St. Paul daily globe., 1891-03-14
c. F. Macdonald Says the
State Has Shown Insin-
cerity in 1t.
The Thriving Town Fears It's
Granite Business Will Suf-
fer From It.
A Statement of the Case In
dorsing the Stand Labor
Has Taken.


the gradual extension Of the employ
ment of the convicts of the ST. Cloud r.
formatory in cutting and dressin sto he
is meeting with a very sympa e. e.
sponse from st. Cloud. The povtue of
that thriving city look askance at an eX-
tension which threatens their growing
granite trade. and are inclined to feel
that past legislation has departed from
the terms of the agreement, and been
both inconsistent and damaging. c. f.
Macdonald, of st. Cloud, said yester-
day:
In commenting upon the present ag-
ltati0n as TO the proposed restriction of
the number of refOrmaLOry cOnvictS to
be employed i'll cutting nd nanufactur
ing granite for sale newspapers aud i'll
dividualS frequently assert that St.
Cloud, having sought the refOrnat0rY,
should now abide the result. and that
not to do SO is inconsistent on the part
of our people. In justice to the inhabit
ants of this city, Sauk Rapids and vi
entity. who are practically unanimous
in seeking Legislation asked for. permit
me to explain the position of our peo-
pie, that we may be set right before the
state and the legislature. In the act of
a second state prison. it was
Provided That in the selection of such
location, and the test Of quality of stone for
quarrying. the commissioners shall have in
view the sole intention TO employ convict la
Dor IL quarrying stone. to make abundant
and cheap the raw material for the purpose
of encouraging the use of Minnesota stone
in the Western markets. and To encourage
the free artisan labor of th state in stone
work
Having III view the pTnhlbitIon of the
employment Of convict labor in the cut
ting and dressing Of granite, st. Cloud
completed for the location. When the
legislature Of 1887 passed its act eStab-
fishing state refOrmatOry mot second
state prison, as first intendedD the above
provision was entirely omitted. How
ever, it did, in another enactment (chap.
1860 provide that the stale is prohibited
by this act from taking any contract to
furnish any material or article produced
or manufactured, by or into which con-
Wet labor may have, or has rutered.' ,
This provision was even more restrict
i've than that of 1885, and our proble
rested satisfied that our granite industry
would not suffer But the legislature
of 1889 repealed this latter act. add left
prison labor free TO compete with honest
labor in our greatest of all industries
and not st. Cloud has acted in bad faith.
We were offered an institution under
certain conditions. The state received
valuable site. located the buildings.
and repudiated the conditions. Under
these circumstances, St. Cloud has not
been Inconsistent. nor is she obliged in
the slightest degree to accept the new
conditions. Our city would never have
asked for the refOrmatory had we known
that its cOnvictS were all to be employed
in cutting and dressing stone.
at is estimated that the prison labor
of the country does not exceed / per
cent of the total labor. If properly dis
tributed among the various trades and
employments, this per cent would lie
imperceptible. But, if the entire labor
Of large penal institution. Sucn as the
rcfCrmatOry is destined to be, is en-
ployed in a single industry. and one
which Is the greatest resource of the
locality in which it is situated, then it
becomes blighting evil to that COM
munity. This has been the situation in
ST. Cloud and vicinity for the past year,
and for relief we have petitioned the
legislature. In doing so. we take the
ground that it is bad public policy for
the state to permit its prison labor to be
thrown upon any community and EN-
which is local thereto, and upon which
it largely depends for its future growth
and prosperity. In fact, we hold that
the state has no moral right to do
ANYTHING of the kind. We are
willing that limited number
of prisoners be so employed.
There is another feature of the matter
to which | want to call the particular
attention of the Legislature and the peo-
| pie of the state, and especially those
who favored and were instrumental in
| having q reformatOry instead of a sec
ond state prison established. Pending
| the report of the commissioners appoint
| ed to locate the second state prison.
! some of the philanthropic men OF the
! state conceived the idea of making this
| new prison refOrmatOry, where young
| men, committed for their first OffenSeS
might be confined, educated and taught
| useful trades. and kept apart from the
more hardened criminals OF the state
penitentiaTy. Accordingly, a meeting
was held at st. Paul, previous TO the
| session of 1887, which was very largely
attended by leading citizens. including
| the justices of the supreme court, many
of the judges of the district courts,
ministers, lawyers, doctors, etc. Ii L
| ain not mistaken, eX-Gov. Ramsey pre-
sided. This gathering fully discusse /
the idea mentioned. and concluded that
the reformatory plan presented the best
hope of successful results in the
work ot4 reformation. The main
| tenance of prison school, and
teaching of such trades and en-
! plOyments as the young men should be
best fitted for. was urged as a wise pian
| The late Gordon Z. Cole was selected to
draft bill covering the ideas of the
meeting, and he drew the act which es-
tabliShed the Minnesota reformatory at
| st. Cloud. The following is the only
| provision in that law concerning the
| employment of the convicts:
sec. Is. The board of managers shall
| make suitable provision for the education
| ana instruction of the prisoners in the trades
| or employments for which they shall seem
| best fitted.
'Of the 139 convicts Dee. 81, 73 were
| 2l years or under-mere bows. Of those
| under q years two were IL, IL were II.
| 10 were Is, l6 were 10, Il were 20 and Is
| were 2l years. And yet, practically,
| the entire number were employed in
| quarrying and cutting stone-the hard
est kind of manual labor. The superin-
! tendent'S report gives the average num-
| Der employed in stone at 75.4. As some
! twenty or twenty-five are engaged about
the prison the average must have includ-
ed the remainder of the 139 prisoners.
| Will the board of managers or the su-
perintendent claim that these boys were
best fitted flor the heavy work of the
| quarrles? 1t seems to me, as 1t must
| appear to every one who learns these
facts, that the board ignored the law
| and violated every principle of the re-
| fOrmatOry theory, when it EMPLOYED all
| these boys in granite, without regard to
| their fitness therefor. In their report
| they do not recommend diversified
| tion-a teaching of trade or employ
ments-but,on the contrary. ask for ma
chinery with which TO extend the gran
| ite work. The only variation is the
| suggestion of ''seed business" for
which $1,000 is asked.
MY point is that the reformatcry is,
| in this regard. managed contrary to
law. which requires a diversity of
= =, 1.l,,l -