The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-03-12
Minnesota Prison Labor.

Minnesota Prison Labor.
The specter of prison labor rises to haunt
every state legislature. And it will not be
laid until the subject has been treated hon.
estly and intelligently. which has proved
almost impossible so far. The Importance
of the competition of convict with free la
Dor has been vastly Overestimated. 1t has
been shown by statistics that prison labor
does not constitute per cent of the total
labor product of the country. This. if
properly distributed, is an absolutely map.
probable quantity. But, if in any state.
all the inmates of the penitentiaries are en-
gagged in making single article. which is
also subject of manufacture on private &C.
count. then the force of such competition
may be felt in the market; and it may con-
stitute hardship for those who employ
free labor and have to meet product man
ufactured by state criminals. 1t ought to
be clear. therefore, at the outset. that the
Investigation of prison labor is part of the
solution of the question of unfair cOmpeti
ton. as it is unquestionably the most desir-
able thing for the physical and moral inn
prOvement of the cOnvctS themselves.
But the problem is never left to solve it.
self in this easy and natural manner. If
the state farms out prison labor to con-
tractor it is to his interest. it is necessity
if he wants to make profit out of the ar
rangem ent, to engage in making a single
article or class of articles. For this purpose
he puts in an extensive plant and goes into
the business on large scale. The conse-
Quence is that he soon controls the market
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plOyers, using free labor. find cause for COM
plant in the difficulty of competition. AS
soon as this condition arrives, the state
takes the matter in hand. and proceeds to
repeat exactly the same blunder. 1t en-
deavOrS to find some industry which is car
ried on but little. if at all. by private enter
prise, and directs the employment of the
cOnvicts at that. But somebody is sure,
sooner or later, to want to go into that bus
mess on his own account; and then the old
complaint of injustice is made, and new
occupation must be found for the states
prisoners.
The escape from this. and the settlement
of the prison labor question on fair and
sensible basis is to be found only in the per-
mission and encouragement of variety of
pursuits within prison walls. 1t is proba-
require the adoption of the state account
system. But it should be done. no matter
what theory of state control it involves. 1t
needs no argument to show that the we'll
being of the cOnvicts. and their conversion
into orderly and Independent members Of
the community, requires that they be as
signed to different occupations. An INTEL
ligent prison management will discern
quickly for what kind of work each convict
is best adapted. and will employ him ac-
cOrdingly. It ought to need no argument
to show that what is best for the prisoner is
also best for the community at large. For
this Investigation of convict labor will pre-
vent concentration in the product of any
single article, and so reduce competition to
a minimum. AS matter of fact. if labor
in our prisons were thus judiciously CLASH
fed, they might be more nearly self-sup-
porting, the convicts might be made far
more proficient in their trades against the
time of release, and the force of their COM
petition would be so reduced that it would
not affect the price of commodities in the
market, or the wages of free labor. in the
slightest degree. Our experience ought to
have taught us at least so much by this
time. And our legislature ought to be
ready to take action which would make that
experience fruitful one, instead of listen
ing further to the wholly selfish pleas that
have governed prison policy in the past and
that are incapable of doing anything but
aggravating the difficulties of the prison la
Dor problem for an indefinite period in the
future.-Pioneer Press.
How hard it is to believe man after we