Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-09-22

NAL of some of the charges, it
follows that the charges as to which they
are silent must be taken as confessed.
Let us see what they are:
1. charged specifically that they
had made political machine out of this
prison.; that they had removed the war
den because he would not coerce the re-
publicans of Will county. and had put
man in his place who knew nothing of
prison management and was simply mas
ter Of tho caucus; that this man used the
great machinery of the prison, first to
defeat The will of the repu .licsns of Will
county in forcing on them a delegation
favorably to the denomination of the
present governor. and that he was now
prostituting this great institution to low
political ends; that many of the employees
who were psid out of the treasury were
speeding most of their time outside do
ing campaign work--this charge stands
confessed.
Icharged that in several lines the com
petition of the prison-made goods made
under contract in the Joliet penitentiary
was more destructive today to outside
free labor than ii was at The time the
constitutional amendment prohibiting
the hiring out of the convicts was
adopted six years ago-this stands con-
fessed.
1 charged that the piece>p price plan on
which the commissioners pretended to
run the institution at present was a clear
violation of law. This stands confessed.
4. l charged specifically that they were
not carrying this piece-price plan out IN
good faith. but were practicing a fraud
on the state treasury and on the public;
hot hau Gx in
which the contractor should pay per
piece for the things that the convicts
made. but that they waited until the end
of the month and then having ascer-
tanned how many pieces the convict has
made. they charged such a price per
piece as would require the contractor to
pay the same amount per day for the
work of a convict that they formerly
paid under the contract plan, and that
consequently the contractors were still
paying the same price per day for the
hire of convicts that they paid under the
old contract plan. This stands admitted.
5. l charged that while the outside
coopers had to pay two and q half cents
per month per barrel or tierce for storage
when there was no market for barrels.
that the commissioners had relieved Mr..
Winterbotham. the penitentiary contrac-
he could when necessary store over 10O.-
600 barrels for a year without costing
him anything. The answer the commits
sioners make to this is as follows: Mr..
Winterbotham has not several hundred
Thousand barrels in store within this
prisen, has not 1000 barrels stored here "
Now, l did not state that he had single
barrel stored at present. l charged that
when necessary on account of poor
market he could store several hundred
thousand barrels without its costing him
any thing. The commissioners do not deny
my charge it stands confessed. They
simply say that he has not 1000 barrels
there now. This is flimsy and studied
effort ct evasion and deception, but it
will not deceive many people.
6. charged that many of the convicts
could hove been set TO work to make
goods to he used in the other state insti>
tutions-this stands confessed. The state
now apprOpriates several million dollars
of cash every year to run its g-eat insti-
tutions. A large part of this is used to Guy
the different things needed in each insti-
tuition. To very great extent these
things could be made in the penitentisry.
and this money saved to the state.
z. l charged that some one of the con-
victs could have been set to work at
crushing stone to prepare material for
building good roads in this state. To
this they reply that lit would deprive
Iaborers engaged in that industry of the
just reward of their labor, and would be
coming into competition with the gravel
beds surrounding the city of Joliet"
Now, this is again an attempt at evasion
and deception. l did not suggest that
stone should be crushed to be sold. and
fhar h,n in
who are now supplying the market.
What l suggested was, that stone should
be crushed by the convicts to be used by
the state itself in making roads. Surely
this would not interfere with any of the
existing lines of business The same is
true of the gravel beds adjoining Joliet.
some of which belong to penitentiary
contractors. Let me ask right here, why
this extraordinary solicitude on the part
of the commissioners, and expression of
fear that they might compete with the
gravel beds? It does not seem to trouble
their souls to compete with coopers.
8. l cha ged that the most remarkable
feature of the whole matter was, that
the penitentiary commissioners have
been especially active and vigilant. not
only in circumventing and defeating the
law. but in lobbying at the state house.
DONG thelr utmost In every manner pos
sible to prevent any action by the legis-
lature in relation to penitentisry affairs.
This charge stands confessed. And yet
they pretend that the reason why they
have not enforcad the fundamental law
of the state is want of legislative action
The commissioners say: This insti-
tuition has been self-sustsining since 1886.
making the convicts earn the expenses of
their keeping" Now, on looking over
the appropriation bills for the peniten-
tiary. find that l have data as far back
as 1881 In 1881 1.-THE Legislature appro-
pristed $92, 500 for the Joliet penitentiary.