Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-22
THE INTERSTATE LAW
Can Be Invoked to Protect Western
Penitentiary Products
PLACED ON SALE In NEW YORK,
Warden Wright Talks of the Arrest of the
Two Dealers and
DEFENDS THE USE OF CONVICT LABOR

a telegram from New York states that
are represented as being New York agents
for Pennsylvania prison made goods, have
been arrested OH charges of handling con-
vict-made mats that are not branded as
such. The Matmakers' Protective Union
is pushing the cases, and the assertion is
made that the movement is the beginning
of a campaign against the sale of all prison
made goods in New York.
The telegram states that on account of
prisons being able to sell mats at a lower
rate than manufacturers, the workmen have
organized to prevent convict competition.
Goods, it is said, have been put on the mar
ket as the product of Riverside Mills"
without the label which the law of the
State requires. Assistant District Attor-
ney Bedford, of New York, is reported
as saying that there is no question
about the State having case against Nc
Cabe and Goldberg ana that they will be
prosecuted vigorously. 1t is stated that it
is the intention of the union to bring the
matter to the attention of the Legisla-
ture, and before the session is over that
bill will be introduced to shut out prison
made goods from other States. To gain
more strength it is stated that the mat
makers union has applied for admission in
the Central Labor Union.
Warden Wright Calls 1t q Bluff
Warden Wright, of The Western Peni-
tentiary, thought the New Workers were
making great big bluff when he was
shown the telegram Yesterday:
"We employ no agents or travelling sales
men, he said. Gas soon as our goods leave
the prison we have nothing more TO do
with them. They are such ready sale tn at
there is no need for us to put any person on
the road. George McCabe is a brother of
Benjamin McCabe, wholesale dealer in
New York, and 1 suppose he was
arrested for some mistake in CARRYING out
the requirements of the law. Convict-made
goods, according to the law in New York,
must be marked as such before they are
sold. 1t is the New York dealer, not us,
that has to mark them. Where it is not
convenient to label each piece, the law
allows that tags be fastened to packages on
which is printed in great primer type the
fact that they are convict-made. l have
been in Mr.. McCabe's place of business and
know that he is careful that all goods are
fully labeled. In fact the mats we
make are of better quality than any others
and therefore sell better,
1.-The crv of the matmallers is nothing
new. There are two manufactures in
Brooklyn and 'one or two in other parts of
the country. There was formerly one in
New Jersey, but it was moved into the
State prison.
Ind
''The Eastern Penitentiary also manufac-
lures mats, and with ours and the others
mentioned is the only source of supply in
this country Before the Mckinley bill
became a law, there were great many mats
imported from India and England, where
they were also prison-made. 1t is practic-
ally new industry and from the start has
been given over to prison labor. The busi-
ness is not profitable for free labor and for
that reason has been largely confined to
prisons. Convicts must have something to
do and there is nothing in which they
would compete less with free labor than in
the manufacture of mats.
''At Riverside we have not more than
half our convicts engaged in the manafac-
quality of goods. We have an extensive
trade on the Pacific Coast and in North
western and Southwestern States Our
trade in the East has been diminishing
rather than increasing. The talk about
shutting out our goods is nonsense. The
Constitution of the United States protects
our commerce the same as for business firms.
Whatever is done, it will not injure us.