tion of the convicts' time devoted to school hours, as the building is sufficiently large for all such purposes. We now have confined in the penitentiary 43 white, 154 black, and 1 Indian, who were under 21 years of age at the time of incarceration.

*

* *

The penitentiary has been more than self-sustaining during the past 2 years. "This much has been accomplished under the present system of hiring, leasing, renting, and share cropping, which I consider very bad, both from a financial standpoint and from the standpoint of humanity.

"Under present conditions the increased freights and transportation necessitated to reach and maintain the various camps largely diminish whatever profits might accrue, and the amounts paid for rent, considering the fact that we are abundantly able to buy a large body of good land, are an actual waste.

"The actual cost of operating and maintaining the penitentiary is about $100,000 per year, and more than 15 per cent of this amount is expended in the two items of freight and transportation, and about 30 per cent in salaries alone. It is a conservative estimate that out of these three items, and many others, $20,000 could be saved to the State each year by consolidation, and the general conditions and health of the State's prisoners could be much improved. Moreover, the isolation of the camps from each other and from the penitentiary walls, renders their proper supervision an impossibility and the general management defective.

“To obviate these, and many other difficulties which, under present conditions, operate against the interests of the State, and to procure the numerous advantages apparent in the consideration of a State farm, and the consolidation of the convicts under one supervision and control, I most heartily endorse the recommendations of both my predecessors and the superintendent of the penitentiary in their respective reports urging that the State purchase and operate its own convict farm.

"That the penitentiary is abundantly able to purchase, equip, and maintain such a farm is no longer a question.

"From a State farm a part of the able-bodied convicts could be employed on such public work and at such times as the penitentiary board might determine. And such manufacturing enterprises as the class of convict labor would justify, might also be erected on a State farm.”

In some of the counties the prisoners in jails are worked on the public roads, in others they are leased to contractors, who work them on farms, while in a number of the counties the prisoners in such institutions have no employment whatever.

CALIFORNIA.

The convicts at the State penitentiaries are employed in the manufacture of jute grain bags and macadam under modified forms of the public-account system. They are also employed in various departments of the institutions manufacturing clothing, etc., and in raising garden products for the consumption of the inmates. The following quotations from the reports for the years 1895 and 1896, of the prison wardens at the two State prisons, show the character of the industrial operations conducted at each.

From the report for the prison at Folsom:

66

We began crushing rock for sale about the middle of June, and have continued steadily since. The crusher has now been in operation 2 months and a half, and has demonstrated that, under provisions of the law requiring the prison to furnish the labor free, and the power free, we can turn out the very best road metal, on the cars at the prison, for a minimum cost of 25 cents per ton. There is in sight enough first-class macadam rock to last several years. For the month of August we quarried and crushed over 8.000 tons, an average of over 320 tons daily. The crusher was not operated more than three hours and a half daily to produce this amount. For the ensuing season, when the quarry is properly opened, we can certainly produce from 500 to 700 tons daily.

"By arrangement with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company the cost of transportation was fixed at a very low rate. Taking the two main points of distribution, Sacramento and Stockton, for example, the freight rate is 25 cents per ton to the former and 45 cents per ton to the latter. This enables us to deliver crushed road metal at Stockton for 75 cents per ton, and at Sacramento for 50

cents per ton. As the former price for similar road metal, although not nearly so good, was $1.90 per ton, delivered in each of these two cities, it will be readily seen that an immense saving in the cost of improving streets and building roads is effected by the operation of this plant. A large saving to the taxpayers for the construction of streets and roads, having the effect of lowering taxes, is itself compensation for the expense of the plant.

"The power furnished for this plant is delivered from our air compressor at the State power house. That is inadequate for the purpose, and has been used temporarily because the appropriation made by the last legislature was not sufficient to purchase a compressor of proper size and power. The legislature should provide an additional appropriation for a 250-horsepower air compressor.

