The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-19
OUR SYSTEM OF PRISON LABOR IS TENACIOUS Dr. E. Stagg WhitOn's Address Before Federation of
 WOmen'S Clubs State Sells its Charges Practi- cally as Slaves to Con-
 tractors

| Denouncing the present system of 1 jail and prison labor throughout the 1 State of Connecticut, by which the | States charges are hired out as slaves | to mercenary private contractors, the disciplinary power of the State is | placed in the hands of thes contrac | tors, and the prison goods made un-
 der such conditions are thrown into | the open market to break down the
 price of free labor, pr. E. Stagg Whit | on, general secretary of the National | Committee on Prison Labor Reform
 addressed the Federation of Womens' | clubs at it's meeting yesterday in | Waterbury.
 Dr. Whiton spoke as follows: l The penal institutions in the state of Connecticut comprise state prison at | Wethersfield, a penitentlary, at pres
 ent under construction, with county l jails in several counties. The sys- | tenn of employment of the prisoners at present in vogue is known as the con- | tract system where by through con- ! tract the labor of convicts is sold to | manufacturers who pays the state | fixed amount sometimes per convict | per day and sometimes per piece of | goods manufactured. The machinery l for such manufacture being owned and | supplied by the contractor, while the | operatives, the buildings, light, heat,
 etc., are supplied by the state. These contracts are supposed to be awarded | to the highest bidder, but as these doc
 uments are not public documents or | accessible to the public in general, l little is known as to what they repre- | sent. The recent Investigations con- | ducted in New Haven have revealed
 the fact that the contract in that city 1 gives the authority of disciplining the | prisoners, while in the workshops, to | the contractor, thus making it possible | for him to compel the prisoners to | work under such rules as he may lay down and submit to severe punishment | for any violation thereof. How gen orally this system prevails cannot be ascertained, as no other thorough in vestgatfon has been conducted into | the other prisons having contracts | with manufacturing companies. In some of the agricultural counties such as Wyndham, the system prevails of leasing the convicts, under guard to farmers who employ them for ten guards in such work as the leasee shall direct, paving the state 50 cents day for their hire. It will, therefore, be apparent that Connecticut at present l Is working its prisoners both under the lease and contract systems.
 Goods Compete With Free Labor The goods manufactured are sold on the open market by the contractors
 the exact quantity produced each year
 Is matter of their private accounting
 Boots. shirts, and chairs are the larg-
 est articles produced. It has been stated, and is probably true that most
 of these goods are sold in New York city. In this connection it must also De borne in mind that as New York city Is the largest market, easy of ac- cess to the citizens of Connecticut for the sale of their free product, anything
 that affects the market in New York city affects the manufacturing in Con- nect,cut. Tn recent investigation by the New York State Department of Labor 1t was shown that about s1O.- 100000 of such manufactured articles
 are each year shipped into the New York market. This same investiga
 tion showed that in certain lines
 among which were furniture. boots
 and shirts, the New York market
 was definitely affected as these in
 dustr1es had been introduced into a
 large number of prison factories
 throughout the United States and a
 working agreement reached between goods upon the market in such a | way that by mixing the prison goods With the goods manufactured by | these contractors in their free plants that they could drive out all compe | titors. These godds therefore have market which is secured by the ability of the contractors to under sell any of the products of free labor when unmixed with prison labor, but at the same time they are disposed Of at such a market price | as they themselves fix. Profits. | under this system, to the contractors
 therefore, amount to not only the usual profit on manufactured goods |
 but the difference between the price Ioh their prison labor. The investiga- tions at New Haven show that the | contractor pays less than ten cents | day for the prisoners he employs in the manufacturing of chairs. At this rate profit must be very great. | How great this profit is in the case Of New Haven may be judged from the fact that the House of Correction at Detroit, manufacturing a similar article, but with double the number of prisoners, of approximately the same type makes @ profit over and above maintenance of $3O,O0O a year. In Detroit this manufacture is carried on by the warden himself who is competent as administrator and free from politics. It is inn possible to ascertain just what the actual cost of the New Haven jail is to the town of New Haven but it seems safe to say that the city of DCliOil, dIlcI pdylHS between 10 ana l. 25 cents day to each prisoner per- sonally for his labor and distribut- ing sufficient money amongst the prisoners families to maintain them in decency, that having done this, the town of Detroit pays into it's own treasury as much from it's prison labor as the town of New Haven pays out of it's treasury to maintain its prisoners to enrich a prison-con- tractor.
 Connecticut Prison Progressive
 The state prison at WethersfieId has been fortunate to have had at its head a man of national reputation, who, it is generally conceded has been successful in preventing the usual conditions which prevail under the contract system. No state can afford to entirely rely upon the strong head of one man to prevent injustice. To open Wethersfield prison to condi- tions such as prevail at New Haven, while desired probably by none of the citizens of the state, yet seems inevit- able should the present system be allowed to prevail.
 Pernicious System.
 The contract system is vicious from two standpoints; first, it enables