The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-04
ONE WAY TO ROAD IMPROVEMENT

The suggestion made by the G o e
sometime ago that partial settlement
of the question of employment for con-
Wet labor can be found in the improve
ment Of public highways met with
such general favor that we call atten-
ton again to the progress which this
idea has met in practice. In a good
many Of the states the inmates Of pen
itentiaries are already employed, to a.
greater or less extent, in improving the
highways, and everywhere the verdict
Is that good roads have been secured
where they would not have been built
for century to come if the taxpayers
had been obliged to initiate the work
and bear the whole cost of it. Curious
ly enough, this most excellent
scheme has made most progress
in the communities where 1t
is connected with a prison system that
is strongly and justly reprehended. In
those states Of the South where they
have what is known as the ''chain gang
system" the idea Of putting the pris-
oners at work on the highways sug-
gested itself naturally. The convicts
were kept in open air camps with
guards furnished by the state, and
nothing was more natural than to Ell
gage them in road repair in the vicin-
ity.
Where convicts are housed in great
buildings Of stone and iron, and where
they have been put TO labor at mechan-
icai employments, the transition is not
so simple or, natural. Still it can be
made to a certain extent, and that
without destroying or impeding the
work of prison reform. In South Caro-
lima there are now said to be about 600
conVictS at work on the highways, and
the value Of what they have done has
produced such an effect upon the peo-
pie Of the rural sections of that not
particularly progressive state that
county commissioners everywhere are
stirring up the subject Of systematic
road construction. Tennessee has a.
law that permits it, and New York has
authorized a similar experiment. 1t
seems to US that the New York law
might very proftably be adopted In
Minnesota at the next session Of the
legislature. This contemplates the en-
pioyment Of only a portion of the
states convicts, to be selected by the
prison warden, probably with the as
sistance and approval Of the State
Board Of Charities and Corrections
who should be put to work on road i'm
provement under the direction Of ex-
perts in road construction engaged by
the state.
It Is unquestionably true that the
work of reforming the criminal, of
which we must never lose sight by ex-
alting the commercial motive, is en-
tirely consistent with utilizing convict
labor on the highways. There Is a
very large percentage of prison popula-
ton for whom this would be the most
desirable form of labor. BY judicious
selection of men, and by engaging them
in small gangs upon the highways, it
Is probable that more wholesome in
fiuences might be brought to bear upon
them even than iT. a well conducted
prison itself. At any rate, here is an
occupation which does not compete
with honest labor, which is available
for a great number Of convicts to
whom mechanical pursuits are not ma
turally adapted, and whose results
would be in the highest degree bene-
fetal to the state. We believe that
further experiment along this line
should be made at once, and that our
own community should attempt it.