Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-08
Nebraska
CONVICT LABOR 10 CUMPElE
Contract Of Shirt Company Silent as
to Place of Sale.
GOODS MAY GO OVER STATE
Physical Connection of Competing
Telephones soon to Come Up
Before Supreme Court in
Case from Norfolk.
From q 500 correspondentl

From a Staff Correspondent.)
LINCOLN, Jan. I-(Special)-The ma
chinery for the manufacture Of shirts has
arrived at the state penitentiary and is
being installed, after which %convicts will
be used for this work i'm addition to man
ufscturing brooms.
This work will be done under the con-
tract which Colonel Bergman induced
Governor shallenberger to sign.
Contrary to the report made to the State
Federation Of Labor that the contract pro-
vided that no goods manufactured by the
Plat company in the penitentiary would
be sold in Nebraska, the contract is abso-
lutely silent on that point. The contractor
has a right under his agreement with the
governor and members of the Board of
Public Lands and Buildings to sell his
goods In Nebraska or anywhere else he
can find a market. His goods will be
brought in direct competition with the
same kind OF goods manufactured by
other firms in this state.
The contract has finally been filed with
the secretary of state and 1t provides that
the state shall furnish 100 convicts az
available) to carry on the work of manu-
featuring work shirts; that the state fur
nish heat, light and power; a suitable
building IN which to carry on the work
and also a storage room in which to keep
the manufactured articles and wagons and
teams necessary for drayage of material
and manufactured products.
The contractor agrees to pay at the rate
of S7h cents a dozen for shirts manufac-
tured a days task for a convict shall be
one and two-thirds dozen shirts: convicts
shall work not less than eight hours a
day. or more IL the state says so. The
zz.A-o,tar ebaII boxya thraa r,nn4ha time |
before he has to account for and pay for
the work done. At the end OF the three
months the state shall receive full pay
for the convicts, even If they are unable
to complete the tasks in a day. The con-
tract Is to be In force three years.
JunLin Finds Error.
In examining the tariff law, Secretary of
State Junkin has discovered a typographical
error which makes a difference Of 5000, 600
in the amount of decrease in the revenue
to be derived from the operation of the
new law. The correction of the error is
In favor of the law.
The recapitulation of the decreases and
Increases in revenue figured on the reve-
nues of 1907 shows this Duty Increased
- S13, 1853, 49, 81; duty decreased 1856, 63s,04; diff
ference. increase S4,S1S.677.n. According to
the table. the decrease of the 81, 5000 added
10 In5 ullISTtICS DelWStn llOSt ll6uISS anu
the increase should equal the increase of
the 3d. OO.O O0.
Mr.. ,Junkin noticed that the figures would
not prove themselves, so he made the sub
traction of the increase and the decrease
and the result was 50, 450, 1876. &c, or $2,O00,OV W
moro in favor of the decrease than the law
is given credit for. The total duty under
the old law was sS1, 541, 629.O7 and under the
conference law &22,O91, 1924. The compilers
y of the figures made a mistake of $2,00O,OO
in the subtraction.
Telephone Case.
Indirectly the question of physical con-
nection between telephone companies will
shortly be brought before the supreme
court If the state Railway commission
has its way about it.
The commission this afternoon in
structed the attorney general to begin a
mandamus proceeding against the Me-
braska Telephone company to compel it
to install a telephone in the office of the
Norfolk Long Distance Telephone COM
pany at Norfolk. This action was taken
by the commission after 1t had dismissed
the application OF the last named COM
pany for an order to force the Nebraska
company to furnish 1t a telephone. The
Norfolk company alleged the Nebraska
company had removed its telephone from
it's office and that the Nebraska COM
pany's telephone was necessary for the
conduct of it's business, so therefore it
desired It reinstalled.
It was alleged hat the Norfolk COM
pany was a competing company and was
using the Nebraska company's telephone
for the transmission of messages and
thus injured the business of the Nebraska
company.
Commissioner Clarke is OF the opinion
that the independent company has the
right to have Installed a Nebraska COM
pany telephone and use 1t for the trans
mission of messages just the same as the
telegraph companies use the telephone
I for the transmission of messages. Com
u pissioners Winnett and Cowgirl were not
x df that opinion. so the matter was re-
fsTred to the attorney general.
1t is believed by the commission that
the question can more quickly be settled
by a mandamus brought by the attorney
geenral than by It's own order
Last IL First.
York county's treasurer Is the first county
treasurer in the state to make his annual
settlement with the state treasurer. He
RENTED this morning $2,s39, which is the
balance In taxes due the state from York
county for the year 1909.
officer Under Wallace.
Lieutenant w. H. Wheeler Of this city
has been invited to attend the exercises
attendant upon the placing OF the statue
Of General Lew Wallace in stauary hall
Washington, by the state OF Indiana, Janu
airy IL. Mr.. Wheeler was not a member
OF any Indiana regiment during the civil
war, but was a lieutenant in the Mint
New York, which was commanded by Gen