Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-04-09
THE PENITENTlARY BOARD.

The new board of pententiary man
ayers has accomplished good work at its
first two sessions and bids fair to con-
tinue in we'll doing, and it is gratifying to
note, in this connection, that this method
of managing this much maligned institu-
ton is practically the same that was rec
commended by Solicitor General Bartlett
in his report to the governor at the end of
last year. Looking little further we
find also that the new board has taken up
and favorably carried out many of the
recommendations made by the solicitor
general for improving the service of the
penitentiary. He suggested that the
manufacture of brick was the simplest
and best labor that the convicts could be
called upon to perform, and urged the
leasing Of suitable clay banks to this end.
He also recommended the use Of cleo
tricity instead of kerosene for lighting the
institution and showed the necessity of
connecting the penitentiary with the town
by telephone. These ideas have been
adopted by the present board, much to
its credit but there is another recon-
mendation by the solicitor general which
is yet in allegiance, and we would call the
attention of the board to the wisdom of
adopting it--this is the purchase OF a
brick making machine. Under the law,
all public buildings, even county school
houses, are authorized to call upon this
institution for brick. With the present
crude method Of procedure this law is
practically dead letter; not one-third Of
the convicts can be kept employed, and
the brick they turn out will scarcely suf-
fee to meet the wants Of the improve
ments at the penitentiary itself, to say
nothing of the demands from the terri
torial insane asylum at Las Vegas, the
university at Albuquerque, the school of
mines and the agricultural college at So
zorro and Las Cruces respectively. What
ever the law may authorize these several
institutions to call for can not, as matters
now stand, be supplied; the brick are &C.
tually so poor that they will not stand
transportation. To remedy this we be-
lieve it would be wise to purchase pressed
brick machine.
With such a machine the capacity
would be increased to 10000 or $4,000
per day Of quality of brick which would
bear transportation all over the territory,
and manufactured at less cost than the
present quality, for the reason that the
clay is pressed dry into moulds under
an enormous pressure, and the only
expense is in burning, while the work
can be carried on in winter as we'll as in
summer. The tedious method Of drying
in the sun is done away with, and much
loss by rain is avoided, while the large
space of ground covered by the drying
brick is saved, as we'll as the immense
amount Of handling in turning the brick
while drying. The expense of the proper
sort of machine would be large at first,
something like $4,000, but its price
would be saved IN one season in time,
labor, wear and tear Of tools and the
largely increased output. Since the
manufacture of brick seems to be about
the only industry that can be carried on
at the institution for years hence, and
since the demand for territorial institu-
tons will henceforth be constantly in
creasing, it is none too soon to insist that
the work be carried on systematically and
to the best advantage.
There are three of these improved brick
machines in operation at Pueblo, Colo,