Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-27

trivial offense would be so badly disgraced
by such an exhibition that their friends and
the general public would make protest.
snow, here is the other class of people
who might be placed in the criminal labor
ing class. the hard cases or the common
Ioafers. The latter lot are utterly worth
less under any circumstances and in the
former it would take pretty nearly man for
were made TO improve the county roads, the
men would have to be sent out
under guard. In a very short time the
roads in the immediate vicinity of the pen
itentiary, the workhouse, or the jail would
be put, as the average man would call it,
sin great shape" Then the more extended
operations would require greater cost, and
who would haYe to pay for it? The tax
payers.
THE FARMERS WILL OBJECT.
EVERY farmer who puts his team to work
to make his section in order would look at
a chain gang over the sights Of double
barreled shotgun if he thought that he had
to pay an extra millage for enforced labor
which he could do in his own spare time.
In the city, if any such effort was made,
the PAYERS and hammers and other organized
labor bodies would make a strenuous kick.
"What will we do with the criminals?
Give them something 10 do. We don't want
TO turn out lot Of lunatics as they do from
Moyamensing as the result of solitary con-
fnement It would be only refined cruelty,
and there is no one in the world would be
the more, happy than 1 to find a
way to utilize criminal labor. The
broom makers stopped broom manufac-
ture, and other organizations stopped other
industries including shoes, barrels and vari-
Gus classes of work. To tell the truth, if
this thing keeps up much longer cannot
see any alternative for judge when he SEN
tences man to long term except to impose
the death penalty. As choice between
death and insanity I would prefer the
former"
MERCER ALSO OPPOSES IT.
Robert E. Mercer, County Commissioner,
said:
Chow to use convict labor is burning
question to-day. Many schemes have been
proposed by those who make the manage
ment of prisoners life study. Whether or
not it would be feasible to use convicts on
the county roads, in chain gangs,
has not been demonstrated in this
section of the country. 1t appears, how
ever, to be demoralizing practice to chain
men and send them out on the public high
ways to work. To do this we would have to
return to an ancient practice. Upon every
hand we see evidences of progress. We can
not go back. We must keep up with the
requirements of to-day; and therefore
would oppose a custom which is distinctly
one of the past.
s'Down South they use convicts for labor
ing on the county roads. The conYicts are
chained and marched in gangs, .where they
are objects of the curious This practice
has not worked successfully from moral
standpoint Crime is just as extensive
there, and even more SO in proportion to the
population than 1t is East. Rather than
having a moral influence on the convict it
SEARS AND HARDENs THEM.
"After he has been exposed on the public
highway q convict looses, in measure, any
moral restraint he may have. Instead of
making him look with horror on his posi-
tion, he gradually sinks away, and becomes
indifferent to himself and careless of his
actions.
''The prison inspectors do not claim that
the workhouse is reformatory institution,
vet they do think that every influence should
be brought to bear on the prisoner to awaken
better thoughts in his mind. A large per-
centage of the men who go to the works do
not come out after serving a period in
'durance vile with any better moral princi-
pies. This, however, is no argument for
giving the practice up. 1t has been demon
strated that long periods in servitude passed
in idleness has bad effect on the criminals
We are obliged to provide work, and this is
the difficult problem to solve.
Before pipe lines were laid, the work
house did rushing business in barrel
making. Not MANY years ago every inch
of space was used In the factory, and we put
as many men to work there as the place
could hold. We had sales for the barrels
All this is changed now. We can only use
q small fraction of the criminals on this in
dustry. Last Saturday, out of 602 male
prisoners, there were only about a dozen
men working in the factory. The balance
of the men are employed around the farm.
IMPROVEMENTS AT THE FARM.
Superintendent Warner il engaged on ex
tensive improvements on the farm. He has
scientifically irrigated the ground, and it is
now in splendid order for growing crops.
All around the farm the Superintendent,
under specifications drawn up BY an en-
gineer, is laying ont roads and fencing them
around. The short term prisoners are en-
ployed on this work They are constantly
watched by guards, but they are perfectly
free from chains while working. The Sup
erintendent thinks it advisable to use the
short term prisoners alone on work outside
the walls. We are contemplating farming
the 200 acres at Claremont. This will use
small percentage Of the labor at our dis
posal
ga suggestion has been mooted to pur-
chase additional ground, adjoining our
farm, at Claremont. We would then grow
everything in the way of crops and vege-
tables. We can use for the workhouse con-
sumption almost as much stuff as we can
produce. If we acquire more ground it is
possible that we may raise garden produce
for the markets. This is only
suggestion that has been made
BY those interested in prison labor as way
out of the problem that confronts us. No
one seems to have any scheme that know
about to help us out of our difficulty. Every
thing that has been done hitherto was only
of suggestive nature There has been no
practical project offered as yet"
THE OLDEST MAN DEAD.