Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-03

frequently here as there, and public senti-
ment wouldn't tolerate the ball and chain in
public highways here. 1t only works well,
he says, in localities very near the prison.
The farm of the Allegheny county work
house might be termed an experimental
station for road-making. Upon it and the
adjacent grounds there are all sorts of roads,
from the finest in the country to the regular
Western Pennsylvania mud-sink. A visit
to the prison would well repay the State
Commission on Improvement of Country
Roads. Superintendent Henry Warmers ex-
perience in the science of road-buiiding
would not only be of value to the Commits
sioners, but he could give them much in
formation on the subject of improving the
public highways with convict labor.
While pointing out, yesterday, the differ
ence between his systems of wagon roads,
Mr.. Warner said: 81 am in favor Of using
convict labor in the construction of high
ways wherever 1t is practicable. But it will
not be found to be practicable in Pennsyl-
vania. Everybody will admit that good
roads are an absolute necessity in Pennsyl-
Vania.
AS EASY HERE AS ELSEWHERE.
1.-THE States which have good roads did
not get them with convict labor. Conse-
quently it is practicable for us to have good
roads, too, without the aid of prisoners. In
this workhouse there are several different
kinds of prisoners. Wherever their labor
has been utilized in making roads there has
been one class that did very well for the
work. They were short-term prisoners and
those of least danger as criminals.
"We have here one class of men fully as
bad as penitentIary birds, who could not be
trusted outside the walls without balls and
chains attached. Even if they were to be
worked on the roadways. it would have to
be within easy distance of the prison. In
Allegheny county, for instance, this being
the only rural prison, you will readily see
how impracticable it would be. 1t is true
that temporary camps for the prisoners
could be established in different parts Of the
county and the men worked under a heavy
guard. But in such cases the cost of trans
porting them about and feeding them would
be greater under such circumstances, cOnsid-
ering the amount of labor done, than the ex-
pense at present of maintaining criminals.
Free labor would be found to be much
cheaper
A MISCoNCEPTIoN.
"Yes, but as shown in The DISPATCH,
most of the Southern States successfully
maintain and build their roads with the use
of convict labor. If it would prove costly
and unsafe here, how can it be otherwise |
down there?" was asked.
1.-THE roads in the extreme South are not
marvellous for their state of perfection, +" re-
piled Super ntendent Warner. '"Those
States are sparseIy settled, and the sentI- |
Il. l. 4.
tirely different from those of the Northern |
people. The highways are mostly ordinary |
mud. There is no comparison between the |
convicts of the North and South, nor in the |
mode of their treatment. At least go per |
cent of the conyicts of the South are ne |
groes, and in prisons they are regarded as |
very little above animals Therefore public |
sentiment is not shocked every time a con-
Tict at work upon the roads is shot dead in !
his attempt TO escape. Having been used |
to slavery, the people are not outraged by
seeing chain gangs at work on the streets.
IT WOULD BE REVOLVING.
"Citizens of Pennsylvania could never
stand the spectacle of shackled men upon
the Streets or the necessary precautions to
keep them from escaping" continued Mr..
Warner. "a gentleman from Pittsburg who
went to Oregon, about the only Northern |
State which has generally adopted the con-
Yict labor system, came home thoroughly |
disguised with what he saw of the chain |
gang on the streets there. But in the South |
the system that generally prevails is that of
leasing the prisoners out to some corpora |
tion, which entirely frees the State of ex-
pense. And then they are not always used |
on public roads, but the lessee uses them |
where he can make most money out of their |
work, such as wagon-making, coal mining |
md railroad hu1ldInn This iS tho rula of
present in Tennessee"
but you work the prisoners on the out !
side here without the chain or ball system, !
do you not?"
ALL RIGHT IF NEAR BY.
''Oh, yes, 1 generally have 25O of them
out in the stone quarry, or at work on the |
roads about the farm, or else at farming. |
Others load and unload slaves and barrels |
down at the river. / only have to send a |
light guard with them because it is in the |
immediate vicinity of the prison, and be- |
cause l only send out the most trustworthy |
men. would work them on the country |
roads within three miles of the building, if |
they were wanted and we now have all nee |
essary law empowering us to do so. But it |
is question whether this would not be un-
just and not be agreed to by the balance of |
the county, because the whole county sup
ports the labor, and one township would get |
the sole benefit of the labor without any |
compensation. Where 1 have tried to get |
compensation for it 1 have failed. More |
than year ago we told O'Hara township |
that if they would pay us $500 we would |
give them 81, 900 worth of labor on their |
roads, and we would have made them grand |
roads, too. (The workhOuse is in O'Hara |
township.)
NO IDEA OF ACCEPTANCE.
'The offer was not accepted, and, although |
It is still open, have no idea that it will be |
accepted. We also had our prisoners break |
mp large quantities OF bluestone at our |
qUsrries here, which we offered to deliver |
at a reasonable price at Herr's Island, TO |
macadamize the road from the city line to |
the line of the paved street This road is |
all in the city limits and is in terrible |
condition, being a disgrace to Allegheny, |
The offer, which was made to the Street |
Commissioner, was supplemented BY an
other, in which we agreed to send down to
the city prisoners to make the road. L /
would have only had to send about dozen
men, with a single guard, as they would
have been the most trustworthy. But the
city never saw fit to accept the offer, al
though they had an admirable opportunity
to test the theory of roadmaking by convict
labor"
WHAT SUBSTITUTE THEN?
Mr.. Warner, in conclusion, added one
more objection to the proposition to use con-
vict labor, and that is that when the freez-
ing season sets in there would be three
months of every year when roadmaking
could not be continued, or the same suspen-
sion would occur for days at a time all
through the year owing to rain; 'and what
are you going to do with your convicts
fhen9D he asks