Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-02-18
USE 0F C0NV|CTS FOR ROAD WORK
 IS INCREASING
Studies by Federal Bureau Show Trend From Prison
 Shops to Highways.

A steady decrease since 1885 in the
 proportion of convicts in the United States employed in miscellaneous work under lease and contract and marked increase in the proportion employed for the benefit of the state on hi gh- ways and other public works are shown in statistics just published by the office of public roads and rural engineering of the United States de- partment of agriculture. These sta- tistics are included in department bulletin 414, a professional paper, which reports one of the first exhaus- tive studies made in this country cov- ering the administrative, engineering, economic, disciplinary, and health con ditions in convict road camps. Repre- sentatives of the United States public health service co-operated with the specialists of the department of agri- culture in making the studies. The systems adopted by the several states are discussed and recommendations are made for the achievement of great CT efficiency in operation of the con- vict camps and conduct of the road work
 System Classified.
 The systems of convict labor are classified in the report as lease, con- tract, and piece-price systems, un- der which the labor of the convicts is for the benefit of private individuals or corporations, often in the manu- fracture of commodities; the public account system, under which the con- vict-made goods are sold by the state; the state-use system, under which goods are manufactured only for use in state institutions; and the public works and ways system, under which the labor of the convicts is devoted to public structure and roads. The latter system has grown in popular ity, it is pointed out, because it makes use of the convict labor with min imum of competition with free labor, contributes fairly lasting benefits to the whole community: affords health ful and even somewhat. reformative employment to the convicts, and re- duces congestion in penal institutions. The most satisfactory use of the sys- tenn, in the opinion of the depart ment's road specialists, is under state rather than county administration. Since 1885, the report shows, the per centage of convicts in a large number ol representative clHSCluIlOnS WOrklng under the public c-account, 'state-use, and public works and ways systems, has increased from 33 to S6 per cent. while the proportion engaged in road work alone has increased from 1.3 per cent to nearly 13 per cent.
 Must Be Fine Discrimination.
 Convicts should not be indiscrimi- nately put to work on roads, it is pointed out. Only those who are phys ically fit for the work should be em- ployed. It may be even desirable and practicable in many instances to re- serve assignment to the open-air work as a reward for good behavior. Physi- cally and by former mode of life, sta tistics cited in the report show, about three-fourths of the average male prison population is better fitted for outdoor labor than for shop work In practice. when all considerations are taken into account. it has been found that from 25 to 50 per cent of the male inmates of prisons are avail able for road work.
 The employment of state convicts in road making, the report shows. first became general in the South in the early nineties. Such use of state con- victs has been made by Northern and