Arizona republican., 1914-08-01
COST OF PRISON LABOR |S SHOWN

The state engineer has been an moved of late by certain misquota- tions of a statement attributed to him regarding the economic value of prison labor as employed in the state read work, it being alleged that he made the assertion that the cost of road work by convictS was twice as much as under the contract sys- tenn In order to correct any i'm pression of the sort, the following extract from the state engineers re- port was made public yesterday, at the office of the state engineer: ECONOMIC VALUE
 PRISON LABOR
 By Lamar Cobb, State EngineeD
 So many factors enter into the economic value of prison labor on highway construction in Arizona that I it varies between wide limits.
 Under Guard
 Under average conditions at pres ent the cost of road construction with prison labor under guard ap ! proXimates it's cost by contract. Better construction is always secured by prison labor than by contract and this is of great or small value, de- pendent upon the character of the work. The value of prison labor is increasing with experience gained by it's use The cost per working man per day has decreased on the Bisbee Tombstone highway from $1.9S in January to $1.315 in June with an average for nine months of S1619 | This does not include the cost of stockade, camp and camp equipment, which cannot be segregated until completion of the job. On bridge work done in the past l am inclined to believe that it's value has not been as great as on road work, or will ever be, unless road construction is carried on in connection herewith to utilize surplus labor Gin camp, which at times is not needed on the bridge construction. The economic minim- um as to the number of prisoners fo- a road or bridge construction camp is not less than from 70 to 100 | labor or force account, prison labor under guard is more economical Their efficiency has been estimated by those in immediate charge of the work from 66 2-3 to over 100 per I cent as compared to free labor of the same character.
 Without Guard
 Both road and bridge work can be dcne far more economically by the use of prisoners under the honor system that it can be done by con- tract, force account or day labor As with prison labor under guard, its value is increasing with experience gained by it's use. On the Globe :. Roosevelt highway the cost per working man has averaged for six months s105 per day Exclusive of transportation with a minimum of .6Sc in June This does not include the cost of camp and camp equip ment which cannot be segregated until completion of the job The economic minimum as to number of prisoners for a construction is 40 to 50.
 Since the first of this year the boards of supervisors in the counties where prison labor has been employ cd except Pnal where only a small force was engaged) have been fur nished monthly statements showing total expenditures and segregated costs including that of prisoners per working man day. These statements also have been furnished the news papers in the vicinity of the work
 The system of keeping and report ing monthly unit cost data for prison labor construction forces was worked out by Chief Clerk F. P. Adams and Division Engineers J. C. Ryan and F. G. Twitchell assisted by Office l Engineer T. F. Nichols and the re- duction in operating expense is large !, ly attributable to this system.
 There is no state highway depart ment or penitentiary in the union under whose direction prison labor is employed that furnishes such com plete cost data as does this depart
 ment and at the time when it is of the greatest value-durng construc- , ton. In fact, notwithstanding the large number of states that employ , prison labor on highway construction, , there has been so very little cost , data kept that it has been impossi-
 bic to estimate it's economic value therefrom and the people generally :, have labored under an erroneous i'm pression of it's economic value also , as to it's aggregate value in Arizona The number of honor men available 1 dces not at the present time exceed fifty and the total number of able bodied men in the state prison that l can be furnished for road work does
 not exceed 190.