Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-11-30
THE PRESS and
the PEOPLE
CONVICT-BUILT ROADS

Massachusetts is justly proud of its
state roads, which are a revelation to
visitors from other states; other New
England states nave some. and New
York is coming into line. These roads
/ have cost millions of dollars. Then
we travel westward across 1890 miles
of thickly settled country with very
| few all-the-year roads until we reacn
Colorado, where the good-roads prob
! lem is being demonstrated in way
which must sooner or later command
the attention of all the other states.
There 1000 miles of highway, ranking
with the best in the world, have al
ready been constructed entirely with
state-convict labor. And these gOC'-
roads have cost IA cents, which other
wise would have cost 81. In other
words, the money which ordinarily
would have built one mile has, under
the Colorado system, built seven
miles.
| 1t was my privilege last month to
listen to Thomas B. lyman, warden
Of the Colorado penitentiary, who oc,
casionally finds time, to leave home
and tell the intensely interesting story
of how he has solved the question,
not only of what to do with convicts,
but how to reform them at the Same
time He tells part of the story in
moving pictures, showing his men in
citizens clothes busily, at work drill
ling. blasting, plowine. hauling and
fsuffacing: in many cases; out in the
mountains. in sparseB settled dis
tricts, with every facility imaginable
for escape. But one looks in vain for
the customary guards with long-range
rifle at command. No guards, no
sheckles, no distinctive garb, abso-
lutely nothing to distinguish the con-
victs from their foremen, except that
the fore man rides a horse. These men
work in large bodies, often several
hundred; only one barrier stands be-
tween them and escape; and it is i'm
possible for thes moving picture to
show that barrier, for it is a Mans
Honor. In fact, the honor system
was partly a result of the discovery
that, to efficiently guard the prisoners,
the expense was equal to the saving
effected by their work, and hence of
no financial advantage. And so the
honor system was proposed amid
plenty of predictions of failure and
very few of success.
Now, as Warden lyman remarks,
the Colorado convict is no saint, and
about Is per cent Of them are danger
GUS and should be confined OF the
rs per cent some really should not be
where they are, and all can be train
er to better citizenship for return
to freedom, by treating them as men.
In accordance with this theory, which
has been confirmed in practice, the
men who are allowed to go out on
the work are treated, housed and di-
rected in their work like any we'll
arranged railroad camp outfit. They
construct their own temporary living
quarters, but there are no bolts on
the doors nor bars on the windows.
True, they all retire to bed and arise
at. one time, but so do soldiers. The
men are worked in rural districts;
they do not go to town. and unless a
man breaks a rule, he need never re-
turn to the prison. He can serve his
full term in the open air, and when
his time expires he has become pro
ficient in something-surveyin
blacksmithing. farming or other occu-
pations for which there is demand
Not only that, but by earnest, faith
full work of eight hours daily and Oh
servance of the rules he can reduce
five-year term one-half.
During the past two years only one
man in 200 has run away; he is in
variably recaptured and must then