The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1916-03-24
COST OF WORK HOUSE.


road meeting on Saturday, stated tina
during the year 1914 the work hous
hands of the county constructed az
proximately six miles of road at cos
nj something over $4,000 per mile
charging the cost of the maintenance
and operation of that system to thu
road built Even if it were fair Il
&charge the total cost of the work house
10 the construction of roads this woulC
not be very far excessive, assuming
mat the roads constructed will com
mare with the Pulaski pike or the
Hampshire pike or other roads built In
the past by the work house.
In Dickson county some 100000 was
expended for about sixty-fve miles OF
highways. In Warren county some
tsixty odd miles was constructed at q
cost of $4,000. This is at the rate
aM about $1,000 per mile and the roads
IN Warren county will not compare
with some of the work house built
GDads in Maury county. However, it
- grossly unfair and altogether Inn
-Rroper to charge the total cost OF
maintaining the work house to the
roads that are constructed by the pris-
seners. In the first place no penal
1znstitution should ever be run for
croft That is not or should not be
me object Of such institutions.
But to charge the cost Of the work
house maintenance to the roads built,
IN from any angle improper, In the
first place convict labor, especially
the convicts that are sent to the work
house, will never compare with free
labor. The great majority of the so
.scalled able-bodied men who are sent
10 the work house are dissipated,
many Of them are moral perverts and
Nhysical wrecks, otherwise they would
mot be convicted of crime. 1t would
10 inhuman and cruel to expect them
10 do the work, or force them, if posi-
BE, to do the work that honest free
labor will perform. Again the work
house must be operated, the prison
.ers fed clothed, medical attention
provided and in winter kept warm re-
Eardless of the weather or the physical
seondition Of the inmates.
1t was never intended that the work
house should be a source of profit.
On the contrary following the expert
snce OF all time IL mas been found that
n is much better for prisoners to
keep them at work and especially in
me open than to confine them to close
quarters all the time. 1t Is more hu-
mane, more conducive to reformation
and healthier to work the prisoners
on the roads than it would be to CON.
Ilne them in idleness.
If the prisoners were kept in the
county Jail in idleness it would cost
nearly If not quite sixty cents per day
Der prisoner and they would be in
worse off than they are in the
county work house. If the testimony |
Of reliable men, particularly the high |
class citizens of the recent grand jury,
fs to be believed, the county of Maury |
has a humane work house system. The
prisoners are wen cared for, well fed
and we'll treated That is better than
TO have it said that the county is max
ing vast profit from their labor. II
the system is honestly operated, il
there is no graft, and the employees
are not paid excessive salaries, and
neither of these things has been
charged, then there is no, just cause
for complaint against the existing
work house system in Maury county.
AS a matter Of fact, since the pris-
sners punished for crime under the
FORK house sentence, must be fed,
md clothed and cared for whatever
De county gets In road building as
he result of their labor Is that much
made; that much net profit, to say |
OF the value Of the labor and
pen air life to the prisoners, some.
hing that cannot be calculated in
lellars and cents. The people should ,
,et out Of their heads the idea that |
he entire cost Of the work house
hould be charged to the roads con. I
tructed. First thing we know some
ne win add to these figures by charg.
ng to the roads the cost of the trial I
nd conviction of the prisoners, men |
r women, able or sick, aged or in. 7
rm, who are sent to the work house B
nd there worked upon the highways
I the county.