Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-04-02

From the Detroit Free Press: II.
c. Barter, president of the Michigan
Federation of Labor, who is constant
ly at Lansing in the interest of labor
legislation chief of which he regards
the bill to prohibit competition be-
tween free and convict labor, by
utilizing the latter in making good
roads throughout the state, said to
Free Press representative yes
terday: 1.-The proposition made by
the Michigan Federation of Labor
to put the convicts of the state
at work on the roads is worthy of con-
sideration for more than one reason.
Its adoption would for many years,
and perhaps permanently, make an
end of the competition Of prison goods
with the products Of honest labor, and
1t would give the state some good
roads. The question of prison made
goods is much more pressing now than
ever before. The multiplication Of
manufacturing plants has proceeded
so rapidly as to outrun consumption,
and the sharp competition of prison
made goods, therefore, which, when the
output of the home factories was less
than the demand was of no particu-
lar Importance, is now serious mat
ter both to capital and labor. 1t is a
question which must be settled, but it
can be fairly settled only in favor OF
labor. The criminals are at best a
burden upon society. The burden must
be borne somehow, but it is not fair
to shoulder it wholly upon labor as is
done when the prisons are made self
sustaining through the manufacture
and sale of goods which come into
competition with it. Most crimes are
committed against property, and prop
erty should be made to bear the cost of
protection. That can only be done by
spreading the cost as general tax.
Whether the employment of the con-
victs on the roads would make the cost
of construction less than under the con-
tract system is not legitimately a fair
subject for discussion, though it seems
probable that it would. The state
would obtain the benefit of wholesale
prices in the purchase of material;
there would be no middlemen to pay at
any stage of the work, and the labor
would cost nothing. 1t has been the
practice to contract the services of the
conyicts to firms who engage in bust
ness against other firms who employ
free labor and pay fair wages, but the
force of competition has lowered wages
and brought the honest wage-earner
down almost to the level of his convict
competitor. Several of the states place
their convicts at work in the mines,
on the railroad tracks, and at other
employment, where they are balled and
chained and watched by armed guards,
while in the performance of their la
bors. And while the convict wears his
ball and chain as punishment for his
crimes. the honest man working in
competition with him wears the letters
of irksome toll and poverty partly be-
cause of the convict system of compe-
I1Ou. Az JuC otdtC pi ioch az iiuhtoFlllC,
Tex, the firm of Dilley & Son is max
ing machinists out of convicts, and the
state receives the large sum of forty
one cents day for each of those con-
victs. They not only make engines for
sale. but do all kinds of repairs at
contract prices all over the state of
Texas for private parties. AS a re-
suit no one can bid on a contract and
agree to furnish machinists for forty
enc cents day. In view of these
facts there are very few contract
machine shops in Texas, and those