The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-02-18
EUGENE '. DEbs SAYS
Nil IS PRISON LABOR
Prison Problem is Rooted in
Present System of Indus
try and Trade.
Holds Economic System is Re-
sponsible for Degradation
of All Labor.

of All Labor.
Terre Haute, Ind, Feb. 16.-Eugene
v. Debs was asked for an opinion Oh
"Prison Labor" by a member of the
Twentieth Century club, and he re-
piled:
"what of Prison Labor? am asked.
"As Social-Democrat I am con-
vinced that the prison problem Is root
ed in the present system of industry
and trade, carried forward. as it 49,
purely for private profit without the
slightest regard to the effect upon
those engaged in It, especially the men,
women and children who perform the
useful. productive labor which has Gre
ated all wealth and all civilization.
The pernicious effect Of prison con-
tract labor upon free labor" so-called,
when brought into competition with IT
in the open market, is universally con-
ceded, but it should not be overlooked
that prison labor is in itself an effect
and not cause, and that convict labor
Is recruited almost wholly from the
properties, wage-working class and
that the inhuman system which has
reduced comparative few from en-
forced idleness to crime, has sunk the
whole mass Of labor to the dead level
of industrial servitude.
It is therefore with the economic sys-
TEN, which is responsible for, not only
prison labor, but for the gradual en-
slavement and degradation Of all labor,
that we must deal before there can be
~, 1oh NJ
lem or any permanent relief from It's
demoralizing influences.
Prison Labor Problem is Ancient.
From the earliest ages there has been
4 prison labor problem. The ancients
had their bastiles and their dungeons.
Most Of the pioneers OF progress, the
haters Of oppression, the lovers OF lib
erty, whose names now glorify the
pantheon Of the world, made such in.
stitutions necessity in their day. But
civilization advances, however slowly,
and there has been solic progress. 1t
required five hundred years to travel
from the inquisition to the injunction.
In the earlier days punishment was
the sole purpose of Imprisonment. Of
tenders against the ruling class must
not infreQuently, was equipped with in
strs,n1e4ats @tsr4uEe- thee sssilis-.
ing process came the idea Of refDrna-
ton Of the culprit, and this idea
prompts every investigation made of
must be set to work for their own good,
no less than for the good of the state.
It was at this point that the convict
labor problem began and it has steadi-
ly ~~panded from that time to this and
while there have been some temporary
modifiica ations Of the evil, it is still an
unmitigated curse from which there
can be no escape while an economic
system endures In which labor, that is
to say the laborer, man, woman and
child, is sold to the lowest bidder in
the markets of the world.
Prison Labor Preferred to Free Labor.
Why is prison labor preferred to free
labor? Simply because it is cheaper;
It yields more profit to the man who
buys, exploits and sells it. But this has
its limitations. Capitalist competition
that throngs the streets with idle
workers, capitalist production that re-
duces human labor to a commodity and
ultimately to crime-this system pro-
duces another kind of prison labor in
the form of child labor which is being
utilized more and more to complete the
Subjugation of the working class.
There is this difference: The prison
laborers are clothed and housed and
fed. The child laborers, whose wage is
q dollar a week, or even less, must take
care Of themselves.
Prison labor is preferred because it
is cheap. So with child labor. It is
not a question Of: prison labor, or of
child labor, but Of cheap labor.
The system of manufacturing for the
use of the state, county and municipal
institutions, adopted by the state of
New York, is an improvement upon
those hitherto in effect, but it is certain
to develop serious objections in course
Of time With the use Of modern ma
chinery the limited demand will soon
be supplied and then what? 1t may be
in order to suggest that the prisoners
could be employed in making shoes and
clothes for the destitute poor and
school books for their children and
many other articles which the poor
sorely need but are unable to buy.
The case may be summed up as fol-
Prison and Child Labor.
First. Prison labor is bad; it has a
demoralizing effect on capftalistie
trade and industry.
Second Child labor. tenement house
and every other form of cheap labor is
bad; it 10 destructive to trade and in
dustry.
Third. Capitalistic competition is
bad; it creates a demand for cheap
labor.
Fourth: Capitalistic production j,
bad; 1t creates millionaires and mendi.
cants, economic masters and slaves
thus intensifying the class struggle.
This indicates that the present CAPT.
talist system has outlived Its useful
ness, and that it is in the throes OF
dissolution. Just as feudalism devel-
oped capitalism and then Disappeared
so capitalism is now developing Social
ism, and when the new social system
has been completely evolved the last
- E.