St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-09
CONVTCTS' TOLL,
The House Fails to Act Decisively
as to Its Nature.

The Willrich prison labor bill Drovid-
ing for the immediate establishment of
the state account system, and the prison
labor committees bill on the same sub
ject, but providing for two years eX-
pertinent with the state account, were
before the house yesterday in commit
tee of the whole, aud under discussion
until late in the evening. Mr.. Willrich
opened the debate with a long speech
on the account system. In referring to
the state of the penitentiary at the
present time, he said:
1.-The prisoners have been kept in
utter idleness. They have almost rot
ted in their cells. 1t has been dis
grace to Minnesota and Civilizations
During his speech colored minstrel
band passed around the capitol, play
ing "Where Was MOSeS?' The mem
bers incontnently rushed from their
seats to the windows. hoiSted them and
hung out until the band was gone. Mr..
Hay sarcaStically remarked:
1.-The mayor Of st. Paul ought to be
requested to keep bands away from this
building"
ITO which II. T. Stevens rejoined:
THAT was an encore for Mr.. WILL
Hch's speech"
To several criticisms made of Sey-
mour, Sabin 81 Co. by Mr.. WiIlrich, Mr..
Seymour replied as follows:
II have no interest now, directly or
Indirectly in the Thresher company. [
do not wish to go into any defense of
the contract system, and | believe that
the people of the state quite generally
favor and have asked for the state ac-
count system. The Thresher COMPANY
has told me explicitly that they do not
desire this convict labor. reinstatement
that the cell building is uninhabtable,
because of its use by the Thresher COM
pany is untrue. 1t is false. | also deny
that in all my connection with the
prison that any citizen ever carried into
that prison whisky or dangerous weap-
OnS. | will state that a convict who
was allowed by the warden last summer
to roam about his house and his barn
whisky, and the editor of the prison
paper and some of his attaches got
drunk. | am tired of this constant ma
Igning of Seymour, Sabin & Co., l
came here expressly this winter to meet
representative gentlemen from all parts
of the state. and to convince them that |
have not got hoofS and horns As I'M
derstand, all that the Thresher company
wants is fair adjustment as to their
shops that now stand on state ground. -
Mr.. Keyes moved that his bill be sub
Stituted for Mr.. Willrichs and in doing
so said:
1T seems to me that the policy of the
state should be to support conVictS: to
protect the state and reform the convict.
We should, if possible, in settling this
labor question try the two systems
contract and state-until we have hon
eStly determined which is the actual
superior of the other.''
Mr.. Barr-It is the desire of the prison
committee to give the state account sys-
TEN fair trial, but not TO rush the state
into perhaps costly experiment.
Mr.. Barr moved that the Reyes bill,
as amended by the prison labor commit
tee. be substituted for the Wilrich bill.
This motion was lost by vote of %
TO 10.
Mr.. Smith, have thought that it
would take sharp Investigating COM
mittee to ascertain what is due between
the thresher company and the state. [
am, upon general principles, opposed to
the contract system as degrading, and [
don't think that we should favor SyS-
tens which tend to degrade and brutal
iZe. 1t has occurred to me that these
prison inspectors have taken remark
able course. Two years ago So, ZOO was
appropriated DIV the stale 10 employ
these convicts, This these inspectors
have not done. They have planted
themselves in front of the car of prog
resS and have not turned their hands
over. 1t seems to me that this is not
the position that should be taken by
honorable public officers. They pO-
lltely censure the last Legislature for
their acts. They assume all the powers
of the legislature itself. The older
states of the Union have abandoned the
contract system. favor the state ac-
count system for this reason. Rather
than have the enforced idleness of the
convicts for which the prison inspectors
and warden are alone responsible, |
would have them hired out at six
pence per day.
Mr.. Hoyt-I do feel that the present
prison inspectors do deserve some de-
gree of censure for the course they
have taken. The legislature of 1887
provided that they should adopt the
state account system, yet they did not
do it, and appeared to seek about to
find some excuse for the avoidance of
their daty. The results of their failure
are idle convicts confined to three by
six cells with bad ventilation. They
beg like dogs for something to do. This
Is relic of barbarism.
Some counter fighting followed, after