The Washington times., 1894-05-18
CONVICT LABOR.

l u
| outcry has been made in certain sections Of
the country regarding the injurious effects on
various lines of industry which came into
competition with goods manufactured in
penal institutions. These complaints pro-
ceeded from both the employers and the work
men engaged in the production of the articles
thus affected.
In some localities well-established and prof.
table enterprises were totally annihilated and
the laborers employed in them scattered by
reason OF the presence in the vicinity Of
prison in which large numbers of the convicts
were engaged in making the same or similar
lines Of goods. This is especially true of those
places containing the prisons in which per-
sons convicted of crime in the Federal courts
are massed.
| There have been few conventions OF organ
lied workingmen during the last twenty years
in which the matter OF convict labor and its
| destructive effects on the free labor into
which it comes into competition have not re-
ceived attention, and time and again earnest
appeals have been made to Congress and to
state legislatures for some legislation tend
ing to remedy or at least ameliorate the evils
complained OF. In few OF the states there have
been several attempts made at reform, while
in others the subject has been ignored.
Nine or ten years ago bill was introduced
in the House by the late DR.. Swinburne,
representative in Congress from the Albany,
n. Y. district, which provided for the estab-
lishment of an immense Federal prison in
one OF the more distant territories, in which
all persons sentenced in United States courts
should be confined. The Albany penitentiary
was in the Congressman's district, and it
contained larger number Of longtime Fed
eral prisoners than any other, and the prod
ucts OF their labor had a ruinous effect on
and crowded from the market everything of
like nature made on the outside. In the
proposed national prison provided for by
Congressman Swinburne's bill the convicts
were to be employed exclusively in manufac-
turing articles used in various branches OF
the public service. large quantities Of which
are required from year to year, but princi-
pally materials and supplies used in the army
and navy. By this means it was hoped to re-
duce the evil to minimum. As We remem-
ber, the bill never got out Of committee, so
that that method OF reforming abuses failed.
There are now before the House Labor
Committee two bills bearing on this subject,
and which will probably be considered at its
next meeting. Either, If enacted into law,
Is calculated to work a very decided improve
ment The first is H. R. 5207, introduced by
Chairman McGann on January 49, and is en-
titled "a bill for the protection of honest in
dustries from unjust and ruinous competition
Of convict-made goods transported from one
state or territory into another" The second
is H. R. 6s40, and was offered by Mr.. O'Neill,
OF Missouri, on April 25, and is entitled "a
bill to protect free labor and the industries in
which it is employed from the injurious effect
OF convict labor by confning the sale OF
goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured
by convict labor to the state in which they
are produced"
1t is to be noted that the O'Neill bill abso-
lutey prohibits the importation of convict
made goods from one state to another. while
the McGann bill, which is fully as stringent
in all essential particulars, permits states or
territories to import the product of prisons If
such act does not tend to act injuriously on
any established industry. The concluding
clause of Mr.. McGann's bill says: Except
in such state or territory as shall, by an act
of their legislature, request the importation
Of convict-made goods"
As between the two bills. that of Mr.. Nc
Gam will meet with most favor from the
public at large. 1t permits the people OF
each state to decide whether they will pro-
hibit or receive the prison-made goods of their
neighbors. We are informed that this bill is
likely to be favorably considered by the COM
mittee, and its passage by Congress would be
hailed by all who have studied the vexed
question as long step in the right direction.