The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1900-08-25

81 - xaooe.
lGo Jousaels /,
Louisiana hos passed an act abol-
l6AiaG the leasing Of convict labor
9 eoQssactossA practice that the
0eate has knoWn STAGE 1868. The I
nseat scandals and abuses Of the old
syslsa. and the attack Of organized
labor. backed BY the Prisons Re.
fern Association, have brought
about the change.
Four systems of disposing Of con.
tract tabor are in use in the various |
States: The public account sysse n.
by which the State furnishes the
material and then sells the goods;
the contract system, or leasing Of
convict labor; the piece price sys-
TEN, BY which outsiders supply the
material and sometimes the machin-
cry, and the State manufactures the
articles, and the system by which
the convicts themselves are leased
out, clothed aud fed by the lessee.
and receive scarcely any further at
eention from the authorities.
Louisiana proposes to employ
one-third Of her convicts ON public
works, particularly roads aud
levees, and to utilize the labor of
the remainder on cotton and sugar
plantations, to be owned and oPer-
ated by the State, on the plan
adopted BY Mississippi and Texas.
Up to the year 1886 Illinois was
cursed by the practice Of leasing
contract labor, authorized by stat
ute, but IN that year . constitutional
provision was adopted that ''Here-
after it shall be unlawful for the
commissioners OF any penitentiary
or other reformatory institution in
the State to let by contract to any
person or persons, or corporations
the labor of any convict confined
within said institutions" We have
also a statutory provision under
which no such labor can be per-
formed outside the walls of the pen
'SSuS12IyS SASSRS AoOOA AOA S1S SSASSs
1t is notorious, however, that. not
outstanding these provisions, free
labor employed in cooperage, furni.
ture, saddlery and harness, boots and
shoes and other industries in Illinoi.
comes into direct competition with
the products of the penitentiaries
This is accomplished under the
guise of the ''piece-price plan. BY
which the product of the convic
labor is sold, instead of leasing thu
convict himself.
The efforts of Louisiana ans
other States toward reform IN thi'
direction will be futile, while con
vict-made goods can still be shipped
into those States. The importance
of this phase of the question ha
already been Recognized in Con
gress. AS recently as January 8
1900, Representative Cochrane, O
New York, introduced a bill t
protect free labor from competitor
with prison labor; prohibit tn
transportation of goods manufac
tured in prisons between the States
aud providing that all such good
be labeled ssConvict made.
Doubts have been cast on the con
stitutionality of this measure. but
is a step in the right direction
The best solution yet propose
seems to US that by which the con
vict will be kept employed as muc
as possible on permanent publ
improvements, and where his labo
is utilized in other directions b
should be permitted to receive fal
wages, to be given to him on hi
release from prison, or paid out
those who were dependent on hi
earnings before he was deprived {
liberty.
The wolf in the fable put on sheep
clothing because if he travelled on his ow