The wageworker., 1910-05-06
MADE GOODS,
Exploitation of Convicts a Ma
tionaI Disgrace.
CONTRACT SYSTEM EVILS.
Distressing Effects Of Penal Labor
Competition With Free Workers.
Livelihood OF Women Endangered.
Sad Lot of Prisoners.

Livelihood Of Women Endangered.
Sad Lot of Prisoners.
Sensational evidence charging that q
mammoth trust is exploiting prison la
Dor throughout the land and that this
combination corrupts officials, de-
grades convicts, destroys free industry
and denies a living to thousands of
working men and women has been laid
by manufacturers. reformers and rep
resentatves of organized labor.
In support of bills which if made
law would practically abolish inter-
state commerce in prison made goods
the terrible extent and effect of prison
labor were clearly shown by men and
women in all classes of life and all
parts of the country.
That Judge Watson of the appellate
court of Indiana is a stockholder and
director in the Misunderstanding Manu-
featuring company. otherwise known
as the prison trust" was charged by
A. B. Salant, q shirt manufacturer. 1t
was also related that warden in
New York had made $4,000 "commis-
sion" in one year for selling prison
made goods and that another in Ken
lucky was dismissed for receiving
bribes from contractors.
This powerful prison trust. accord
ing to the testimony, controls the con-
tracts of eleven penitentiaries and re-
formatories. 1t pays New Jersey con-
victs as low as 26 cents for nine hours
of labor.
One hundred prisoners working at
machines turn out 100000 hand
kerchiefs year. which are sold in the
open market at 4 cents less per dozen
than it costs firms employing free Ia
Dor to make the same article.
1t was estimated that the output of
shirts made by convicts yearly is
100000. or IS per cent of the entire
industry.
Rev. j. Burkart. eX-chaplain of the
Baltimore city Jail and house of cor
rection. emphatically denied the asser-
tion made by some that convict indus
try teaches trades to the prisoners and
prepares them for work after being
released He said that most of them
are employed at making goods done
by women workers outside of the pris-
on walls. He also declared that the
contract system is brutal in the ex-
treme, being worse than peonage or
chattel slavery The prisoners, he said,
| are driven from early morn until night,
leaving no time to improve them NOR
ally, mentally or physically.
Nth, y IIDI
as F. Tracy, represented the American
Federation of Labor at the hearing,
gave the following incident in his ex
| perience as an organizer. showing how
| convict labor affects "free" workers:
Up here in little place called Tidi-
cute, in northwestern Pennsylvania,
| last summer l went into large chair
factory, among the employees. tried
| to induce those men to form a local
| organization, and those men told me,
with tears coursing down their cheeks:
"Mr. Holder, it is no use. We are
down and out. We are simply living
upon bread and molasses. We have to
live two families in a small home,
where formerly we used to have a
home of our own. Then our days
| 0dIullSS came uOWu " Pl.OC, lIOu
| $135 they came down to $1.15, and
from $1.15 they came down to 81, and
last summer we were working for 80
cents day"
| B. A. Larger, secretary of the Unit
ed Garment Workers of America, told
the committee that convict labor
threatens the livelihood of the 10000
women organized in his union. He
said: "In the Trenton penitentiary they
make corduroy trousers such as are
made by our best class of firms manu-
featuring that grade of goods. and they
ship them complete for so cents doz-
en-. Our price on that class of goods
is $1.75 Dozen"
Henry f. Wise of Wise Bros, shirt
manufacturers, said that the competi-
tion of penal labor has forced them
to reduce the number of their employ
ees from 5000 women to 100. Wise
said: I'VE formerly used to run the
Maryland reformatory house of ref.
uge. We could not run it. No man
who calls himself man can run a
prison contract and do what is expect
ed of him. Minneapolis Union Advo
cate.
Labor's Memorial Day.