The Saint Paul globe., 1899-02-19

but somehow, the remedies proposed by
the economists simply change the form
and not the substance of the evil.
1T seems to be still held as a cardi-
nal principle that the convict must be
made self-supporting, and herein lies
the radical defect of all the remedies
suggested 1t is overlooked that con-
Wet can only be made selfsupporting
by working at some business in which
the product of his labor can be sold.
He thus competes. no matter under
what name. with free labor, and as a
more THAN THE EXTENT TO
WHICH THE STATE IS BENEFIT
ED. 1t is case of saving at the
bunghole and losing at the spigot. The
pubic account system makes the state
furnish the plant for manufacture. and
sell the goods in open market. 1t dis
penses with the contractor. but does
not help the free laborer, who is met,
just as before, by slave labor
The piece-price plan involves the
setting up of factories by the state
and the making of raw material fur
nished by outsiders into finished prod
uct at a fixed price per piece. Here,
again. the convict competition is mani
fest. Indeed. exhaustive study of the
work of prison reformers shows that
they base their systems invariably
upon making the convict a money
making machine for somebody other
than himself The prisons are to be
factories OF some sort. rather than
penitentiaries. 1t is here where the
Workingman Insists that the line be
drawn. He argues that the prison
should not be a factory. but prfs-
on. He should continue to agitate un-
I'll the penitentiary is a penitentiary,
and not device for fixing the cost Of
crime upon part of the community
instead of upon the whole, as it would
De IN a rightly ordered society.
1t is questionable whether the gain to
the state through the present self-sup-
porting system, is not more than offset
ny the loss to society and the commun-
lty as whole, by the burdens that
il imposes upon such classes of work.
men, as are directly and Indirectly af-
1ected by the said system. and the
poverty of those dependent on the
charitable institutions, through the I'M
prlsonment of the breadwinners Do
not the first principles of social
economy teach US that every human
being should apply his or her talents
and energies to that work for which he
or she is best fitted Thus all waste of
labor Is avoided. AS well divert a river
TO water one plant, as give to a giant a
TASK that a pigmy might accomplish.
Political economy, pure and simple
believes In free competition; and that
In the struggle of that competition
every man and every interest must
care for itself or perish Men and
corpora tons that employ laborers have.
IN general, adopted the political econ
omy principle, that labor must take
care of itself; that they have a right
to hire labor as cheaply as thew car.
SO that while they compete with each
other In cheapening production, trans
portat1on or distribution, they can cut
down the wages of the thousands they
employ, making the only limit of re-
duction the price at which they can
employ others. No matter how large
the profits of the employer, except in
isolated cases, the supply Of labor alone
regulates wages.
In the struggle for independence our
fathers based their justification upon
the national rights of man; and they
dld so with the fervor of men whose
political faith was their religion.
Upon this hypothesis the working
men of Minnesota base their claim to
recognition at the hands of their repre-
sentatives upon the question of convict
competition. The pretense that the
volume of production by convicts is
not of such proportions as to create
any appreciable effect upon the wages
or free labor, is not borne out by the
facts in the case. According to last
ceHSuS report tnere were IN 1S90-S3, 329
prisoners confined in the various jails.
prisons, penitentiaries and reformator-
les Of the United States. This Is an in
crease of 23,720 over the reported num-
ber in 1880. To claim that the labor
of this vast criminal population has no
effect upon labor as whole and ex-
pect the statement to be believed,
would be a reflection upon the inteli-
gence of ones auditors. What is the
cause Of the discomfort among the
laborers that blindly seek through
strikes and mobs to secure real or
fancied rights? VIII the accepted
principles Of trade answer these ques-
tions in the best interests Of humanity