Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21

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them wages.
Such a thing would have been con-
sidered preposterous generation ago.
Even now it seems a bit odd-paying
money to criminals who are guests" OF
the taxpayers. II man we're in the
penitentiary as the result of being
caught burglarizing my home, wonder
how 1 should feel about his getting
wages for, say, tending loom run by
electricity
Probably, with my grudge against
him, I'd like to have him breaking rocks
and getting nothing for 1t but bread
and water. But when my burglar had
finished serving his time he would be
worse off than before as regards fitness
for making an honest living. There
would simply be another criminal at
large. The cure for him and his kind
is wage earning in productive work.
Prison wages are small, usually Is
cents day-over and above board and
keep. Some prisoners are inclined to
sheer at the daily two bits" forgetting
that in the outside world the contents
of even fat pay envelope are largely
eaten up by living expenses.
Institutions which pay the men a
complete wage and then deduct expenses
put themselves to bit more trouble,
but use better psychology; for it Is hui
man nature to prefer receiving a large
amount, even though one has to give
up the greater part OF 1t. Board and
keep plus Is cents, minus board and
keep. 1t comes to only IS cents. But
there's difference.
Question Competition.
In whatever way they may be figured.
prison wages, like all other factory
wages, must come out of values created
goods manufactured for a market.
Immediately this brings up the ques-
ton, Shall convicts be permitted to
manufacture in competition with honest
men whose jobs may be none too GER
tain?
1t is an issue which once provoked
serious riots in New York City. with
mobs Selling and destroying prison.
made goods which were offered at ruin
ously low prices.
For more than half century the ex-
ploitation of convict labor for under
selling industry was inveighed against
Finally the man with the dinner pail
won bitter victory, and the prison be-
came idle. An intolerable state of af-
fairs, both for the prisoners, with moth
ing to occupy their time, and for the
taxpayers, including the workingman
himself.
Something had to be done. and Elihu
Root did 1t, with the backing of labor
leads. He put into the new State con-
stitution of 1894 subsequently accepted
by the voters) a section which has
come to be the Magma Charta Of the
prison shop. 1t declared the contract
system to be abolished forever, substi-
tuting program of manufacture of
commodities disable by the State gov
eminent and its subdivisions. In other
words, prisons were to manufacture. not
for the open market but for supplying
the needs of institutions maintained by
the taxpaying public. Sheets for hos
pitfalls, clothes for aSylums, shoes for
police and fire departments. and so on.
In this field low prices would be a
public benefit
1t was happy solution, and the idea
spread. Diversified industries have
been set up in the prisons of New York,
Massachusetts, and other large States,
the State governments using the COM
modities.
The smaller States are following suit,
but find that in order to manufacture
at reasonable cost per article they
have to produce more goods than they
need.
Again the old bugbear Of finding q
fair market for what the prisoner pro-
duces
Perfectly good shoes, textiles, cloth
ing. brushes, aluminium pots and pans
and tinware-and nobody rushing for
ward to buy them. Who ever thinks
about prison goods, anyhow? Or ever
sees any of them?
License Plates Prison Made.
We see prison craftsmanship every
time we look at the front or back Of an
automobile. License plates. Virtually
all of them are prison made-manufac-
tured by convicts in more than 80
States of the Union.
When we see roadside warning sign,
such as Dangerous Curve" or Marrow
Bridge Ahead" convict is speaking to
us through his handiwork. Somebody
who crashed in life has provided for our
safety.
These signs and license plates are
now manufactured so widely that there
is not much chance for developing out
side markets. But other commodities
can be exchanged between States, if
there is "middleman" to introduce
supply and demand to each other.
AS no such go-between existed. one
had to be created. It was organized as
a experimenting agency under the
name Of Associates for Government
Service, Inc, headed by DR.. E. Stage
Within, the we'll known sociologist and
welfare authority, who Is also executive
director of the national committee on
prisons and prison labor. The treasurer.
Herbert Woods (brother of the famous
former New York police commissioner,
Arthur Woods, is man with Is years
experience in merchandising Recent
the Associates" to progress from "en-
couraging" results to very substantial
ones.
Here Is an example Of the way the
organization works. Learning that the
State of Alabama is in the market for
shoes, 1t finds out exactly what kind of
shoes are wanted, for what sort of use
they are intended. and what price Ala
bama expects to pay for them. Result:
an order for the shoes is divided be-
tween prison factories in Pennsylvania
ers get the chance to show they can
turn out good merchandise according
to specifications.
Must Meet Requirements.
No favors asked or expected. No sug-
gestion that point be stretched in be-
half of "societys unfortunates." Prison
goods have to meet the strict require
ments of purchasing departments,
business. The fact. therefore, that
more than $50 different products are
now being bought through the Asso-
ciates for Government Service, Inc
and bought on best value" basis
proves that convict skill has come a
long way since the days of broom max
ing, a kind OF work now given over to
the blind.
This remarkable progress, only Just
now getting into full swing, has been
largely due to the generous and very
expert aid given by such men as Hugh
Frayne, Of the American Federation OF
Labor; Maj. Leroy Hodges. who drew