The San Francisco call., 1899-01-27

CALL HEADQUARTERS, SACRA-
MEN1O. Jan. 26.-"The Republican
of the State of California, in
State convent, Il assembled, hereby de-
clares itself un .lterably -~Dosed to con-
vict Dor being brought into competi-
ton with fire. labor and hereby pledges
itself in support of any measure de-
signed to protect and foster free labor
and me industries of our State against
the evil effects oL convict labor
And we are in favor of the passage
of h laws as wi Use such con-
victs to be employed upon the public
highways of this State, thereby with
drawing them from competition with
free labor in all branches of industry" "
Extract from the platform of the Re
publican party.
The fight that was begun before this
Legislature opened against the inter
ests of free labor and in favor of the
State prison ring is on in dead earnest
and 1t is not a single-handed affair, as
the first assault begun in the Assembly
would indicate. 1t is as well organized
and cleverly conceived a scheme as has
ever looked to legislative enactment for
its consummation and it behooves the
friends of the freeman to look well to
its interests.
The opening gun was fired when As
semblym~n knights OF Sacramento in
troduced on Wednesday an amendment
to the bill offered in the Assembly by
Speaker pro TEN. Alden Anderson of
Solano. The bill provided that the
crushed rock turned out by the rock
crusher at Folsom should not be sold
to private contractors in cities. but
should OILY be sold to Boards of Su-
pervisors for the purpose of building
county or State roads. The amendment
of Mr.. knights nullified the bill by pro-
viding that the rock should be sold to
private contractors to be used on city
streets. In other words Mr. Anderson
desired to give the owner of private
quarry a chance 20 make his legitimate
profit and the free man who labored
for him the opportunity to earn his
daily wage. The amendment of Mr.
knights was intended TO work to the
contrary end.
The. bill and the amendment were re-
ferred TO the Committees on State
Prisons and Labor and Capital and last
evening they went on a junketing trip
to Folsom State Prison. They were
met by Warden Aull, they were bouu-
teously dined and copiously wined and
the warden read his ready-made report.
Then they went over the prison prop
erty, looked at the dam, interviewed the
rock crush and returned TO the din
ing-room to come to the conclusion that
the crusher was the best friend the free
man has in the State. When they got
back here this morning they decided
that Mr.. Anderson's bill should be
amended by killing it and If present
plans are followed they will so report
TO the house.
The assassination of the Anderson
bill is but the first step. The next is
to be taken by Senator Eddie" Wolfe
of San Francisco. Mr.. Wolfe is at pres
ent engaged in working hard" as he
puts it. in a letter to a friend, over a
bill that has for it's object the installa-
tion of a wire nail making machine in
each Of the State prisons. The product
of the machines is to enter into compe-
tition with that now in the market, the
product of free labor.
Mr.. Wolfe's bill bears all of the un-
lovely features of a lead pipe cinch and
generous lobby is expected here
to fight it. Every nail made to-
organized in 1897, but every one
of them is turned out by a free
laborer. who receives a salary above
most of the men engaged in almost
any other line of ordinary mechanics.
1t is against the pay of these men that
Mr. Wolfe intends to direct the unpaid
labor of the convict That Mr.. Wolfes
bill is not to the best interests of the
trade is best demonstrated by the cor
respOndence that has passed back and
forth between the members, agents and
officers of the Manufacturers and Pro-
ducets' Association and other CONNER
cial organizations of San Francisco.
When he first conceived the idea of
prison made nails Mr. Wolfe wrote to
the representative Of one Of San Fran
cisco's largest wholesale and retail
hardware firms declaring his intention
and asking the price of nail making
machines.
This was before the Legislature was
convened The hardware man answered
Mr. Wolfe, but Immediately made the
scheme known TO the Manufacturers
Association. and 1t directed it's mana
ger. Oscar Lewis. to be on hand in Sac
ramento and use every honorable
means to beat the bill To accomplish
this Mr.. Lewis is now in this city and
was with the combined committees
when they visited Warden Aull yes
terday. Though he was not prepared,
he made a hard fight against the kill
ing off Of the Anderson bill. but the
dinner and the suavity Of the Prison
Director was more than he could over
come and he scored his first partial
failure. He is. however. not discour-
aged and is making himself ready for
the big fight that is to come when Sen
ator Wolfe attempts to override his
party platform and the interests of free
labor with his little wire nail enact
ment. which is expected to appear in
the Senate in the early part of next