The Penn's Grove record., 1914-08-14
SCHEME TO KEEP
CONvICTS BUSY
Authorities Plan to Have Them
Make andCement Line
ECONOMY A LARGE FACTOR
Men Could Be Guarded With More
Ease Than When Engaged in
Road BuiIding-State Has All
Natural Supplies.

Especial Trenton Correspondence
Trenton.-Before the State prison
and road authorities get through with
the problem of utilizing convict labor
in road building on a large scale it is
probable that they will utilize it for
supplying road and bridge construc-
ton materials. This has been tried
in other States, particularly on the
Pacific coast, with marked success.
There they utilize the convicts almost
wholly in making cement and lime,
which enter SO largely ito the con-
struction of concrete roads, and also
to a very large element in the cost
of road construction as we'll as re-
pairs. This State has all the natural
advantages of lime rock, shale and
other rock quarries, as well as gravel
deposits and clay beds to do the work
Of producing material on an extensive
scale. The plan has many advantages
over the road construction plan, be-
cause in the quarrying of rock or the
crushing of stone, the grinding of ce-
ment or the making of lime, the con-
victs employed would be in a segre-
gated section rather than spread over
a mile of road, requiring more or less
costly supervision. 1t also is pointed
out that work of this kind would be
less competition for other labor than
such road work as has beens recently
contemplated.
DR.. Lipmann's SUGGESTION.
1t was DR.. J. G.. Lipman, of the
State Agricultural Experiment Station
who first suggested the utilizing of
convict labor for the making of lime.
DR.. Lipman produced figures to show
that it could be made and sold at a
very low figure to the farmers Of the
State, who were much in need Of it for
fertilizing purposes, and at the same
time produce an income for the prison
far In excess of the income now pro-
duced by the per diem allowance
for convict labor on contract work of
various kinds, in the manufacture Of
clothing, brushes, mats, etc. 1t is be-
lieved that DIR. Lipman's idea relative
to the manufacture of lime could be
utilized with equal advantage in the
manufacture Of cement for use on the
State roads and in the construction Of
manufactured in the same way and
with a much greater benefit to the
prison so far as income is concerned.
The most beneficial feature of the new
plan, however, is the ease with which
the convicts thus employed might be
segregated and taken care Of by a
comparatively small guard.
Plan of Work.
Several weeks ago the Road Depart
ment practically agreed to employ $50
men on the White Horse Pike. Up
to date nc work on that road has been
started, and less than a score of pris-
0ners have been taken out to any place
within the immediate vicinity of the
prison. A year ago, when the same
plan was attempted, the prisoners
were furnished their MONDAY meal at
a hotel adjacent to the work. Now
1t is proposed that, wherever they are
utilized within transporting distance
of the prison, to furnish them with a
cold lunch for their MONDAY meal
and a dinner o their return to the
prison at night. The cost of trans
%portation, however, is an item which
did not appear to have been taken
into consideration in the first instance,
and 1t may seriously interfere with
the full development of this plan. On
the whole, 1t is believed that the
manufacture of cement, crushed stone,
etc., for State use would be about the
most profitable and best work upon
which such of the convicts as cannot
be taken care Of at work in the prison
proper might be engaged, and it is
believed that steps to perfect this plan
will be taken at a very early date.