Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-04

After that came the letting of the labor of
convicts, not to the highest bidder, but to some
favorite in the employ, possibly. OF the
Standard Oil Company or some such agency
After that came the throwing of the produces
OF the prisons on the market at a very loN
figure, and then honest manufacturers were
prison labor be only the drop In the bucke'
that many claim it to be, it must be remem,
bered that it is the lowest rate OF WAGES pala
that regulates the price and not the hlghesL II
the labor of the convictS will not be let 1oI
lower prices than those paid to honest labor on
the outside then we will have no objections 70
offer but it is impossible to maintain IAN
rate of compensation when certain article
can be thrown on the market at smaller price
than the wares of honest men can pc oDJalneo
for.
If the institution presided over by Mr.. War.
ner is filled with the mentally and physically
unsound. the aged and crippled why, they
cannot work and do not come under the mead
of convict labor such as the knights Of Labor
object to- That workhouse is not considered
and If Mr.. Warner has been told to take up the
cudgel for the patrons OF prison wares and con-
tractors, who often hound men into prison. he
should remember that the workhouse is far
different institution from the majority of our
prisons and penitenUiartes.
VERY DIFFERENT DEFINITION.
In another place he says: Free labor pro.
duces all our raw material" Raw material is
not produced by labor of any kind, for the mo.
ment that the hand of labor touches anything
it ceases to be raw material, and Mr.. Warner
simply betrays an ignorance of his subject in
making such an assertion. But that affords
him no argument, for material will go to who.
ever buys it at the price, OF in quantities suf-
ficient TO secure a rebate in the price. Compe-
tition is what makes the material flow in the
direction of the prison and not because the
producers desire it.
In another place Mr.. Warner saws in speak
ing of the possible passage of the bill: 1T
would convert over $4,000 worth of machinery
and tools into little better than scrap iron: if
would render useless shops and buildings of
equal value; it would render unavailable more
than sl25, 600 worth of stock and cause us to re-
market it at heavy loss as best we could, ETC.,
ETC."
On the 18th of next June the people of Penn
sylvania will vote on an amendment to the
Constitution of the State prohibiting the fut-
ure manufacture of liquors, aies, beers and all
Intoxicating drink; if this amendment is adopt
ed machinery worth hundreds of mill
ions of dollars will be rendered worse
than useless, for it cannot be used
again in this State for the purposes for
which it was constructed. Honest men will be
thrown out of employment by the thousand
and vet have no doubt but what Mr. Warmers
experience with the results of strong drink will
warrant him in voting for the amendment and
he will give as his reason that sit is better that
a few thousand should suffer temporarily than
that hundreds of thousands should witness the
debauching of the men and women who drink
TO excess The machinery of the Allegheny
County Workhouse will not be thrown into the
scrap heap unless it has passed its days of use
fulness or the use of barrels, kegs. ETC., ETC., be
discontinued.
SHOULD IT SUPERSEDE THEM?
Mr.. Warmers complaint that the institution
is not self-sustaining is no argument except
among those who would have the workhouse
and prison supersede the honest shop anG fac
tory; it was not for the purposes of creating
warehouses that crime was invented; it was not
TO make criminals menace to honest labor
that they were first locked up. The chief aim
was to punish and prevent crime. Let us take
a barrel maker on his way rome from work on
Saturday evening; lazy vagabond assaults him
and robs him of his weeks wages and his watch
then beats him almost to death and escapes.
After his recovery the barrel maker enters suit
and after diligent search the thief is cap
tured- tried, convicted and sent to Mr.. Warmers
institution, where he is put at barrel making
When the man whom he ROBBED on the outside
is able to go to work again he is told that the
market for barrels is not so good; that the man
who robbed him on the street is permitted
under the law to continue to rob him of his en-
ployment by taking the place which was tenn
Dorarily vacated by him. How can such man
regard prison labor philosophicaIly? How
would Mr.. Warner be able to put himself in the
place of that barrel maker?
1t is not, as the Superintendent OF the Allie
gheny County Workhouse would have ms be-
1ieYe the intention to make lunatics and insane
persons out OF the criminals, that is not the
practice of hiring out cOnvicts be prohibited.
No workingman wishes to cause one inmate of
prison to become insane but all workIngmen
wish to prevent such persons from driving
honest men to crime by entering into unfair
competition and lowering their wages
HOW THEY MIGHT DO TT
If all criminals were employed on State or
national work, improving waste places. making
habitable certain localities, reclaiming waste
lands, etc, there would be plenty to do for all
of our criminals, and they would not be doing
work that would interfere with tradesmen or
laborers in cities or towns; and if they were
permitted to occupy the lands they reclaimed.
instead of allowing some sharks to monopolize
them Tor speculative purposes, they could
lay claim to something they could call
their own after serving out their time. II
was not that prisons should earn dividends for
contractors that they were erected. 1t NAV be
that some OF the kind-hearted philanthropists
will say that even in the reelaiming of waste
lands the convicts would compete with some
honest men. l admit that but thew would in
lure fewer people than in any other way and
would not hurt the feelings of the sentimental a
bit more than they would be hurt any day i n the
week if they stopped for moulept to look aft
the thousands OF poor, unfortur ate immigrants
who, through their ignorance are working for
prison wages on our streets while citizens and
taxpayers stand idly by, ava ting the summons
from hunger that will turn them into the road
tnst leaas 70 tne workhous'e and penitentiary.
ticed in this and other ST ates north of Mason
and Dixon's line is the 6Jutcrovth of the best
Thought Of philanthropYsts and specialists, who
have labored necessarily for the Advancement
of the best interests Of the peopIe. It marks
the progress OF Christi anity and the nineteenth
century" All that oulds very NICE, and if it
Is intended as tafy or the philanthropists and
specialists will answer very we'll but If is NOT
the truth, Tor the system is the outgrowth of a
sentiment which causes men to grasp for the
dollar, no matter who is trodden under foot in
getting it.
INSANITY VERSUS INDIGNANTLY.
The system Of the philanthropists is to en-
ploy the criminals at something so they will not
become insane, so that their minds will not
dwell on evI Id it was mercful thing to do,
but the present system which lets the labor out
for pittance and then eompels men and man
ufscturers to compete with it. was the ont
growth of avarice and inhuTnanity. If the
effort TO make Christians of the criminals was
as sroD on the part of the ''philanthropists''
as the efforts to make money out of them, to
make workmen out Of them, would believe
Mr. Warner, but the evidence will not bear
ID N out in attempting to show such is the case.
Here is the aim of the Knights of Labor re-
garding convicts: Do not keep criminals in
idleness, but do not throw their labor on the
market for less price than that paid to honest
labor; reform the imprisoned as well as punish
them; give them work for their brains to do as
well as their hands; teach them how to be Chris
tians while teaching them how to work; keep
what is given to the con tractor of their earn
ings and give it TO themselves when they leave
prison, or allow their earnings to go to the sup
port of their families, if they have any instead
Of throwing these families on the charities Of
the town while the prison contractor reaps a
reward from crime ths It causes him TO wish that
the crop Of criminals may grow larger. This,
in a nutshell, is the
AIN OF THE ORDER
Of the Knights of Labor and if we had the
making of the laws of the State on these things
we would not be credited with blunders OF
mismanagement OF workhouses OF the passage
of pernicious laws. As it is we must strive for
what we can get from others in the way of leg.
islation, and it must not be charged to us. ]
am not now discussing the merits of bill No.
AZ, for know nothing of it.