St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-03
CONTRACT SYSTEM
Senate Committee on Labor
Considers the Schur-
Z meier Bill,
.2f
AND P0STPONES ACTION
After Hearing Volumes of
Opatorieal PyrotechniGs
and Other Things.
EX-SENATOR JAMES 0'BRlEN
Attacks the Bill Vigorously
and the Author Defends
1t.


committee on labor, in the senate
chamber, last evening, to consider
the Schurmeier bill, H. F. $40, regu-
lating "the employment Of prison
ers confined in the state prison and
the state reformatory, a gentle con-
test arose between the delegates
from. the board of prison managers
organizations. The session through
out, like a certain presidential cam
paign, was strictly educational"
Each speaker endeavored to show
his predecessor what the latter
didn't know, and the evening closed
with personally conducted tour"
Senator Yale, chairman Of the COM
mittee, opened the discussion by al
luding to the great Importance of
the interests at stake. Senator w.
e. Johnson moved that, in the alb
sence of several members, the COM
mfttee refer the bill back to the SEN
ate, to be made a special order in the
near future.
Ex-senator O'Brien, of Saltwater,
objected to the visiting witnesses be-
ing thus choked off, and Senator
Johnson, denying a desire to choke
any one, withdrew his motion, in
view of the arrival of another MEM
Der. Mr.. O'Brien then attacked; the
bill. 1t was designed to do away
with the evils of the contract sys-
tenn. He himself decried those evils,
but the bill would merely sub
stitute another form of con-
tracing. Instead of each pris-
oner being let out at so much per
day, he would be employed in the
same shops, at the same work, and
under exactly
THE SAME CONDITIONS.s 4 r
except that the state would receive:
pay by the piece for the work the
convict performed. More than that,
it would be necessary, under the pro-
visions of the bill, to take away l25
men from Tarbox, the boot and shoe
contractor, and put them into some.
other trade, or let them remain idle.
All prison work came into corape-
tition with outside labor, but there
were more men in the boot and
shoe trade than in any other indus
try in Minnesota, as he understood
it. It would, therefore, be less of a
hardship to let "Tarbox's convicts,'i
continue their shoe making than to
put those 125 men into some other
trade having a smaller representa-
ton on the outside. The bill was a
special measure in favor Of the shoe
makers, and he would be surprised
even Shocked-to learn that it was
advocated by other trades or by
labor in general. He did not be-
lieve that it was SO advocated. The
prison board had experienced great
difficulty in getting any one to take
the shoemaking contract. At last
Mr.. Tarbox had appeared, like a
good angel, and out of the kindness
of his heart had agreed to employ !
the convicts. 1t was very good of |
Mr.. Tarbox, and it would be wrong
to interfere with Mr.. Tarbox's little |
benevolent arrangements.
Representative Schurmeier, the !
author of the bill, then played the |
part of Ingersol to Mr.. O'Brien's !
Moses, pointing out various of the
latter's mistakes. First, SO far from
the bill being in the exclusive inter-
est of the shoemakers, it was rec
commended by the ESQ labor unions
In the state. Second the "piece
price system" was very different
from the ordinary contract system.
1t was better
FOR THE CONVICT
and for the state. Third, the Estate
cccount SYSTEM included by the bill
along with the piece price system. was
a great and glorious success. 1t had
been adopted in most European ma
lions, by nineteen of the most progress
siye of the United States, and even by
Mexico. In conclusion" exclaimed
Mr.. Schurmeier, this bill. as Seneca
says. Good thingum est ct pushaIcnp-
DUN
Edward Peterson, one of the labor
delegates, began an excellent speech.
temperate and explicit, in which re
pointed out that the object of organ
lZed labor was not to destroy the con-
tract system, but simply to minimize
us evils. All other progressive states
had abolished the old contract system
IN favor OF the plan provided by the
Dill. 10 reject the bill was to fall oft
OF the march of progress. To accent
1t would confer benefit upon the free
laborer and upon the convict This aft
least, IS what Mr.. Peterson n,ana3sfad
10 say at last, after frequent Interim
tion from Messrs. O'Brien and Mar
rlsh, until the latter were reminded Inv
CHAIRMAN Day that Mr.. Peterson's I'm
oerstandlng was in no need of their
1mpromptu enlightenment. 81
.. r. McCauley, a stonecutter. And
also labor representative, Joined In
the SUBSTANCE of the last speaker $;
arguments. So also did A. Becker 10
j. E. Norrish. of Hastings. ano4bar
member of the prison board, them
arose, and, with 81
A DETERMINED LOOK, 81
assured the committee that he had oc-
cupied his present position for four:
teen years, that he understood his SUBJ.
ject, that he was the friend of the con-
Wet, that the convict was dumb, and
that he was going to speak for the con-
Wet. And speak he did. AS previously
stated, he led the committee forth on a
regular Cooks personally conducted
tour" He began at Chicago, told all
about the city reformatory, trfpped
down to Joliet, skipped gayiy over to
Elmira, off to Sing Sing, and away to
AL the principal points of interest"
He was deep in the delights of the
solitary cells at the Eastern prison in
Philadelphia, he had unrolled double
sheet of statistics, and was about to
send out for some stereopticon views.
when the interesting entertainment
was abruptly closed by Chairman Yale
on the pretext that there were others"
beside Mr.. Norrish. The latter's lecture
was intended to prove that the contract
system was excellent, and that con-
tracts of that sort should not be dis
turbed by ignorant legislators.
John Prendergast, the stove man.
and one of the Others described the
ruinous effects Of the convict system
IN Nav York state; and Senator IannA