The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-12-11

pendents of the prisoners themselves
have been supported from the earn
ings of the men in the state peniten-
tiary, and now is leaving profit for
the state"
The fight of labor unions on prison
labor will be overcome and the unions
brought to fight for the plan, Booth
declares.
"The labor unions have already
been responsible for the greatest re-
form which has taken place in the
penitentiaries Of the country-the
abolition of the system of contracting
prison labor" Booth said
Under my program. the unfair
competition betW een the free labor and
the prisoners would not exist because
the products of the labor of the pris-
oners would be sold on the market at
"A wholesale price equal to that of the
products of free labor. The state
could not pay union wages to the
prisoners. because of the high over
head II costs more to run a peniten-
tiary than an ordinary shop, but the
price of the goods made would have to
be the regular wholesale rate. and the
additional money would be paid to the
now dependent on charity. il would be
returned to the state to repay the in
vestment in housing and in shops and
equipment, and it would go to make
restitution to the victims of the pris-
oners-'
Put Prisoners ON Earning Basis.
The primary objective in Booths
program is to put the prisoners on
an earning basis as nearly 100 per cent
efficient as possible
LESS than 10 per cent of the labor
of prisoners in the state prisons of the
country is now returning as much as
60 per cent of what it should return"
Booth said. Some of the other 30
per cent are earning as little as two
cents per day, when the average earn
ing power of the man in the state
penitentiary at the present time is 81
per day
IF the prisoners are allowed to
earn all they are able TO earn, they
can support their dependents, who are
the real sufferers. without a cent of
charity. In seventeen years prison
experience, I have never found a pris-
oner who is suffering as much as his
wife and children, outside the prison
walls, are suffering, thru no fault of
their own
self Supporting in kansas.
II understand that the prisoners in
the Kansas state penitentiary this
year are self supporting for the first
time in the history of the institution"
Booth thoroly endorsed the work OF
J. X Codding, former warden of the
Kansas state penitentiary. He was
one of the greatest figures in prison
management in the United states. and
he was quoted as authority in every
state in the union" Booth said
Il am not acquainted with VI. F.
Amrine. warden of the Kansas peni-
tentiary. nor with the institution. but
hope to visit both soon. The political
management of the penitentiaries of
the country is one of the greatest
handicaps to their success 1t takes
at least four years for any man TO
learn the job of managing. a prison. |
and in many states that is the end of
the warden's term. and a new man
starts in TO learn the job. As a result |
the prisoners suffer. society suffers. |
and the taxpayers pay the bill This |
Is more true of the prison system than !
of the other state officers because the |
prison, system is so large a factor in |
the social welfare Of the state"
Booth spoke Sunday in the First /
Baptist church and the Central Con- !
Rregational church.
He viii address the Topeka Kiwanis I
club at the regular meeting Of that !
tonight and will give a |
special. intimate talk for teachers and 1
parents on the sex question as affect
ing the number of criminals in the Il
country. at the First Christian church
wednesday evening