The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1909-05-01
WHERE SYMPATHY is NEEDED.

WHERE SYMPATHY IS NSeoGO- |
The Wageworker is in receipt of
a letter from a good woman OF Lincoln |
who is, and has been for years, deep |
~ interested in prison reform work |
We know something of this good
woman's work and know that she has
great deal of good 1t
is. therefore. with some degree OF
regret that we feel impelled to take
issue with her in some of her efforts
Concerning The wageworker's opposi-
ton TO establishing a garment making
establishment in the penitentiary the
good woman writes:
Lincoln. Neh.. April IS. 1909.
To the Editor Of the WasewoTker-I
I regret to see that you and your paper
oppose the establishment of \ new in
dustry in the prison that will give
employment to the unfortunates i'm
that institution After several years
of work among prisoners I know of
= certainty that they must be given
some means of employment: that they
must be taught to be self-supportins
when they are released. and that they
suffer unduly if not permitted to work.
To enforce idleness among them will
result in insanity. and will either put
them in the asyluns or thrust them
out on a cold world worse off than
they were when they entered the pris-
on. Common humanity dictates that
ment and taught useful trades. ! am
sure that you do not understand the
situation. else you would not oppose
this heneficient plan. ! trust you will
investigate the matter before further
opposing it.
AS this letter was marked person
al the editor first secured permission
to print it. the permission being given
provided the name of the writer was
withheld
1t is because the editor of this paper
has investigated the matter that he is
opposed TO the prison labor contract
system. He has all proper sympathy
for the men who are incarcerated in
the big STIR" and that sympathy has
been expressed in something more
than words on more than one occasion.
But he has more sympathy for the
honest worker on the outside who is
striving against untoward conditions
to make an honest living for his family
than ne has for the man behind the
bars who is there because he did not
strive to live honestly. If some of our
good women-the correspondent above
quoted among the number-would give
4 little less attention to the welfare OF
the convicts. and little more to the
strugglers who live honestly, there
might not be quite so many prisoners
per capita in our penal institutions,
| But tc establish factory for the
making of overalls and kindred ar
/ ticles in the renitentiary. on the plea
/ that the prisoners must be taught a
L useful trade-that is about the limit
of futile argument In the first place
so per cent of the free labor in thai
line is performed by women. and at
ridiculously inadequate wages. How
long would a discharged male prison
er remain honest if forced to compete
in the labor market with girls who dc
not average IS week the yeal
arounds And what would the effect o.
such competition be on the girls EN-
poyed at that tradee
Again, if a convict is likely to go in
sane if rot furnished employment, how
much more liable to insanity is free
workingman who is compelled to Sc,
his wife and babies starving while h,
is vainly looking for a job But
you say. "A man need not be lon:
without work. That's where YOU ar.
mistaken, speaking generally /
might be a true statement so far a
this immediate section of the countr,
is concerned. but it is not true takin:
the country as a whole. Taking tn
/ country as whole less than 10 pc
. cent of the skilled union workers hav
! steady employment And if that
, true of union men. how much wors
. must II be in the ranks of non-unio
E men, The union man has hundreds @
, comrades helping him get work TIL
! non-union man has no one but hin
self-all the rest of the non-union me
are trying TO beat him to the job. Ri
Gently in this very city, it becam
known that a certain man would, i