Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-04-21
WY Nor rRY IT REREg

the others is sold out at price which
little moro than pays their board. The
labor Of al the prisoners in the pen
does not pay the running expenses Of
that institution. What to do with the
unemployed has always been a problem,
which has never been satisfactorily
solved. la almost any employment
which may be given them they come in
conflict with the labor Of free men and
there IS little demand for their labor,
even at the low rates at which it is al
ways sold. Men who are kept ia close
confinement should be employed. They
are healthier, better coEtented and
more inclined toward reformation when
at work than when in idleness and some
method Of keeping them employed and
self-sustaining should DO discovered.
But just what TO do with them is
problem with which the State has al
ways been confronted, and which has
never vet been satisfactorily settled.
Another problem which the State has
never satisfactorily settled is how to
keep up the public roads. There has
scarcely bsen a session Of the Legisla-
ture since the organization Of the State
at which some law has not been passed,
looking to their improvement and vet
there probably never was time in the
history Of the State when its roads were
in worse condition than they are to-
day. AL the means that could be de-
vised have been attempted for their i'm
provement and yet, with a few excep-
tions, few good roads exist in West
Virginia. What to do to keep them up
and make them pasSable is still prob
lem.
The solution Of these two problems,
which are among the gravest the State
is troubled with, might be found in the
enactment of a sigle law which would
apply to both. Convict labor might be
employed upon the roads in such a
manner as to build up a splendid sys-
tenn Of highways and at the same time
keep the prisoners employed in work
which would be profitable to the State.
The idea is By no means new. II has
been often suggested but always seems
20 have been thought impracticable.
But New York State has tried the ex-
pertinent, and it has proved a great sue
cess. So satisfactory were the results
OF the experiment, tried on compare
lively small scale, that a bill has been
prepared aud introduced in the State
legislature, providing for a continuance
Of the temporary system Of working the
convicts on roads.
BY the provisions Of the bill, the Gov
ernor is 90 appoint a highway commits
sion OF three members who are to serve
FIVE years. The commissioners are given
large powers over the roads OF the State;
they may widen or close existing roads
and the State engineer and surveyor
shall furnish maps for the same. When
ever a road has been completed through
a county it shall thereafter be a county
charge, and each county may use the
labor Of tramps ana paupers in It's main
tenance. This commission Is empower
ed to make acquisitions on the superin-
tendents OF the various prisons to de-
tail not more than two-thirds OF the
male persons in their custody to labor
on the highways designated by the COM
missioners at such times and places and
in such manner as the commissioners
shall direct. 1t is made the duty OF the
commissioner TO provide quarters,
guards, tools and clothes for such con-
vlcts while employed upon the work.
Only the better class Of prisoners and
those having the shortest terms to serve
are to be detailed. The bill also desig-
mates several routes for roads, to con-
meet points in remote parts of the State
not now having good roads between
them.
The plan, with such notifications as
may be necessary TO adapt the law to
our own State, is suggested for the due
consideration OF all those aspirants who
are looking forward 10 an election next
fall to represent their counties in the
legislature. The solution OF either one
of the problems which confront the
State would make the solver famous, but
IL, ata single stroke, he should dispose
of both, his memory would never die.