to-day than they were twenty
years ago. They still lie between the
farmers and their markets. threatening
loss and prof.: sing delay, killing strains
on stock, harness and running gear.
With Macadamized roads once built
the annual road work would keep them
in good order without dollar Of cost
in money.
We do not care how or where the
work is started. The Legislature may
begin, if it likes, by putting rock bot
tom to every highway in Richland
County or by making road straight
from the Moth Carolina to the Georgia
line. But we would like to see the
enormous quantity oflabor at the dis
posal Of the State utilized for the per-
manent advantage and relief of the
public.