The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-12
YOLLMFR BILL STIRS
THE LABOR LEADERS
William Templeman Declares
Measure Puts Premium
on Crime

To endeavor to right conditions
amenable to Improvement by legisla-
ton is the purpose of the Working
mems league, organized by the union
laboring men of st. Paul. The league
already has a membership of 400.
There are 10000 union laboring men in
st. Paul, and since every one is eligi-
bic to membership in the league the
moral effect of the organization cannot
be underestimate.
The league held a meeting Monday
evening and considered pending legis-
lation- An accounting from the officers
as TO what had been accomplished in
connection with the Republican legiS-
lature was not very fiattering as to
results, but it showed the necessity of
such an organization. The fate of the
Selb fellow servant bill, making the re-
covery of damages possible in acct
dents through the negligence of fellow
servants in a variety of employments,
was reported. The league had adj
dressed letters to all the members of
the Ramsey delegation, but with little
If any effect. The Selb free employ
ment bill had passed the house, but it's
efficiency had been reduced by limit
ing the appropriation to $b750 year.
With this niggardly sum the laboring
men declared that the purpose of the
bill, to establish free employment bu
reauS in St. Paul, Minneapolis and
Duluth, could not be accomplished.
The measure pending in the legisla
ture which attracted the attention and
the opposition of the league is the
Vollmer bill to repeal all limitations as
to the employment of convict labor in
the two penal Institutions of the state
1t was urged that this bill, if passed,
would have the effect of putting the
free labor of the state at a distinct dis
| advantage Speaking of the bill and
the attitude of the legislature towards
free labor, William Templeman. former
president of the st. Paul Trades and
Labor assembly, said last night:
TempIeman Scores House
cit is heart breaking to think that
men chosen to Iegislate for the inter
ests of the state should exhibit such
| anxiety about the prison population
and deliberately overlook the necessity
of protecting the free labor of the state.
That they would invent means to take
| from the families of the workingmen
| the little that they have and beggar
| the many to crafty the few is incom-
prehensfble. Is it not sufficient that
We already have large criminal pop
ulation, that they must needs put a
| premium on crime in passing this ap-
| parently innocent looking bill. In max
| ing the state competitor in the indus
| trial world they make ii impossible for
the man WHO seeks 10 MAINTAIN nlrQSelT
| In decency to do so, when he is forced
| 10 compete with cheap prison labor
whether operated by the state or let
| out to contractor. When the factory
is closed in one big city because of
| prison competition, thousands of men
must, perforce, seek their living by
their wits, for we must admit that
| after spending score or more of years
at one occupation the mechanic cannot
easily turn his hand to another
Rather than starve or see his family
suffer, the man will resort TO crime.
Drive Workmen to Crime
In after years, when admiring Wis
ftorS are shown our penal institutions
and point with pride to the handiwork
OF the inmates, at work so beautifully
! finished, so serviceable and showing
the earmarks of the perfect craftsman,
| the sociologist among them will cry
| out in amaZement, What splendid ar
| tisans you have in your penitentiary.
What thorough apprenticeship of many
years training is seen in every arti-
Gle produced! Why are these not free
| mem The guide will say, The facto-
ries where these things were made
closed somehow. and these men came
| here short time later
1T should be the aim of the legisla-
| ture to make 1t easy for a man to be
/ honest This act will make IL impos-
| sible for him to be so. Contact with
the prison can but debase and corrupt,
| and IL can never reform"
This legislation Is presented as
blow at the trust, but it is the small
| est and meanest sop that can be
thrown to the farmer TO catch his
vote at a future election. They would
thrust upon him a prison made binder
or rake that he has not requested OF
the legislature, much less demanded.