Norwich bulletin., 1912-04-15
Outside Work
 For COnViCtS
EMPLOY THEM ON HIGHWAYS,
 SAYS GOVERNOR,
GRIND UP LIMESTONE
That In Litchfield County Would Make Valuable Fertilizer. He Says in Speech at Charities Conference.

1tleS and Corrections opened here to- | day with a meeting in Buckingh ham | hall in the afternoon and @ general | session in the evening. The occasion | was marked by the presence of Gov. | Simeon F. Baldwin, who delivered an | address in the afternoon on the prison problem of Connecticut before an au- dience of about 500 people. The Oth- CT speakers were Mayor Francis T. Reeves, President Arthur R. Kimball and Homer Folks of New York; presi- dent of the 3Sth national conference of charities, 1911.
 Mayor Reeves gave the address of welcome. Mir. Kimball, as president, pointed out the aim of the association and the activities planned. MT. Folks spoke on Public Charities and Social Progress. John Collier of New York, educational secretary of the national board of censorship of motion pictures, gave an address on The Public Schools as Community Centers." Carol Aronovici of Providence gave an ad- dress on The Housing Problem In Small Cities"
 Governor BaIdwin's Speech. Governor Baldwin said: I wish to bring before you this afternoon the subject of the employment of prison CTS in new ways. The subject has ceen more discussed in other states and countries than here. We have been content to manage our prisons as our fathers managed them in the main, but I am by no means sure that better methods may not be taken up ! in the twentieth century, and the time | to begin is now.
 Connecticut is spending vast sums | every year In the construction and 1 of bict1vxraxra Shn a | great number of laborers at her com 1 mand whose services upon them she | could have for nothing. She could 1 also employ these men in any other work that she thinks proper, without 1 paying any wages at all.
 Should Be Profit Instead of Loss.
 Instead of this. she boards and clothes most of them at an expense
 considerably exceeding what they earn | She keeps them shut up within brick l walls, their faces blanching for want
 of sunlight that the rest of the world loves so well and finds so health giv-
 ing.
 Criminals can never make good to the state all that they cost it. It is l the criminal for the most part who
 has compelled the organization of the | state and made political society neces-
 sary. If therefore, a man committed
 a crime serious enough to authorize
 the state to deprive him of his liberty,
 there ought to be resulting profit, in-
 stead of loss for the community,
 provided always that 1t is possible to
 arrive at that result without the com
 mission of new wrong.
 Make Prisoners Work Outside.
 Everybody recognizes it as just and
 eXpedient to make convicts work in
 prison, within certain limits. I ask
 you to consider today if there is any
 thing unjust or inexpedient in making
 them work. within certain limits, out
 side the prison. No doubt, there are
 objections to bringing the criminal out
 from the darkness of the jail to the
 glare of the sunlight, where everybody
 can see him, and note what he is do-
 ing. The common objections to it are
 first that it exposes him to public
 humiliation; second that 1t degrades him by throwing him into bad com pany; third, that 1t gives room for abuse and tyranny upon the part Ot those who oversee his work, or direct
 1t; fourth, that there is a chance thai he will escape; fifth, that he will be- come competitor with the hones man who labors in the same vocation 7 Humiliation Not Serious Obstacle. t Let US look into these objections ] Work in the open would expose pris- 3 Orers to some public humiliation i Q that work were on the public high. T ways. This would be avoided if they @ did their work within the prison en. I obscure, and the prison enclosure
 with no great expense, could be mad, = large enough to embrace quite a farm f or a quarry. But even If work on tn @ highways might humiliate some O
 them, their conviction of crime ha t been notorious fact, and has alread, . made them the subject of public cen s sure. A man must have conducte e himself very ill before society think - it necessary to take away his libert V and condemn him to jail It is a pun D ishment too serious to be lightly in s flicted, for we know it is quite Tar d for any one who has been subjected t y it to succeed in making it forgotte = in the course of time, so as to re - ha5ilitate himself in the esteem of tn = members of the community where h a was sentenced.
 : State to Hire or Buy Farms.
 We must remember. too. that i
 most countries the majority of tn
 prisoners belong to the class of da 7 la5orers or tramps. They have n
 trade; they only know how to Ilandl fl the simplest tools, if any They ca
 handle a pick or a hoe, after a fash
 ion. Why not have the governner
 buy or hire farms on which they ca . employ all these strong armed in fieI o labor? Such labor might reclaim ba v lands. It has been found in man e states and countries a real source ( = profit to the state. To buy run-dov 9 farms run a st0ckade around thel II and reclaim them to fertility by tn -e aid of convict labor. Forest land ca ,e thus be developed. Quarries can thu c. be worked North Carolina has V number of prison colonies of this sor o' The state buys cheap land, manure o' and plants it, and looks after tt proper drainage. 4 stoekade is bli = about 1t, or else a suitable number ,t guards are employed, generally or U guard for ten convicts. Agents of tt SSt St state direct the labor of the convic; 4 -J on the land, and are held strictly aS ~ countable to the officers of a hight @ grade. In this way the state of Mort ., Carolina has cleared very large sun 'i of money and at the same time pro
 noted the welfare of the convict colo
 nies.
 Let conViots Grind Up Rock. ~ We have in our state a considerab t' quantity of limestone rock. Grind 5 up and 1t makes a valuable additic ' .' to the sell for farming purposes. can be ground by the employment ' convict labor, A convict camp