The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-18
THE PRISON SLAYER
Story of a 'Despotism Built by Subterfuge = How Feudalism Grew in a New York Town Accident Finally Wrecks
 We'll Oiled Machine
(E. Stagg Whftin.)

Vcl Ollcu NldCHlUC
 (E Stagg Whitin.)
 General Secretary National Committee on Prison Labor | (Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
 GA hearing at the request of Cover
 nor Dix before Judge De Angeles of the Supreme Court revealed the sworn Testimony of which this account is but a connected narrative. Alfred Merrill, deputy attorney general of New York, ] to whom credit is due for the frank presentation of the case of the people
 which led to the sheriffs removal by Governor Dix on February 8, 1912, is authority for the accuracy of the facts. For reasons of policy the names are changed.)
 He is a jolly fellow--this Slayer. If you live in Syracuse, you won't deny it. If you live in Liverpool, NY, you can't afford to. Outside of Onondaga County, few have seen this big, burly 1 fellow or heard the ring in his laugh as he assures you-"No jury in the county will dare bring an indictment against me anyhow" He means it the same as when he tells the citizens of his little pocket borough in Liverpool. 1 'tI will damn the man who talks against mel will break him or jail him." It is not a vain boast either, owning as he does mortgages which cover most of Liverpool. By controll- | ing it's main industry, basket making, 1 he is the industrial dictator. Then as l sheriff he can make scoop once in a while and few men living have not ! s~1 IL Lz f | To understand the comedy we must go back fifty or sixty years when in the quaint little town of Liverpool, there settled number of Germans, one of whom was Dicker. Dicker came from a German town where basketry
 was the common occupation. Finding l that willows grew on the shores of
 Lake Onondaga, he soon started to make baskets for his own use. After wards he began to peddle them about to the farmers. The industry was ta-
 ken up by others in the village till 1t became the national center for the production of clohes baskets. Az the
 their baskets and imported baskets in
 creased. Charges against smuggling, and avoidance of the tariff provisions,
 epraged the little community. Dicker
 and Slayer, who had become his part I ner, studied the problem and learned | lIldI IIl0 AuStTAbu k\1ONcAAAkfSAlS AAasA provided $250,000i a year for. i've years l to encourage the basket industry in l Austrian penal institutions.
 l The National Customs regulations | forbade the entrance of these convict made baskets. d Still the vigilance of | to abate the evil. Dfcker could get no 1 profits until he decided to follow the example of the. Austrians and have his l willows stripped at the Onondaga Pen litentiary. His partner, Slayer, was a political factor in the town and in
 control of the dominant party. He l found way of getting. around the state constitution which provided for state use of convict made goods by a resolution of the town board of Sa- 1 lima, in which Liverpool is located, to 1 the effect thatrthe town poor peel will
 lows and whatever they could not do l be let on a contract to the OnOndaga l Penitentiary.
 Ten years ago the town supervisor. being a. member of the County Board | of Supervisors and having control of the penitentiary, entered into a con-
 tract with the penifentiary in the name of the town of Salina in which Liver pool Is located. Fred Shaver imIue- l diately became agent for the town what an agent of town IS you must ask Shaver, the eminent law makers having failed to insert it in the list of
 town officers. Furthermore, the law makers, having forgotten something
 essential. suggested the desirability of
 the town board. also forgetting what was equally as essential. that reports and checks, accountings and disburse-
 ments of their honorable agent be
 made note of in the accounts of the | town. The next year Slayer was su- | pervisor. How could anybody ques- 1 ton his right to pay for the business of the town, either in check or cash, ] to say who could send the willow to the penftentiary to be stripped and who should go without, to regulate the commission of the honorable agent, and to arrange freight rates.
 The poor folks of the town enjoyed l the proud distinction of being allowed to work on the baskets, not eight 1 hours, not ten, but twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. Then the l children are allowed to work. The
 work being done at home, there is no factory restriction. The baby of three
 does what it can, while it sucks the end of the willow. The old blind grandmother tells her beads at the l turn of the basket. All combined ] they are thankful to make two dollars a day which the careful housewife par cels out in small instalments so that they may eke out humble existence
 and pay the interest on the mortgage. Fred Shaver owns the mortgage to- gether with the willow which he buys ! in outlying counties. The wages he
 sets, likewise the interest on the mort-
 gage, according to his needs. His is the power not only of the lord of the 1 manor but as sheriff of the imperial authority of the state. He was elect ed by the will of the sovereign people, but keeps receipts for his sovereigns
 carefully filed away in his fire proof safe.
 The Onondaga Penitentiary, set like a monastery on a hill, welcomes it's i visitors with the announcement in big | letters on a placard Admission 25 cts. 1 for Adults, 15 cents for Children" Yet I the visitor must not take this as ap- plying to everybody alike. Convicta pay different rates. Little George, a convict fourteen years old, despite his innocent face and lisping voice. had to take twenty-eight cents from | the top of a milk bottle. His poor mother and little brothers are in need | of his wages. How fortunate it Is that during the long hours of the day he can work and send the maid. War den, how much does this boy send his l family week?' 'Nothing!" "Do you allow him to waste it?" "No wages
 Then the state gets the profit ?' You
 say it costs more to keep these chaps clothed and fed and run the prison
 than you get for their labor-working long hours? Who makes the profit | then?''
 The warden and his staff are busi- ceipts and vouchers saved. In due | fnrv 4 fh1 ,tr,r,1 hnf a