“For the last 9 years the many improvements at the Folsom prison have kept constantly employed all the convicts confined therein. The question of what we shall do to keep them employed in the future must now be met and a proper decision rendered. It is certain that public feeling in California will not permit the employment of convict labor in competition with free labor; therefore, some scheme of employment other than a competitive one must be devised. The convicts must be kept at work. Every consideration of discipline, economy, reformation, and health demands this. I can not contemplate keeping a large body of convicts in idleness without feeling that it is a crime against society, if not against humanity. Yet, it is no less the duty of the State to give proper attention to the demands of thousands of honest citizens who have never committed crime and only demand the opportunity to labor for their daily bread.

"It has been suggested that the convicts at the Folsom prison might be employed in manufacturing articles for the use of the various State institutions. In theory this sounds well, but in practical operation it will be found that the demand is so small that as a means of giving employment to any considerable number of convicts it will prove a failure as well as abortive in lessening expense. There are only 8,000 inmates of State institutions, of which 2,000 are confined in the State prisons. The only articles that could be manufactured are shoes, blankets, clothing, hats, brooms, willow ware, and tinware. I have obtained statistics of all public institutions in this State as to the amounts required yearly of these various articles and have made careful estimates of the labor required to supply them. "The two prisons manufacture their own shoes. This would leave about 1,200 dozens to be manufactured for other institutions. Unless we tanned our own leather, so as to be independent of buying leather in the open market, we could not turn out shoes for a less price than is now being paid for them. The large factories employing improved machinery almost eliminate the factor of labor from the cost of boots and shoes. To produce these articles cheaply they must be manufactured in large quantities, the plant run regularly, and every item of expense carefully guarded. Otherwise, the free labor of the prisons would not successfully compete against the improved machinery on the outside. And, again, 40 convicts, with aid of a sewing machine or two, could manufacture by hand all the shoes required by all the State institutions.

"About 1,500 pairs of blankets are purchased annually, at an average cost of $3.25 each. The same criticism as to the cost of shoe manufacture would apply to a small woolen mill. To produce blankets cheaply the mill must be run on a large scale, and every advantage taken of the market to purchase the raw material. The output must be regular, and, in fact, strict business principles must be adhered to in every department of the plant. It might be said that the woolen mill could also produce cloth for clothing; but this, too, is extremely doubtful. No woolen mill in California has paid expenses for some years past. We are now buying prison cassimere at 624 cents, which 5 years ago we paid $1.20 for, and other cloth in proportion. This could not be turned out at the prison for that price under any circumstances. The same may be said of other grades of cloth, such as would be used in ordinary suits. A plant of that kind would be in the same condition as the San Quentin jute mill-running at a constant loss, on account of the limited output and the unskilled labor employed in the mill. A saving to the asylums and other institutions could be made by buying the cloth in the open market and making it up into suits, either at the asylums or at the prisons. No expensive plant is required for this, and a few men could make all the suits necessary for the inmates of our charitable and penal institutions.

"What is true of a woolen mill is true of hats, caps, etc. The amount to be manufactured would not justify the purchase of the machinery; that is, as an element of profit to the prisons. I do not believe they could be produced as cheaply as they are now purchased in the market.

"Willow ware, but little is used; and of tinware, the largest element of cost is in the raw material and not in the labor employed in putting it together.

"As all these institutions are now supplied with furniture, the demand for that for some years to come will be small.

"Again, the most serious objection to convict labor is not directed against the output of such labor so much as against the fact that the employment of convicts at the various trades has the effect of discharging annually several hundred convicts from prisons who are skilled operators, and thereby come in competition with free laborers who have not had the opportunity of being educated in their various trades at the expense of the State.

It will be seen from the above that the question of utilizing the labor of convicts must be met by the adoption of a broader and more comprehensive policy than has heretofore prevailed. The problem presses for a solution, and neither conditions nor the public temper can be ignored in the settlement.

"The labor unions of San Francisco have within the past year adopted resolutions favoring the quarrying of stone by convict labor and placing it upon the market undressed at a low figure. This will have the effect of giving employment to a large number of laborers in preparing it for building purposes. While it will be injurious to some of the quarry owners, it would be beneficial to a large number of stonecutters, stone masons, laborers, and others employed in building, and at the same time afford an economical and durable building material for the cities of our State. The rock-crushing plant will give employment to about 250 convicts.

