The Winslow mail., 1915-03-20
G27YEZCT C4ZzDA DAY G2LC12AD0

cessful escape. Communities longer fear to
have convict camps established near them
We have made manhood as we'll as money by this
healthy hearty outdoor labor. We have built the
prisoners up both physically and morally. Men
discharged from our road camps do not have the
prison pallor, the physical weakness and the
hesitating hangdog appearance Of the typical dis
charged convict. They bronzed sturdy heal-
thy, efficient laborers and are in demand as such
About 20 per cent of those we have sent out upon
the completion of their sentence have made good
The other 20 per cent have mostly found their way
back into prison elsewhere.
In his last biennial report Warden lyman had
the following to say with reference to the fnan-
cial side Of convict road building:
"Our largest item of labor performed by the
convcts was, of course, the road work The pris-
oners have been employed in the construction OF
roads in Mesa Fremont, Larimer, Weld, Boulder,
Jefferson Ell Paso and Pueblo counties. They have
built 157 miles of good roadway and a great deal
of this has been blasted out Of solid rock-that In
Mesa county being the most difficult and heavy
work ever attempted by
"Owing to the fact that it was impossible to get
from the various counties the cost Of material,
such as cement lumber steel, corrugated cul-
verts powder tools and supplies, other than &C
tua labor used in road and bridge building we are
enabled to give you only the labor cost to these
different counties for the work of the men, Tn1s
work has been Gone at average cost to the diff
ferent counties of 32 cents per day per man; and
as this cost includes Sundays and holidays the
cost of labor of these to the counties for the
two years, or 731 days would be $36725.44 we
have worked twenty-one state teams and the feed
for these teams cost the counties $40 per month
per team which would amount to $10OSS; making
total cost to the counties for labor of $46,SO5
The average labor cost for the 157 miles was
S29812 per mile.
1T is hard to estimate the immense value OF
these roads for the reason that the work in Mesa
county alone would have cost, with free labor, not
less than $4,000 per mile, as the rock in places
had to be blasted for Is feet in order to get
proper roadbed In this work it was necessary to
drill holes 25 feet deep and to drill three depths
before the roadbed was reached. SO you can see
the magnitude of this work. The work in Ute
Pass in Ell Paso county, done through solid
rock for six miles all blasting. The work in Salt
Canon and Parkdale Hill, in Fremont county and
Ingree Hill, Cherokee Hill and Thompson Canon
in Larimer county have been very expensive work
because of the blasting. This necessarily would
have been very much more expensive had it been
done with free labor and the counties would have
been forced to pay big salaries for drilers, bias
ters powder men, masons and cement workers
Not counting what the contractors profits might
be and not including any skilled labor except
blacksmiths cement workers and masons, and es
timating the cost of free labor at So per day, by
eliminating Sundays and holidays, may count
1872 men working 210 days at 81 per day which
would give us a labor value of $16104O. We have
worked an average of twenty masons and cement
workers. which would have cost the counties So
per day and would have amounted to $4,000 we
have averaged five blacksmiths, whose labor 1s
estimated at 81 per day and this would have
amounted to s12,220. Estimating the value of Il
teams at $3.50 per day per team for 61O days, II
would have amounted to $32 OPS. At low figure
the value of the labor of these men and teams
would be worth to the counties $266285. Add to
this depreciation of state equipment $4,000 and
the interest on state equipment $4,000 and you
can see that this labor has been worth to the dill
ferent counties $270285. The difference between
what the free labor alone would have cost the
public-namely $27O,2S5-and what the labor OF
our men actually cost them shows labor pron'
of s233 479.56. However this labor did not com
pete with the free labor of the state for the rea
son that the counties could not otherwise have
afforded to do this work