The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-30
WAGES AND CONVICTS

Two dollars. a day is the price now
paid for the labor of convicts, and
indications are that their wages will
soon be increased to so. So And not
long ago the labor of these same pris-
oners was valued at between 60 and 80
cents a dayl Such is the difference be-
tween the old system of leasing con-
victs to contractors and the new method
of using the men in the construction
and repair of highways.
These facts were contained in a re-
port of prison labor conditions in Iowa,
made by George w. Cosson, attorney
general of that state, to DR.. E. Stagg
Within, chairman of the executive COM
mittee of the national committee on
prison labor, and assistant in social
legislation in Columbia university. SAID
Mr.. Cosson:
I'VE have a little prison camp doing
work near the State Agricultural col
lege at Ames under the supervision of
the highway commission. These men
are on the honor system. The contract
provides that the men shall receive 81
per day, and If it develops that they
do as much work as it is performed
by free labor they shall receive $3.50
a day. This beats working under the
contract system at 90 or so cents per
day. Up to date the money, in addition
to paying their maintenance, has been
funded for the use of the prisoners and
their families"
In Colorado convicts have been used
on the highways during much greater
period than in Iowa, so a more COM
plete analysis of results is possible.
Thomas j. lyman, who is in charge Of
the work in the state. says convict
labor Is to solve the road problem Of
the nation 1.-THE benefits to this or
any other state from a broad and scien-
tifc system of road building can scarce
ly be estimated" continues Mr.. lyman.
Considering the situation in Colorado
and basing our figures on actual eX-
perience, we are confident that we can
construct 5000 miles of the very finest
roadways in the next 10 years for less
than 100000, and this without adding
anything whatever to the burden of
the taxpayers"
In his biennial report Mr. lyman says
81 miles of highways were constructed
| at an estimated saving of 1929, 1885 to
the counties In which the roads were
built. The average cost to the counties
was 32 cents per man per day. The
| total cost for the two-year period was
| $50. .725.44 To this was added s10,0S0
as the cost of feed for teams, making
the total labor cost s46,S05.44. an aver
age of $29S,13 per mile of road. Mr.
lyman declares the cost of building
roads With convict labor is only 20 per
cent Of that of free labor a saving
of 80 per cent to taxpayers.
Conditions are quite different in New
Jersey There are in that camp 3S men,
including five guards. three road foremen,
two cooks and three men who are on
regular camp duty. In addition, two
more are deducted from the list of those
who perform productive labor because OF
extra camp duty, occasional illness, or
other circumstances. so that of the 3S only
2S are looked upon as productive laborers.
The cost of maintaining the camp is s472 20
for supplies and $40 for wages of guards,
a total of s9l2,50 per month Col. e. A.
Stevens. highway commission of New
Jersey, figures the value of the labor at
81 per day. which amounts to approxi-
mately $575 per month. He iS said to be
in favor of reducing the number of guards
and establishing practical self-govern-
ment among the convicts. In this way he
thinks the convicts could be made self
supporting. and their conduct would have
much to do with fixing the rate of wages
which they might earn.