The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1914-01-18


teral hundred thousand lives. 1t wa:
n that the result was worth tho cost
h today we arc creating some hve
hdred thousand slaves, white and
LEX. each vear-or that is about the
nlbcr of made slaves each year In the
Nted States; it costs us several NIL
he to keep them in an enslaycd con-
Ion, and their depredations upon
Eety, before and after slavery,
Iount to several millions moro. !
pe not the precise data, but the fig
IA hazarded are not excessive. A
md statistician would make n more
national showing; and when he pro
1ed to cast up his account for the
neQate of the years since the war,
4 OF the estimated amounts for the
ring fifty years, the bill would look
be oven with hundred million pay
tiers to foot it.
b that bill, probably the smallest
Ia. would be the cost Of crime itself
lie actual loss caused to the comrnu-
b by the thieving Of thieves-of the
ives, that is, who have been convict
and condemned as such; for there is
|way Of figuring on how much tho
detected thieves steal. Every time
shake the social body, in this or
Il spasm of probing and reform, hun.
jds drop out, like moths from an m
tected garment; so that at last we
I prone TO suspect that the thief,
ri or covert, is moro the rule than
Exception, and that good part Of
tcash in circulation was more OF less
honestly como by. But, leaving this
fe, the money or values appropriated
thieves accredited as such and sent
jail, is an amount relatively incon"
erable, and by no means enough TO
the expenses of their apprehension,
l and prison sojourn. 1t is, then,
ufically uneconomical.
Ehe reply to this Is, of course, that
hal slavery is preventive of crime;
h if we did not prosecute malefac-
B. crime would multiply and abound,
weeds IN a neglected garden. Per
IS it would; hut the point is, that II
Kiplies and abounds even in the
b of prosecutions: every year tho
hber Of convictions is greater, and
Eiails arc already cracking their
ms to contain tho convicts. Ono
Rht almost conclude that prisons, as
b administered, stimulate crime in
Id OF preventing it. and that we are
The predicament of Hercules in the
j1e, who, as fast as he cut off
III Of the hydra, saw two others
put in its place At which rate, we
kht be led on 10 the surmise that
Fould (bc financially cheaper to let
ne run on: the cost of our futile
brts to stop it would be saved, and
hit be set over against the loss from
Increased annual depredations.
Productive Slaves.
Iut finance is not the whole story;
" about morality? and who can fore
/ the ruin of anarchy? The prob
Ecannot be so crudely solved.
-rime must be prevented; doubtless
b-tenths even Of the men in Jail
I'd agree TO that proposition. The
stion is, can the Jail system pre-
kit9 And the answer is that, Judged
long eXperience-the experience of
blsRnds of years-it cannot. There
Aseveral reasons why II cannot. into
Of which we may inquire later;
the objection TO the jail system
bh / wish to emphasize Just now is,
it not only makes slaves of con-
p, but, unlike the more reasonable
Shern negro slavery, IL makes them
fodnctive slaves. Either it with
b this vast body OF men from pro
hon altogether, or else it forces
to toll under conditions which
3 forth results the smallest possible
the most unsatisfactory, The men
not paid for what they do. What
profit lin contract" prisons) ac-
from their toll goes into the pocl-.
0f the contractors, or, perhaps, is
to defray the cost of their keep to
commuuity. Or, again, if IT is made
ppear to 20 into the prisoners pock-
e rs deity taken out again the next
ent by m ingenious system of fines,
~ no prisoner can escape.
short, prison labor Is slave labor,
slaye labor Of worse kind than
ever practiced in negro slavery
For on southern plantations,
Rh slaves were not paid wages, they
Fages' worth in good food and lodg-
md (uniformly) in humane treat
1nclnding, above all, the compan-
pip OF their wives aud families;
lney wore able, in many instances,
ny themselves into freedom. Most
ne negroes. however, had never
Vn what it was TO be free; their
Tor generations unknown, had
Slaves In their own country; they
never been free citizens of the
ed States, never had education,
unconscious OF any disgrace in
condition, and were as happy as
IN their lives they had been or
leapable Of being-happier, indeed,
BE- most negroes are in the eommu-
10 Today. In all respects their CON
4 compares favorably with that
i G half million annual prison slaves,
Hactured deliberately out of our
esh and blood
ttfe of Prison Insanity.
'RJsed to contemplate the population
fsHe Atlanta penitentiary-th eight
n 4 ked OF us-and then look at the
nction work, the gardening, the
ng, inc earpentering, the product
~ forge. the farming in the prison
YEAS outside the walls, and tho work
earine and grading on the area
q W ,"e Walls lnclosed, and | mar
arp AZ the disproportion, Eight hun.
al many Oh them skilled in this
80 pso ~ ih9ustrlnl employment, most Of
~ Ssicaliy capable of active labor.
ny zln'ose an OF them eager to work
Tsh ihsclhgent and useful work to
,auptionally equipped to plan 5nd "' IL;
- e. Industrial operations; and vet uAu n.;th 81,
e'i Ais great potential force at' cnri mreh
70 all that was actually accon,
70 ID might have been done as Uai,
f;SrPlsr by corpora s guard OF will.
Idedpd well managed men. Tho mern
antmIc waste of such material was
|, "a; without regard TO the evil