St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-19
THE TRADES ASSEMBLY.

IL. II. Meyers, OF the RefOrmatory,
Talks on Convict Labor.
Supt. D. E. Meyers, of the St. Cloud
reformatory, addressed an open meeting
of the trades assembly last evening on
convict labor generally, and the work
of the state refOrmatOry at st. Cloud in
particular. He took the ground that
labor in all penal institutions was a
sanitary necessity, and a convict's
right, and declared that convict labor,
especially in Minnesota, did not enter
into competition or affect honest
toll. During the course of his remarks
he said: 1.-The subject of convict labor
is not ganerally understood. Even
though man has committed some
crime, for which he is being punished.
he has some rights. which every one is
bound to respect. TO honest citizens
there is right or wrong in everything.
The axiom is that the state can do no
wrong. The cry against convict labor
is raised by demagOgues, and is largely
a myth. When legislator is interested
in big land steal for RAILROAD COM
pany,or some one else is in scheme to
enrich himself at the expense of
the people, he raises a cry
against convict labor so as
self and his schemes. The different
trade and labor organizations join in
the cry, and while they are looking for
thief the real scoundrel gets away.
Prisoners must be supported by some
one, and why not by their own eXer-
tons? To support them in idleneSS is
but to set premium Oh vice and to tax
honesty. Idleness tends TO make good
man bad and bad man worse. With
labor at least rs per cent of the younger
criminals can be reformed; with idle
ness reformation is almost impossible.
What must the criminal work at? The
law says hard labor. Why should not
the convict work equally as hard as the
man on the outside of the prison wall?
"Many people make mistake as to
the character of the prisoners sent to
the reformatory. The public look upon
tn EN- as hard lot. while in truth there
is hardly man who is ready to commit
desperate deed among them. They
are young men who have been convicted
for the first time. and unless they are
reformed they will naturally graduate
into hardened and desperate criminals.
1t is the business of the reformatory to
teach the men underitS care how to solve
the bread and butter question when they
get out, and their labor is turned
in this direction rather than towards
making money. There are now 100 in
mates in the institution. twenty-five of
them are employed as paving cutters,
II as drillerS, ) are learning Stonecut-
ting, Is are at work on the farm and the
others are employed at various Occupa-
lions about the buildings. The labor Of
these convicts amounted to less than
$4,000 last year, while over $500, 900 was
paid out in the granite industry at st.
Cloud alone. The state does not sell the
product Of the prisoners for one cent
below the market price, and their labor
does not affect the labor of honest men.
On the other hand the convict is taught
how to earn living so that when he
leaves the prison he does not become
charge to the community"
Dr.. Albert Shaw followed with
paper rich in statistics of the institn-
ton, showing that of the first thirty
men committed to the reformatory, the
average age was tWenty-One years:
thirteen of these came from the Twin
Cities-seven being from Minneapolis
and six from st. Paul. All had attended
school, and were able to read and write,
while sixteen out of thirty had attended
school for at least seven years. but
there was not skilled workman among
them. All of them claimed to belong
to some church, and only four had not
been Sunday school scholars. DR.. S. S.
KilvingtOn, who was at one time assist
ant superintendent of the reformatory
at Plaintield. Ind, followed. He argued
that the st. Cloud reformatory, while
perhaps model institution, had not
been built in the right place. Instead
of placing it in the granite region he
thought it should have been built out
on some of the desert lands of the state
and the labor of the convicts utilized to
improve the soil. His idea was to cart
the garbage, which was formerly burned
in the crematory, but which is now
dumped into the river, out to these
lands and let the convicts spread it upon
the ground and raise wheat and other
cereals. A general discussion of the
subject followed.