United labor bulletin., 1912-10-03
PRISON LABOR.

Labor, sent out by the Natlonai Sonhii
4 tee on Prison Labor in pamphlet iorhi
reprinted from publications of the Acad
envy of Political Science of New YORK
lis worthy of reproduction in these col
umns and prompts the question, 'HoV
much of this prison made goods are yol
purchasing, Mr.. Union Man?" BY de
manding the union label on all your pur
chases you are assured that no part o
your wages goes to enrich those un
scrupulous, inhuman vultures-prlsoi
contractors-who exploit the conv1c'
and disgrace the state to their OWL
profit 1t has been proven that these
contractors and manufacturers encour
age crime, because the more criminals
the more slaves to produce the goods
| that are sold in competition with 1ree
labor. The article follows:
Prison Labor.
| (By E. Stagg Within, General Secretary
National Committee on Prison
Labor)
Christianity has brought no greater
change into the world than the over.
throw of slavery. The greatest war OF
modern times had human slavery as its
melting cause yet behind the dark bas-
titles we call our prisons, penitentiaries,
reformatories, warehouses; and refugees
there still hides the enemy of our social
progress, the economically vicious slave
system. The abolition of the evils In
herent in this system, comprising as
they do the exploitation of the helpless,
the perversion of state functions, the
gnawing of graft and the corruptlnS OF
politics, appears no limited task, even
to the most light-hearted OF reformers;
to undertake to work out the reconstruc-
ton, the peaceful reformation of this
system throughout the length and
breadth of this land is at least to grap-
pie with fundamental issues.
Its dealings with the criminal mark,
one may say, the zero point in the scale
of treatment which society conceives to
be the due of its various members. II
we raise this point we raise the standard
all along the scale. The pauper may
Justly expect something better than the
criminal, the self-supporting poor man
or woman than the pauper. Thus If 1t Is
the aim of good civilization to raise the
general standard of life, this is ten
dency which a savage criminal law VIII
hinder and a humane one assist
Thus speaks Hobhouse. The level OF
the convict today is. economically con-
sidered, slavery. He is the property OF
the state and during his Incarceration
the economic value which is in him may
be disposed of by the state to those who
desire to lease it, or he may be worked
by the state as it gees fit.
The leased convict is always exploited.
The state-worked convict may be made
to work either to pay for his keep, to
sustain his dependents, to reform his
ways or to bring revenue into the state
treasury Work he must and by the
sweat of his brow he must learn that
society has rights to be protected and
he duties to perform. The conditions
under which this training is gwen need
not debase the state, his disciplinary
authority, in the performance of its func-
ton. While we raise the level of the
convict and force up the level of indus
trial society we must force up likewise
the moral standard of the master who
has charge of the discipline. Negro
slavery was more demoralizing to the
free man than to the slave; convict slav-
ery, today demoralizes the community
and the free individual in just the same
way. 1t is an old saying worthy to be
believed of all men that state cannot
exist half slave and half free.
The abolition of slavery in our prisons
does not mean a Jail delivery, nor does
it mean even an indiscriminate pardon
ing by over-enthusiastic governors OF
large numbers of depraved and diseased
men who are now incarcerated. FROM
slave the convict must become waru
and as a ward he must be disciplined,
corrected, developed, trained through
chores, through honest work, with ever
the hope of the brighter future before
him when he can again assume the posi-
ton of citizen and praise and pless the
state that has trained him. Simple was
fhe process of the abolition of slavery
as pointed out by Lincoln when he said:
Free labor has the inspiration OIL
hope; pure slavery has no nope; the
power of hope upon human exertlon ana
happiness is wonderful; the slave mas
ter himself has conception of it, hence
the system of tasks amongst slaves; the
slave whom you cannot drive Win the
lash to break seventy-fve pounds OF
hemp in a day, if you task him to break
a hundred and promise him wage for all
over, will break you one hundred and
fifty. You have substituted hope for the
rod, and yet perhaps it does not occur to
Won that. to the extent of your gain In
the case, you have given up the slave
system and adopted the free system OF
labor"
The movement which this thought
represents is sweeping over the country
finding its expression in many states. IL
is championed by Wilson In New Jersey
Harmon in Ohio, Mann in Virginia, Had
lev in Missouri, johnson in California
The LEGISLATURES are responding, com
missions are investigating, governors
are comforting. AS an outcome OF the
discussion at the governors conference
at Spring Lake the southern governors
met in May in special conference upon
it and the governors in the west are
soon to follow this example. But Wha'
is the actual status? Whittier are they
leading? To point the movement IN a
few brief phrases must suffice here. ECO
nomically two systems of convict pro
auction and two systems of distribution
of convict-made goods exist; production
is either by the state or under indivld
ual enterprise; distribution either Is nm
tied tn the preferred state-use market
or is made through the general market
In the light of such classification the
convict-labor legislation of recent years
shows definite tendencies toward the
states assumption OF its responsibility
for its own use of the prisoners on state
lands. in state mines and as operatives
q, otota Factories. while in distribution