Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-14
PLAN TO KEEP
. C0NVICTS BUSY
Warden and Governor Propose to Put
in a Crop of Sugar
Beets.
IDEA FROM KEARNEY SCHOOL
Profitable There and Belief it Will
Work at the ~Penitentiary.
BROOM INDUSTRY TO CONTINUE
Men Accused Of Stealing Furs Spring
a Novel Defense.
WRIGHT ON RAILROAD LAWS
Insists ~ IL Time to stop Restrictive
LcEisIntIon and Leave ResuIa-
tiOn of Affairs to Expert
Commissioner.
BROOM INDUSTRY TO CONTINUE
Men Accused of Stealing Furs Spring
a Novel Defense.
WRIGHT ON RAILROAD LAWS
LEAD PLAN
ft5n cnn .

- EUs w
From a tSaH Correspondenf.)
LINCOLN. March 13.-(speciaL)-Instead
of putting convicts to work in a binding
Irvine factory the state OF Nebraska will
employ its surplus labor at the penitentiary
I'm the cultivation OF sugar beets. Governor
Shallenberger and Warden T. w. Smith
we're authorized this forenoon by the board
Of public lands and buildings to contract
with r. Elwell. agricultural superintendent
of the American Beet Sugar company at
Grand Island, for 100 acres OF beets to be
raised on land owned or leased by the
state. The contract was Immediately signed
up.
BY the terms of the agreement the state
is to receive a minimum price OF 81 per ton
on board freight cars at the penltentiary on
it's beet crop for the present year. II the
proportion of saccharine runs above 10
per cent, the price paid will be higher. The
state is to pay for seed at the rate of IS
cents a pound. It requires 20 pounds TO
seed an acre of ground, so that the total
expense of this item for the 100 acres win
be $500. Machinery for beet cultivation will
be furnished from the factory at rGand
Island without charge, except that the
state viii be called on TO pay the freight
transportation.
ahN O VII NAiifl III bttAH Will De
grown is partly bottom land and partly
rolling. Forty acres Of It belongs to the
state, the remainder being rented from a
private owner at 81 per acre for the season.
Governor Shallenberger considers the con-
tract an advantageous one for the state
and c~ontemplates the leasing of another 100
acres TO be planted to beets on the same
terms.
Broom Industry 80 Continue.
No interference with the broom manufac-
turing industry at the penitentiary, which
employs upwards of 300 prisoners on CON
tract, will ensue from the beet raising de-
parture. Cultivation of the sugar product
will be carried on, as the governor and
warden have planned, with convicts not
working in the broom factory. The Grand
Island Sugar company's representative is
authority for the statement that seven Rus
slams or the same number of Japanese
laborers. working for wages. can take care
of 100 acres of beets. The convicts are not
expected to work with the same energy,
and. allowing literally for the difference
between free and prison labor in this re-
gard, 1t is estimated that twenty men at
the penitentiary can look after 100 acres.
There are four or five times as many men
available for the undertaking.. and IL it is
0hA AhNg n NC oNNN uhA ~
the fields In relays, each for half a day
at a TINA
idea from kearney school.
81 got the ideo from the Kearney In
dustrial school, where It has been custom
airy to put the boys at work raising fifty
acres Of beets," said Governor Shallen-
berger. 9TH venture there has shown it.
self a profitable one, and l am convinced
IL caD he mada 40 at the penitentiary. II
is worth a trial. anyway. Twelve tons per
acre can be raised, at a conservative esti-
mate, and the gross revenue should be $50
per acre. That is better than a grain crop
will yield.
in the beet industry. and that is what has
kept 1t from spreading as a private enter
prise. with the labor at hand, costing
nothing in wages, the state will be in a
good position to obtain a good profit and
at the same time solve the problem OF
keeping the convicts employed"
Three members OF the public properties
oard-Treasurer Brian. Land Commission
er Cowles and Attorney General Thompson
were favorably impressed with ne gov
errors plan when Il was laid before them.
and gave II their approval. The only mem
ber no evinced skepticism was Secretary
Of state Junkin. He voted against entering
into the contract on the ground that con-
ditions are not favorable TO beet culture in
eastern Nebraska, as shown by the fact
that the factories at Norfolk and Ames
both had to be abandoned after a great
deal Of money had been invested In them
He thought the expense OF the undertaking
would greatly reduce the revenue from H.