Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-03-19
(cOntinuea from page One.)

asthma, eatarrh. rheumatism. diseases
Of the stomach. etc, were confined in
the same ward. Last winter when small.
poX broke out in this institution. there
were two or three cases of measles, and
they were only separated from the
smallpox eases by sheet stretched
around the bed.
The tubercular ward is too small TO
properly care for the cases there are.
1t is not the fault Of the officials in
charge. They cannot make room where
there is no room.
The building was erected in 1871 and
was plenty big enough for the 120 pris-
oners at that time, but it is a far cry
from 1871 to 1917.
Shoe Shop.
The men working in the shoe shop
make all the shoes worn by the prison
crs as well as doing all repairing. No
modern machinery, no ventilation ex-
/ cept two small windows side by side.
/ crowded into small room, not eonduc.
I i've to good work or health.
Auditorium.
When the present auditorium was
erected the builder was evidently in a
/ hurry. Today the entire south wall is
ready to fall down. The wood around
/ the windows has rotted away, the plast.
er has fallen off in huge blocks and
you can look over the country through
cracks between castings and brick wall.
/ The entire south wall is entirely satu-
grated with water and the inside wall is
I green with mold and decay Slowly but
/ surely it is crumbling away.
] Kitchen
The kitchen is located in the base
ment along with the bake shop, veget-
/ able room, butcher shop and cummissar-
/ lat S office and store room. Half of
/ the Kitchen space is taken up with the
guards range. The balance by the
steamers used in cooking the prisoners
food. The ceiling is so low that when
the steamers are turned on you cannot
see q man four feet away from you
/ There is no outlet for it, Nice healthy
/ place to work.
Bake Shop.
The bake shop is'half the size of the
kitchen. 1t is equipped with an old
/ fashioned brick oven that was installed
! in ISL There is no ventilation what
ever Good pickings for coekroaehes
and mice. After the bakers build a fire
under the syens they arc compelled to
! pull the fire cut to determine the tenn
/ perature of the oven aud let it cool
dswn to a baking heat. Some bake
shop. What!
Vegetable Room.
/ Three feet below the level of the
/ Kitchen is the vegetable or peeling
room. A damp room that must be CON
tinually lighted by electricity. To en-
able one to sec. Men sitting OH upturn-
/ ed boxes peeling vegetables, feet en-
cased in rubber boots to protect their
feet from water, Shut off from fresh
air, they develop rheumatism Some of
/ the men are unable to stand it longer
than three months Again l say that
it is no fault of the Officials in charge.
There is no other place available for
this work.
Butcher Shop.
Located Just little way from the
peeling room on the same level. About
the same size as the inside of SO foot
box car and it looks like one, containing
two cutting blocks and when a few
quarters of beef are hung up there is lit
tie space left. 1t is artificially lighted
and is so cold that when the butcher
steps into it at 5 a. m. to commence his
days work. he may well imagine him
self in Alaska.
Laundry.
The laundry is located in the yard
above the bath house in a building by
itself. In 1912 the laundry caught fire
from the drier which burned the rafters
and inside ceiling supports as well as
part of the tin roof. The roof was re
paired but the charred rafters are still
in the same condition as after the fire.
| Crowded for room it takes a mathema-
tician to figure out how the men handle
the clothes Of the institution, but they
do it somehow. The mangle in use must
have come over in the Mayflower.
Laundrymen have no recollection of
ever seeing one of its kind before. The
drier is so small that fully one-half of
/ the men in the winter time have been
compelled to put on their clothes still
wet.
Bath House.
The bath house is located beneath the
/ laundry in space II by l. containing
wall sprays and two ceiling showers In
this the inmates are obliged to bathe
+ The So men working in the flax plant
march to the bath house on Saturday
/ and as many as can crowd into this
small space to get their weekly bath
/ The air is so foul and the steam from
the water so dense that the men are
/ glad to get only half bathed With wa
ter dripping from the ceiling and the
steam so thick, it is impossible to dry
the body before donning clothes, consc-
| quently rheumatism.
! Cesspools and Toilets.
There are no toilets in the shops or
buildings for the use of the men dur,
ing the day. The toilet in the yard is
exposed to the weather and the men are
so averse to using it that serious eases
of constipation result.
Afterword
j Who should know these facts better
I than the man inside7 am here in daily
contact with these conditions and if YOU
Mr., Voter Do not believe this article,
why not come and see it for yourself7 ?
I Are You for humanity and willing to
give your fellowman a helping hand or
does the saving of few cents addition