The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1912-02-09
CONNECTS MUST WORK WHILE IN
PRISON
(Statesman)

bringing in $3.50 every day during
the winter months" said Warden
John w. Shook of the state peniten-
tiary. .'Idleness is the problem which
we have to face every day through
the winter and it is one that could
be solved easily and in a way that
would swell the Golfers of the state.
In other states, institutions of this
kind are assets financially as well
as in every other way and the con-
victs who are sent there are made to
pay the state, in part, for the ex-
pense that it incurs in holding them
there.
Even a farm, ideal as that is for
convicts, would not be of use through
the winter when the men have to be
factory of some kind and the. one
that interferes least with outside
labor is a shirt factory. Many states
are getting $3.50 every working day
from their convicts just by thing of
that sort and it helps meet the ex.
penses of the institution. The peo-
pie Of Idaho are not going to stand
for appropriations of 100000 every
two years to maintain thing like
this when part of that cost could
just as we'll be borne by the convicts
themselves. / believe that the next
legislature will mend matters SO we
will have no more trouble of this
kind.
What Minnesota Does
Minnesota earns 100000 year
more than the cost of running the in
stitution through it's convicts and
there is no reason why we shouldn't
be doing the same thing here.
Had We system like that of Min
nesota or some of the other states,
we could be paying into the pockets
of the families of these convicts
enough to support them while the
men are here. 1t is decidedly hard
for the mainstay and support of the
family to be locked up behind prison
bars for some crime that he has done
and the family left to suffer for
something of which it is not guilty.
There ought to be some means pro-
vided to care for those people and
the best way to do that would be
through the labor of the man who
ought to be supporting his wife and
children properly. But it can only
be done when the man himself is
bringing in revenue to the state and
is paying for his own support.
Work for All Seasons
with farm work for him during
the summer months or road work
during that season and inside work
during the parts of the year that he
could not get outside with profit, the
state could afford to make an ar
rangement of that kind for his fam
lily. 1t would prevent our furnishing
the innocent with the guilty as we
do now and as we can't help doing
under the present system. But we
can do nothing to relieve the condi-
tion until the state has secured I
enough land to keep him busy rails
ing crops and learning something
that will be of benefit to him after
he gets out and, in addition, provide
some work for him on the days that
he can't get outside. We might also
improve on that by giving him pay
for overtime and whenever he does
more than the maximum amount of
work. There are many improve
ments that suggest themselves if we
but had the means to put some of
them into operation.
Roast for County Roads
Speaking of roads that one which
the county is putting in between
Boise and Meridian is the limit, in
my judgment. Some people think
that it is fine road but | can't see
it. They have started off on a
straight line and have run the road
ON that line without the slightest
regard to the lay of the country
around it. The territory through
which it is to pass is one of the pref
test that have seen for the con-
struction of good road, but the
county is not getting that kind, &C
cording to my opinion of good roads
and I have built some in my time.
By the time that Ada county gets
a few damage suits, it will realize
that the road is not the investment
that it thought it was.
II believe in good roads but they
should conform to the lay of the land
and should not have straight drop
five and six feet down to the ground
like that one does in places. The
rain is even now washing the earth
yhnu1dnrc nwou from Z.