The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-10-20
CONvICTs AID THE FARMERS
Trusted Prisoners From State Peniten-
tiary Replace the Drafted Men
in LeaVenworth County.

Trusted convicts from the state pen
intentiary at Lansing are taking the
place of drafted men on Leavenworth
county farms. For the last six weeks
the experiment has been in progress,
and it is proving so successful that
farmers are asking for more prison
ers. If the idea is expanded it may
solve the farm labor question in this
vicinity.
Convicts selected for outside farm
work are temporarily paroled. While
employed they received the regular
scale of wages, which at present is
from $3.50 to SO a day and board
The money is sent to their families.
Not a single case of misconduct
among the paroled workers has been
| reported.
This newest idea in the use of
prison labor is the result of a serious
shortage of farm hands in that part of
| the state. A few weeks ago when
farmers began filing silos they found
| it impossible to find enough men to
do the work In desperation, some Of
| the large landowners of Delaware
township, in which the prison is To-
| Gated, approached Warden J. K. Cod
! ding. They told him unless help could
/ be had their crops would waste.
Farmers at first paid their new en-
| ployees $3.50 a day and board. At the
! end of the first week the pay was in
creased to So in most cases because
of the satisfactory services. Warden
/ Codding personally interviewed every
employer and found each one COM
l IL r1I,
| eager to do the work and earn money
for their wives and children. The
only restrictions placed on them is a
semi-monthly return to the prison to
make a report and obtain new cloth
ing. y
Women Engine Wipers.-Because of
a shortage of labor the Santa Fe Rail
road announced that it would employ
negro women in its roundhOuse in En-
poria, replacing negro men and Next
cans. The women will do the cleaning
work and be trained as engine wipers.
They will receive the same wages as
the men
Woman Found Dead.-Mrs. Blanche
New man, aged 43, was found dead at
her home in Wichita with a bullet
hole in her body. A revolver lay near
by. Mrs. Newman is said to have
been suffering from a mental ailment
for the last few months.
x x
Youth a Suicide.-R- D. Lewis, Jr.,
% years old, committed suicide at
Concordia by shooting himself with a
| 10
} Heved to have been the cause.
Baxter Springs to Pave Streets
The city council of Baxter Springs has
/ adopted a resolution to pave streets
covering nearly forty blocks in the
. business district This will be the
first paving ever done there.
Sent 80 TO Camp Funston-Pratt
l sent thirty-eight men, the third con
: tingent of the draft, to Camp Funston
) recently. Thousands of people gath
: cred at the depot A large majority Of
. the men were married and left wives
? and babies at home
DR.. BartheIme Released. = DR.
George Barthelme, who was arrested
/ at Wichita suspected or beng a Ger
5 man spy and charged with having
/ been within the military barred zone
: without a permit, has been released
by Federal officers
T Kansan TO Federal Board.-Henrl
q DiegeI, president Of the AtchisoI
e Commercial Club, has accepted an ap
e pointment to the Federal commission
i to expedite government leather good
o contracts and regulate prices TO b
paid manufacturers.
X
/ ing Marshall, who made a fortune il
!. Butler county oil. has bought $50
q acres Of rich land near GTenols, Kan
q for SCI. 400, and i've hundred thorough
o bred Hereford cattle. He WI 80 int
the stock business