Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-03-01

Legislature, the other side of the picture is
given and is sufficiently dark to satisfy the
most grueSOme mind.
The board does not say that organized
labor is unjust in the position that it takes.
save that it has exaggerated the competi-
ton existing between prison made goods
and those made by free labor. Carol D..
Wright, United States commissioner of la
bors statistics, in one of his reports, says
that there are 45,277 prisoners in this coun-
try engaged in mechanical pursuits, as
against 2,782,595 free mechanics so en-
ployed, which means that l 1-6 per ceet. of
the mechanics labor of the country is done
by convicts. Organized labor lays special
stress upon the fact that 200 of the prison.
ers at Saltwater are making shoes, and the
board of managers calls attention to the
fact that there are more than 5000 shoe
makers in the state, outside of prisons.
The repor4 is aimed more particularly at
the humanitarian side of the case, and at
tention is called to the fact that the prison.
ers must be employed if sickness, disease,
insanity and death are to be kept at a min
imum.
The report begins with a reprint of an
article in the Cleveland CO., Leader of the
18th of last month. By reason of the influ-
II u OlSdHlLCu ldUOl Ill tllc JULIUS VI
the state the prisoners have been reduced
to idleness and are confined all day in what
are known as the idle houses, and are not
permitted to leave their places on the long,
hard benches, to talk with one another, or
with the guards. The Leader calls the
penitentiary an "%Inferno," and in the most
graphic language paints the tortures which
the 800 convicts undergo each day as a re-
snlt Of hostile legislation. The Leader
says that the condition of affairs in the
prison appeals to the people Of the whole
state. In addition to what has been said,
the prison is now operated at a loss. In
sanity has increased at an alarming rate,
accompanied by disease and death.
After quoting the newspaper article in
full. the board of Minnesota image
come down to the matter of the biennial
report of the legislature, which is devoted
entirely to the some features of prison
management that are now being so ruth
lessly attacked in several states through
the uion. Speaking more specifically, the
eport says: eve refer to all manner of
proposed visionary legislation tending to
the Obolishment of convict labor, or placing
such restrictions upon the same as are
practically prohibitory.'' Attention is
called to the fact that a healthful and in
structive system Of labor is necessary, if
prison reform is to be a success. Work is
necessary to break up the vicious thoughts
and idle habits that always go before and
accompany crime. The first lessons neces-
sary for a violatOr Of the law are habits of
industry so applied as to fully occupy both
body and mind. Prison labor, in order to
be beneficial, must be productive of labor,
must be in harmony with industrial condi-
tons prevailing in the outside world. Con-
tinuing, the report says;
1t is suggested by some that labor per-
formed in our prison shall be wholly by
hand in order to minimize tine competition
of convict with free labor: that is to say,
that all manufacturing shall be carried on
without the use of machinery. Any legis-
lation along this line must result in en-
forced idleness of our prisoners, with all
its attending evils. TO carry on any sys-
tenn OF labor not in harmony with the
business methods established by the indus
trial world would prove a %ruinously ex-
pensive experiment to the state without
any commensurate return. All industry
carried on under these restricted condi-
tons would be non. productive in two ways.
In the first place, the manufactured prod
uct would not pay for the raw material
consumed. Secondly, it would be directing
the energies of the prisoners along lines
that cannot benefit them as a means of
mechanical training. AS a matter of fact,
it would be teaching them lessons in me-
chantcal training in vogue a century ago,
which have long since been eliminated by
modern mechanical improvements, thus
putting the discharged prisoner out of
joint with the natural industrial conditions
tEot lo ,,,,ok ~,ncH v,,l,,o 10 ,k-~,, - %t>
world to try anew the responsibilities OF
citizenship.
Legislation that interferes wilh the pro-
ductiveness of manual labor as fixed by
the natural development of all modern in
dustries must result in the end in doidg
away with all mechanical labor in our
prisons. Enforced idleness in several of
our eastern prisons has been tried, and its
deplorable and inhuman results are a mat
ter Of record. Men by the score were
driven insane, the prison corridors re
sounding with the echoing cry of maniacs
driven mad by "man's inhumanity to
man." Better far to execute than to con-
sign human beings to such a terrible fate.
The claims made as to the competition
of convict with free labor are greatly ex-
aggerated. This can be proven by investi
cation. Legislation requiring the stamp.
ing of prison made goods, restricting con
ditions under which tile may be sold, and
other unfavorable legislation, such as has
been proposed in other states, all of which
prevents the carrying out of prison indus
tries and interferes with the sale of private
products, will prove disastrous. In other
words, any legislation that interferes with
the conduct Of business in accordance with
business principles must, in the end, kill
all mechanical labor in our prisons.
New Rifles Issued.
The new issue of Krag-Jorgensen
rifles is being made to the United States
troops. Yesterday a large consignment
of the improved arms passed through
the CITY to Fort Yates. The samnle of