The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-02-04

AAOAg SCSg Va GAC A4~o~N-
which he expends four cents per day
upon the food he supplies to men from
whose labor he expects good results.
and who are punished with stripes If
they fail to perform the labor of able
bodied men.
1--WE are not Of those who expect our
prisons to be turned into nurseries,
where criminals ere to be coddled and
petted for the crimes they have com
mited. We desire to g crime pun
ished, and we want the convicts put
to hard labor where he will accomplish
the most possible good for the general
public. But we do not want 10 see him
half fed or half clothed and placed in
competition with the labor and capital
of honest men.
Boards of visitors, it seems to US,
very seldom accomplish the purpose
for which they are appointed. 1t is
true they visit the institutions which
they are supposed to inspect, and into
whose management they are supposed
to examine at stated intervals, and we
believe that it is pretty generally their
custom to be lunched or dIned and fur.
nished with fragrant weeds, while they
listen to the heads Of these institutions
as they explain what they need for
their own comfort, and how they have
economical at the expense of the pa
tients or prisoners, and therefore should
have their savings given back to them
in one shape or another. But as for
these boards going behind anything
the heads Of the institutions tell them;
as to their making any business-like
inquiry into the conduct of affairs,
such as they would do az directors of
private corporations, such occurrences
are so rare as to be exceptions that
be called presidents. The CON
sequence is that when corruption in
management or bad treatment of pris
oners or patients is brought to light 1t
as a revelation to these directors.
eff the following account of a dia-
logue between Mr.. Maupin, of the
House of Delegates, and Mr.. Davis of
the company contracting for the labor
of the convicts at the p~enitentiary, re
ported in the Richmond Times on yes
terday, does not call for immediate
legislation in regard to the manage
ment of the penitentiary. it will jus.
tity the civilized world in charging
Virginia with treating her convicts
with inhuman cruelty.
"Mr. Maupin stated that he had
found that 4 SO 100 cents a day was
what was allowed for the food of the
convicts, and asked Mr.. Davis the ques-
Did the prisoners look better and
more contented when you we're paying
them for extra work9'
Mr.. Davis, in replying to the ques
ton, gave way almost to a burst of in
dignation. He said that it grieved him
to the heart to see the haggard faces of
the convicts and to know that he had
no extra work for them; that he had
asked them why they seemed so
and each one replied, L am
hungry
"'Tneir food he said, 'is wretched.
They cannot eat it, and it is put out
in barrels az if fed to hogs. The smell
Of the fish they have to eat turns my
stomach, but I have been told that it
is II the natural smell of fish
"Mr. Davis went on at some length
the same strain and gave the food
IF the convicts a terrible name.
''Mr. Maupin said that a negro boy
the factory had shown him, with
tears in his eyes, a fish in an advanced
of decomposition and that was all
ne had had for his breakfast that morn
.ng.
Captain White and Maj)r Lynn
both protest that the statement was
the former saying he had never
seen any but sound fish used at the
1enitentiary.
"Mr. Maupin said that he did not be
ieve that Major Lynn was aware of
he state of things out at the peniten
larry; that in his zeal to save money
or the State, he bought low-grade
which were stored away in the
mall, badly-arranged store house, and
spoiled, and that Captain
White knew they were spoiled.
"Mr. Davis said the law was at fault
md should be changed. He secuted
he idea of a man living on four cents