The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-26
TOTA! C0ST PROVES THAT
 C0NvIcTS WILL PAY BEST
Urges Jefferson County To Send Dele- gation To Charlotte, Where They Will Show Us How To Build
 Roads Properly.


 engineer in charge of the roads and bridges for Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, which probably has the fin- est system of county highways to be found in the whole south. Years of practical experience have made him an ardent advocate of the convict system for working roads and his defense of th.s system will be read with especial
 interest in Jefferson county at this time
 In his letter MT. Stowe goes into detail to show the saving in cost and efficiency of convict labor as compared
 with free labor for this class of work. to end. It is as follows;
 To the Editor of The Age Herald: Noticeing in Monday issue t17th) of The Age Herald considerable interest manifest at the present movement rela- tive to working convicts in Jefferson county. Now, MT. Editor, If you will permit, and Messrs. Gillespie and Co., ing will pardon me, will reply at long range, giving our experience and observation with convicts in Mecklen- burg county, North Carolina, since 1881.
 What I may say I hope will be 1e- ceived in the spirit intended-free from egotism, or personalities. MT. Gillespie says "On the other hand, I disapprove of the idea of working convicts on the roads. The theory is fine. but it IS not practical in the least" I agree with him, the theory is fine, and more
 so, is absolutely correct in principle
 economies, and results. When an1 where it was not practical with your people in the cost was at that stage
 of your game an experimentation
 you did not know whether it was, or
 not I fear your experience was too limited, and your management not what it should have been, and no doubt as far as you went, was not satis- factory to yourself. If you will par don me- I would like to recall the fact it was your limited and inexperienced management that was not practical, and not the convict system.
 Experiment Too Short. MT. Gillespie says further: q say this from ordinary experience, for con Jefferson county roads, and have proved a failure" MT. Gillespie honestly ex-
 presses what would be the result from
 ordinary experience. Had he continued this experience 8 few years longer, l am confident his views would have been quite different, and your trial
 would <have not proven a failure, be-
 cause one can learn something by ex- perience without tutor. Your trou- ble was you gave up too soon. So .n this instance I dare say it was not the convict system, the cause of your fail ure, it was your inexperienced manage tment again.
 MT. Gillespie says further: "The convicts cannot be centrally located, for if they are kept in one prison they will spend more time walking or riding to work than they would spend at the work itself" Anyone familiar with the management of convicts would not entertain for a moment the cen tralization of one camp or prison. Use Portable Camps on Wheels. The portable, sectional camp mounted on wheels saves that problem You all ways have your men near their work. and no loss of time, nor do you lose any of your men. If you do, 'tis the fault of your management, and not
 the convict system again. We have negroes we have kept for 10 years, the
 worst type of the race, cutthroats,
 murderers, robbers, thieves, etc. It 5 true however, we can not keep them from making an effort to escape, some- times, but they rarely ever accomplish their aims. Iris true occasionally we have a dead negro to bury when they undertake to make an escape. How ever. they are worth their cost dead or alive.
 MT. Gillespie further says: "The county is so large, that handling con-
 victs would develop into nothing but confusion" My county, Mecklenburg. is 22 miles by 32. and assure you there is no confusion here l could handle a territory 50 miles by 50 just as easily, and no lost time, nor loss of men.
 You will learn, you will naturally re- duce your work to a system. Com mencing at your county seat or larg- est business town center, and work each road from three to five miles at a time, then move to road No. and work from three to five miles, then to road No and continue likewise. You can not work road in pieces and sec tions. If you did, you would be con-
 tinually on the move, no proper con nections made, no grades maintained nor anything complete in connection
 nor system.
 How They Are Guarded.
 MT. Gillespie further says: If they
 were stationed out in a half dozen camps, the negroes and criminals would all escape, or it would take numerous expensive guards to watch them" Our experience and methods here teach us to operate as many camps as we can possibly maintain. First, because the greater number of camps, the greater number of tax payers immediately ben eatted, and the greater territory cov-