Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-09
WHAT TIE YAGs NEED.



Ineffective Way of Furnishing Them
III conversation Friday with a gentle
man who has had . good deal to do with
the control Of the criminal classes in 9 iu-
dicial capacity. the subiecto of the troubleto
which this community is put by the class
Of vagrants who inject it was under discus.
sion.
.The fact is, said be, THAT class always
win be a nuisance in q community when
they once effect q Judgment so longas they
are not treated with some degree o: sever
ity. To merely incarcerate such men in a
comfortable, well warmed prison and feed
them regularly twice a day is no
punishment at all. In other places
they are put to hard labor of
one kind or another that gives them q
strong distaste for a commitment. There
are men lonnging about saloons in tins
town. subsisting on free lunches and occa-
sional begging, that would not accept an
honest days work OIL the street even at
good wages. They are inveterate vaga-
bonds and many of them don't sleep in a
bed once in three months. To such men
as this, utterly lost to s~elf-respeet, the in
side oil q jail where they have food and
shelter provided for them is no punishment
at all. They are quite ready to go there
during the cold weather as the easiest way
OF getting through it,
Don't the statutes specify their employ
ment in some shape Or other while serving
out their timer"
1T certainly does in most express terms.
Turn to section 243 Of the Fourth Division
oil the Compiled Statutes of Montana and
you can see that ample provision is made
for making Migrants earn their living when
serving out sentences"
The section in question reads: aAll male
persons having the ply steal ability towork,
convicted of vagrancy and imprisoned on
judgment therefor, may be required to per-
form labor on the public works, buildings,
grounds or way in the county, and the
Sheriff, or other person or persons having
them in charge while performing such labor.
may, in his discretion, employ any usual.
humane and sufficient means to guard
against and prevent such persons escaping
from custody while being so employed. For
each and every days work willingly and
faithfully performed by such yagrant. he
shall receive credit for two days time,
which shall be by the Sheriff applied upon
and deducted from his term OF imprison-
ment."
During the winter, continued the gen.
tleman, sit would be difficult to do any
work OF consequence upon the public roads
in their frozen condition. But it is not the
actual value of the work they do as the
public disgrace Of being in the chain gang
that forms the best feature OF such employ
ment. If those warrants who are the worst
OF the class-the incorrigibles- knew that
they would have to handle a pick
with a ball and chain attachment in
the public gaze, Butte would soon
be set down in their black books and be
given a wide birth. Take particularly that
class OF vagrants whom the Marshal has
been endeavoring to reach lately, fellows
who infest gambling houses and saloons all
the time and are known to the police
to be without any honest employment,
and all they would need would be
a short experience OF this kind Of
exposure and they would soon shift to
other scenes. If the jail yard had been
furnished with proper enclosure OF a high
fence, as it ought to have been from the
first. means for their proper employment
within it when they can't be employee on
the highways would soon be found. 1t is
work-enforced labor, that these fellows
hate most heartily, and until they a get
a good lose OF it in prison, it will do no
good merely sending them there to be con-
fined.n