"In concluding this subject, I would recommend, first, consolidation of the two prisons into one management; a reduction of the operating expenses to the lowest possible cost; the purchase of additional lands adjacent to Folsom Prison; enlarging the farm; raising more stock; producing a larger supply of vegetables, fruit, pork, bacon, and even beef; and the employment of a large number of prisoners in quarrying stone, placing it upon the market undressed at a price that will permit of its general use as a building material.

"This seems to be, at least for some years to come, a practical solution of the convict-labor problem. It will take 4 years' labor of all the convicts now at Folsom, with 200 or 300 more added, to prepare all the necessary buildings and improvements for the accommodation of the convicts now at the two prisons, and I feel satisfied that a sufficient saving over the present management can be made to fully repay the expense of consolidation within a period of 4 years."

From the report for the prison at San Quentin:

"As you will perceive, we sustained a considerable loss on the jute goods sold during the past year. There are a number of causes which combined to make the loss unavoidable. In the first place, the Wilson tariff bill, which went into effect two years ago, placed grain bags made in foreign countries on the free list, and while this had the effect of reducing the price of such bags imported in 1895 it does not appear to have had the same effect upon the price at which the raw material could then be obtained. Jute purchased in 1894, out of which were manufactured the bags we made up to the end of the year ending June 30, 1895, commanded a higher average price than it had for several years previous, and since then we have purchased jute at much lower prices.

"One of the most serious drawbacks we have to contend against in making ready sales of our bags is the law passed by the legislature in 1893, commonly known as the Ostrom Act.

"While this law evidently was intended for their benefit, yet a great many farmers most strenuously object to it, and in particular to section 3, which requires an affidavit to be filed with each order. In many instances it is a great inconvenience for a farmer to make a special trip of perhaps 20 or 30 miles in order to find a notary before whom to make such affidavit; and while many of them consider the bags made at the prison as superior, and would use them in preference to any others, they will not order them, but purchase Calcutta bags, sometimes at a higher figure, rather than make the affidavit.

"The general depression of business and low prices for wheat which have prevailed during the past two years also had a most pronounced effect against the operation of the law.

"Farmers, as a rule, have not made any profit on their crops during that period, and consequently had no ready money when the time came for them to provide themselves with bags for this season; therefore they were obliged to look to the merchants, banks, and warehousemen for money if they desired to use and purchase the prison bags; but as most of the merchants in the interior handle Calcutta bags for San Francisco firms, the farmers were, most naturally, easily induced to use the Calcutta product. Owing to this scarcity of ready money, many farmers who really prefer our bags were thus prevented from ordering and using them.

"The low price fixed by your honorable board, and to which you adhered all through the season, has, however, had a most decided tendency to prevent San Francisco dealers from raising the price of imported bags. This they were undoubtedly prepared to do, as the imports for this season were just about sufficient to supply the demand, and there is no doubt that a higher price would have been asked if the prison authorities had shown the slightest disposition to start such an advance. Keeping down the price as we did prevented the dealers from forming combinations with a view to advance the market, and in order to get rid of their stock importers were obliged to sell their bags at such low prices that they realized but a very small, if any, profit.

Thus our loss this year has been really, and in fact has been, a gain and benefit to the farming community of the State, as had we fixed a higher price the market for Calcutta bags would also have been advanced, and all the farmers would have been obliged to pay a higher price for their bags, no matter what kind they used.

"The law as it stands will always place us at a disadvantage in disposing of the total output of the jute mill, for the reason, principally, that all the farmers who would use our bags are not in a position, financially, to place their orders direct with us, but are dependent upon middlemen to procure bags for them; and while the law was intended to benefit and protect the farmers, its operation practically has an opposite effect.

"At the beginning of the current year a change was made in the management of the jute mills, and the present superintendent, appointed upon the recommendation of your honorable board, made a number of improvements and changes in the arrangement and working of various machines, which are claimed by him will have the effect of increasing the output and reducing the cost of manufacture.

"It has been suggested and advised that it would be profitable to engage in the manufacture of other lines of jute goods besides grain bags; however, it appears that if we did so we should come in competition with the free labor of this State, and in particular with that employed by the California Cotton Mills, at Oakland, which factory makes a specialty of supplying this coast with ore, bean, and other similar bags. The only bags other than those used for grain, of which large quantities are used, and which are not manufactured elsewhere in this State, are sugar bags, and we have succeeded during the last few months in securing several contracts for the manufacture of these at a figure which will leave us some profit. The manufacture of these bags, together with the anticipated increased output and reduced cost of production, will doubtless lead to better results and a more profitable showing at the end of the ensuing fiscal year than we have been able to attain during the year just past."

