Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-12
Convict Labor Conditions.

j. d. Oakley, president of the Alabama
state convict board, testified that $50
state convicts had usually been utilized
by the Tennessee Coal and Iron Com
pany. subsidiary company of the steel
corporation. No state convict contract
was secured by the Tennessee Coal and
Iron Company because they took up con-
sideration of the contract late and the
state had transferred the convictS to the
Pratt Consolidated Coal Mines Company.
Officers of the steel corporation subsidi-
ary had protested because the convicts
had been turned over to the other COM
pany.
George Gordon Crawford. president Of the
Tennessee company. Mr.. Crawford said
that eventually the company had intended
to replace convict with free labor, but
that such change would take time, and
it was necessary for them to procure
convicts for 1912 He declared the COM
pany should have been given an oppor-
tunity to bid fo rthe cOnvicts before they
were turned over to another concern, ad-
ding that the Tennessee company had in
tended to bid even higher rates for the
convicts than before. Mr.. Oakley in his
reply stated that the Tennessee company g
contract for cOnvicts was to expire when
the change was made, and that it was
late in taking upsthe negotiations for its
renewal
County convicts throughout the state
Of Alabama are still available. but the
state board has nothing to do with con-
tract leases for county convicts.
Inquiry Regarding Discipline.
when convicts are leased out asked
Chairman Stanley, ''are they disciplined
by their employers?''
1.-The men who make the contracts fire.
quently hire their own warden and
guards" Mr.. Oakley replied, ''but the
convicts are always subject to the juris-
diction Of the state"
Misdemeanor prisoners, the witness said.
are subject ITO hard labor. II a man is
fined and does not pay it. he works out
his fine as convict laborer Convictions
for misdemeanors. Mr.. Oakley said, were
In most instances in cases of assault,
burglary, grand larceny, bigamy. carry
ing concealed weapons. gaming. man.
slaughter, public drunkenness. stealing
rides on trains, violation of prohibition
law, vagrancy, violation of~the Sunday
law, etc.
IF a man is given less than a two-year
sentence in Alabama" Mr.. Oakley con-
'tinued, ''he becomes a county instead of
state convict, no matter what the Of
fense.'
d. A. Reed, attorney for the steel cor
poratiOn, read a telegram from President
Crawford of the Tennessee company,
stating that the company had intended to
give up employing state convicts and to
use only county convicts. and that at the
expiration of 1912 the company proposed
to get rid Of all convict labor. At the
present time the company had only 1So
county convicts employed.
Tinplate Company's Experience.
Former President McArdle of the
Amalgamated Association of Iron Steel
and Tin Workers testified before the
committee of labor conditions and
agreements with the American Sheet
and Tin Plate Company. He referred
to a strike in 1909 which followed vain
efforts on his part to get an agree
ment from the American company. and
he had Seth Low intercede with E. HI.
Gary, chairman of the board of direc-
tors of the United States Steel Corpo-
ration. Forty-three hundred men were
forced on strike in all the plants
of the American company, and the COM
pany determined to operate on the
open-shop policy. Many foreigners
were engaged to take the places of
American strikers, McArdle declared.