Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1893-03-15
AN UNFAIR CRITICISM.

Governor Murphy's message:
 "The message of Governor Mur
 phy is a Statesman-like document
 and worthy of consideration as whole. His recommendation, how ever, Tor the removal of the peni | tentiary from Yuma and the em
 pfoyment of contract labor is mol
 calculated to win him many friends
 the first with the people of Yuma
 and the second with the people oI Arizona. We do not believe in the debaSement of honest labor by com
 pelhng 1t to compete with the con ylct system
 While the criticism is of rather $
 mild nature, it is not fair or just, a:
 its. misrepresents the governor. message. There is nothing in the message which can be construed
 into a recommendation of bringing
 convict labor into competition with
 free labor. Both in his message of
 this year and in that of two years
 ago, Governor Murphy took a de cided stand against using convict
 labor in competition with free labor. The governor does not make an un- conditional recommendation for the removal of the territorial prison, bat rather suggests an investigation of the subject, and if it is found that it can be maintained more economically in more central loca- tion, then favors its removal. But to more clearly demonstrate the fact that his message contained nothing to call forth the above criti- cism, We give the exact language used by Governor Murphy on this subject, which is as follows:
 "The territorial prison at Yuma Is very expensive institution, and TexatiOus to manage successfully and economically under the existing laws. Some means should be devised convict labor can be utiliz- ed in contributing to the economy lf the prison, and if a different locality, satisfactory to the people, more centrally situated in the terri ory, presenting greater advantages or utilizing prison labor WITHOUT COMPETING WITH INDUSTRIOUS RIFE CITIZENS, and where home pro- lucts and merchandise can ecOnomi- ally receive the preference in sup plying and maintaining the institu- ion, can be found, then the prison hould be removed. In my iudg- aent, bett CT prison buildings can be elsewhere for less than he present gross expense of running he penitentiary one year. rocom- leud that you carefully investigate his matter.
 The law now permits contract lg the labor of the convicts, but | squires work done by them to be | ithin the prison walls. This should 1 g changed
 Asa matter. of justice the terri 'riaf prison shonld be moved. It is icated in the remotest corner of le territory. For this reason it lonfd be remored to a more central and one which would be isily accessible from all parts of le territory.
 In the second place, it should be ,mOyed, if for nothing else, on the ora of humanity. For about eight nine months in the year, the in trior of the territorial prison is a sgJliaE sweat box. Artificial meth Is have to be employed for it's .ntilajiou owing to the great heat. he heat is so intense that during e above period. every year, citizens
 the town are compelled to sleep lt of doors, and it is not an uncom- on thing for the theremometer to dicate a temperature of loo, or en more, at midnight, and we sub it that to keep prisoners confined thin the close walls of a prison
 such a temperature, is inhuman
 the extreme, when there is no dieulty in obtaining a location for e institution where such condi- ms do not exist. This fact, alone, oald be sufficient to cause the noYai of the prison, without any yestigation as to economy or any ing else. If the territory were to confne its isoners in a building, heated by .ifeiai means to the degree that | Q natural heat of Yuma is in sum- er, the whole country would enter , protest against the inhumanity of l
 Why then should it be allowed (
 remain there, when there are anty of localities in the territory, ' iere the prisoners would not suffer m either the heat of summer or "a cold of winter.