The record-union., 1895-07-18
THE SAN QUENTIN JUTE MILLS.

every hundred bags produced. This is
the very minimum cost. 1t sometimes
costs more. The price of bags in the
open market to-day is S4 30.
Recently a Prison Director was inter-
viewed In San Francisco. In ali the his
tory of this jute-mill enterprise it has been
heralded as very wise and very bene-
fcent undertaking. So the interviewed
Prison Director declared that when the
board charged So per hundred for the
bags it acted wisely; and when it reduced
to S4 20 it also had very deep, very far
reaching and very occult purpose. The
simple fact Is that it costs the State 81 50
per hundred for bags in cash. This does
not include either the labor OF the prls-
oners nor the cost Of their keeping. At
present, then, the State of California is
manufacturing bags at loss OF fifty cents
per hundred.
There has been all the time a pretense
kept up that the manufacture of jute bags
ct San Quentin had something to do with
controlling the price. This is simply un-
true. The demand for jute bags in Cali
fornia produces the price. The wheat
crop having fallen short about 90 per
cent, the hold-over of bags affects the
market. There has never been time
when the manufacture of jute bags at
San Quentin influenced the price in this
State. When the jute mill was founded,
one of the arguments used in its favor
was that the manufacture of Jute hbre
into fabrics would encourage the growing
of jute in the State of California. Let
some friend of this injudicious enterprise
now point out the place in California
where jute is grown. The commission
appointed by Governor Perkins. and in
structed to report on the conditions OF
the penal systems Of California, recon-
mended strongly against the establish
ment of this jute mill enterprise. The
reasons assigned then remain good to-
day. In the first place, the prisons OF
tinue to be schools OF crime. The criml-
nal tendencies of a community are ener-
gized by injecting into the community
life a large number of discharged con-
yicts who have been made worse by hav-
ing served penal sentence. A majority
of the train-robberies ana atrocious MUIR
1,a totn Of Col
mitted by ex-conviets.
Thoughtful men have declared that N
the lower orders of intelligence the ab-
sence of elf-helpfulness is one of the
prolific sources of crime. But the man.
agement of the prisons of California has
not been under the control of thoughtful
men. Prisoners are not prepared by their
education and training in penitentiaries
to be self-helpful and self-respecting.
The idiocy of trades unions forbids the
manufacture of articles which would con-
fer upon these people artisan skill. 80
that when they left the prisons they
might pursue an industrious and orderly
unions pay the taxes consequent upon
the support of the prisons. This is no in
advertent statement Labor pays all the
taxes. When you rise above the realm
of physical labor there are methods of
charging against the profit of enterprise
the taxes paid to the support Of govern
Railroads may charge the taxes to the rates
of transportation; lawyers may charge the
estimate of their taxes in the fees Of their
clients. The merchant estimates his
taxes as part of his yearly expenses,
and places q profit on his goods to cover
them. But land and labor are helpless
before the tax-gatherer, and these pay
the taxes. The system energies the
criminal tendencies in California society;
adds yearly to the cost Of taking care of
the criminal population; and the jute
mill was the philosophical device to cure
this state of things. The convict who
learns to make jute bags finds no en-
ployment outside of the penitentiary.
He is not fitted for any useful occupation.
He simply does service for a penal term
In q machine-like way, and after the
brutalizing effect of monotonous servi-
tuds possessing but two elements, re-
straint and labor, Is sent forth preda-
tory animal with all the criminal apti-
tudes Of his nature energized and rein
forced.
In times past the existence of the jute
mill has been a convenient device for
producing an appearance of profit in
prison management Under one ad-
ministration the cost of power and labor
only was considered, and the jute mills
were credited with the value of the out
put, omitting to debit the account with
the iute purchased. But in later times
there has been no disguise of the fact that
jute bags were being produced at less
than they could be sold for. But even if
there was large pecuniary profit arising
out of their sale, the manufacture Of jute
bags as an adjunct of proper penal
system is gross and indefensible alb
surdity.
The assault upon ex-Premier Stam-
boulo IF of Bulgaria, which will probably
result in his death, was expected. In