Arizona republican., 1915-08-10
CONVICT ROAD WORK---H II
 WORKS AND WHAT T COSTS

items was over SoOOO, ana 1iiillteile'iSe and depreciation on the equipment was about S3000. You can see from this that it would not be fair to expect con vict labor to show any startling saving ever free labor in the total cost of the work.
 It has been with regret that l have heard some advocates of convict labor say that they, believed in it for the req son that the state had to maintain the prisoners anyway, and some benefit should De derived from the expenditure of money that had to be made, whether the men were out on the road or in side the prison walls. I say with re- gret, because l have had to undeceive them, and let them know that the cost of keeping a prisoner in prison has no relation to the cost of keeping a prison CT in a road camp the expense being nearly four times as great in the latter case. Laying aside the fact that a prison is q large plant in q fixed loca- tion, with easy access to supplies, and that large operations allow low unit costs: and on the other hand the road camp is a small plant, constantly on the move, with heavy transportation expenses both for men and material, the outstanding reason that it costs a great deal more to keep man on the road is that this man on the road is doing rough. hard, manual labor. He needs a lot to eat and he wears out a lot of clothing.
 On the Globe Roosevelt highway last year it cost us 7S 7-1O cents per day to keep d man, this covering food, cloth ing, medicine. tobacco and the night watchman. This cost per day was for every prisoner in camp, including the camp force of cooks. flunkies, etc. who are generally known as mon -produc- CTS, and for every day in the year. in cluding Sundays and bad weather days when no work was going on. The cost per man working day. by which I mean the cost of putting the prisoner on the job, for every day he actually worked, was $1.29. I wish to remind you that this working day cost had to include the cost of the camp force on working days, and the cost of maintaining the whole force on Sundays, on days when the weather would not permit of work. and on days when the camp was nov ing. I might mention here that dur ing the period of thirteen months re- ferred to the total number of days lost from these causes was ninety seven. or twenty five per cent of the total time the camp was in operation on this job Ii also had to include the cost of transporting the men from the prison 10 the camp. which amounted to a total of s1252. or F Aloe per man working day
 With this information. and taking in to consideration the facts that the work was largely repair work and re construction, that it was scattered over some thirty miles of road. that the av- craze water haul was three miles, ani the average supply haul was twenty one miles, we will take up the most inn portant matter of all that of unit costs
 Clearing and grubbing-largely mes quite and chapparal-the average cost for some fifty-seven acres was $91S per acre
 Solid rock excavation, total quantity moved 1892 cubic yards Where this work was so located that full benefit could be derived from the necessary drilling and shooting, the cost ran from 65 cents to S5 cents per yard. When it consisted largely of shooting off pro- jectiHg points, and widening the road at narrow places, the cost was from S1.25 to s2.5O per yard The average cost for the total quantity moved was S1.27 4-10 Der yard.
 Loose rock and bouIders-total Quan- tity 9300 cubic yards-ranging in cost from 26c to S1c per yard-this latter , being material that had to be shot, al though it could not properly be classi- lied as solid roek-average cost 66 3-1Oc per yard.
 Earth borrow and excavation-total quantity 20.42S subic yards-ranging in cost from He to 45c per yard-most of this work was on steep hillsides-aver- age cost 9 2-10c per yard Foundation excavation-totaI quanti- ty eSS cubic yards-average cost 56 1-1O cents per yard
 ! Dry walIs-total quantity 126 cubic yards-cost s1.1Shc per yard. Bubble masonry-total quantity SIP cubic yards-average cost s3s2 per yard.
 ! Concrete-total quantity 116 cubic yards-average cost s13.16 per yard This high cost is principally due to the small quantity placed. which did not permit the men to obtain experience and skill in form building and concrete mixing
 Ditching-total quantity 52O9 cubic yards-average cost 35 Bloc per yard
 wish to also submit the costs ot the work done so far by this same camt on the Tucson Florence highway ir
 Pima county. This work is new con.
 struction, and in consequence of not
 being scattered, is being done cheaper
 The average water haul has been three
 miles and the supply haul nine miles
 and We have been able to reduce tn,
 cost or prisoner working day tt
 S114 4-10c
 The unit costs on this work have beer
 as follows
 Clearing and erubbing s15.s2 per acr
 Earth excavation and borrow, .1S2 De
 c. y
 Solid rock excavation. .s44 per c. y
 Ditching. .175 per C. y.
 Concrete. 9.SS per C. y
 When comparing these unit cost
 with contract prices for similar work
 1t should be remembered that a con