The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-12-16
SELL PRISON Irvine
TO FARMERS DIRECT
Governor and Warden Will
Try Method to Stimu-
late Demand.
palladium Specially

palladium Specially
INDIANAPOLIS. Dec. 16.-lt lies
with the farmers of Indiana whether
the manufacturer of binder wire at
the state prison shall be discontinued
and they shall again be turned over
to the tender mercies of the harvest
er trust"
Gov. Marshall and Warden Fogarty
OF the prison, in a final effort to sim
ulate the demand for state Irvine, have
decided to sell it direct to the farmers
next year. II this does not result in
creating a demand which will place
the binder Irvine mandatory on a
paying basis recommendation will
be made to the legislature that it be
discontinued
Warden Fogarty has submitted 70
the governor report of the prison
binder Irvine business since its estab-
lishment in 1906, which shows it has
been a losing venture Counting the
interest on the states original invest
ment Of 100000 and the wages of the
prisoners at s. cents day. the bin
der Irvine manufactory has lost $685.
900 during the five years it has been
In operation. Omitting the item of in
terest. the loss has been $4,000. Disre-
garding interest on the investment
and the amount the state would have
received for hiring out the labor Of
the prisoners employed. the state is
Just $4,000 ahead as result of it's
binder Irvine business.
Although the prison has lost money
the binder Irvine mandatory has re-
suited in a saving of thousands to the
farmers OF Indiana. When the state
entered the business binder Irvine was
selling at IL and 13 cents pound.
Today the farmer pays only about half
that price.
Warden Fogarty's plan is to sell
Irvine to the farmers in carload lots
at 81 cents a pound and in fifty-pound
lots 81 cents a pound. These are the
prices the dealers have been paying.
BY Joining together. the farmers of a
Irvine as cheaply as a retailer can buy
Il.
Trust Competition Keen.
Prison made Irvine has had to meet
the keenest kind of competition from
the trust. which has resorted to all
sorts Of tactics to discredit prison
made Irvine with the farmer. Agents
have been sent into the wheat fields
to try to demonstrate that the prison
produce Is inferior. In spite of their
efforts Warden Fogarty says the trust
agents have entirely failed to prove
prison Irvine is not just as good as is
manufactured anywhere.
Another advantage the trust has
been able to gain Is in the matter Of
freight rates. The rate on Irvine is
12h cents a hundred, while machinery
goes at ~ cents a hundred. 1t has
been the practice to load a car with
10000 pounds of Irvine and 10000
pounds Of machinery and bill 1t all at
the machinery rate.
Largely because of the trust oppo-
sition the state prison was able to
dispose Of only 100000 pounds of
Irvine last year. 1t has a capacity Of
100000 a year, and unless the de-
mand can be forced up to that figure
the plant can not be maintained ex-
cept at a loss.
The labor now employed in the man
ufacture of Irvine can be let out on
contracts at IS cents a day for each
man, and Warden Fogarty has reach.
ed the conclusion that unless the farm
ers come to the support Of the indus
try the state cannot afford to continue
It. He says it il certain that Irvine
prices would go up as soon as the
state discontinued it's manufacture.