There is no system for the employment of prisoners in the county jails. Prisoners in the city jails are worked on the public streets and roads.

COLORADO.

In their biennial report covering the 2 years ending November 30, 1896, the commissioners of the State penitentiary state as follows:

"The prisoners are employed in burning lime, making building brick, quarrying lime and sandstone, dressing building stone, gardening on ground leased by the State for prison purposes, and in the general work of the prison, including the making of their own clothing.

"If the board of commissioners had the power to use the prison labor within the walls so that all the prisoners could be worked in shops it would greatly reduce the expenses of the institution and increase the earnings, be a benefit to the prisoners, in that they would be released with a good trade, and it would help in the way of discipline and in a great many measures of reform that are now impossible when prisoners are worked outside, where the vicious and bad are necessarily mixed with those with whom they should not be, and intercourse among them can not be entirely stopped. It seems to us that any article or commodity manufactured outside the walls comes as much in competition with outside labor as that done inside the walls. Our idea of the matter is that we should do as much for the prisoner while here as possible to make a better man of him and fit him, if possible, when he leaves the place, to earn his own living, so that there will be less likelihood of his returning to a life of crime by teaching him a trade. At the same time we feel that while here he should, as much as possible,

be required to earn as much as he can to pay for his keeping. We feel that these ends can better be accomplished by manufacturing within the walls on State

"During the months of December, 1895, January, February, March, April, and November, 1896, we have had 75 prisoners employed in the construction of a State canal.

"The main difficulty arises from a lack of employment for prisoners. How to employ our prison population is one of the vexed problems of the day. How shall prisoners be employed so the product of their labor will not be brought into competition with free labor? Convicts during confinement need constant employment to save them from destruction and degradation. Must prisoners be confined in idleness, driving them to insanity-driving many to such infractions of the rules as make punishment necessary? This is a matter that should receive careful consideration. As the sale of lime is greatly decreasing and the revenue from the quarries is growing less every day, it is apparent that some other means of production must be provided. In view of these facts I would recommend that steps be taken toward providing the prisoners with some suitable employment inside the walls of the prison which will not be in direct competition with free labor-employment which will be most beneficial to the prisoner, at the same time least detrimental to free labor, and, if possible, remunerative to the State. I would recommend, after a careful survey of the premises, that the manufacturing of boots and shoes be undertaken, as there would be less objection to this industry than to any other.

"First. In this industry the convict labor would not necessarily be competitive, as there is very little free labor employed in this industry in the Western country. "Second. It would be profitable to the people of Colorado in producing a much cheaper, yet as good if not better, article than that which is secured from Eastern prisons, for a large percentage of the boots and shoes used in this State is made by convict labor in Eastern prisons; and why keep our own convicts in enforced idleness?

Third. It would be a step in the direction of placing this institution upon a self-supporting basis, thereby relieving the people of a great burden, as every dollar earned by them in prison saves that much to an overburdened and overtaxed public.

"For these reasons and those already cited in regard to the preservation of the prisoners, morally, mentally, and physically, some steps ought to be taken in this direction. It has been my experience in this institution, where prisoners have come to me and almost begged for employment, to relieve them from the solitude of their cells. This perplexing question should be met in the coming legislature. and I recommend that the legislature make an appropriation for the erection of proper buildings and the purchase of the necessary tools and implements to carry on this industry."

The following information relative to the employment of the convicts of the State during 1899 has been furnished by Mr. Clarence P. Hoyt, warden of the State penitentiary:

"The last biennial report of this institution gives very meager information along the lines of employment of prisoners at this institution. Since compiling this report considerable has been accomplished in the way of furnishing employment to the 585 prisoners by making necessary repairs and improvements to the State property, so that at this date we have an average of 530 prisoners daily employed. The balance of our population are not at the present time engaged in any occupation, on account of being incapacitated by sickness or other satisfactory reasons. We have an average of 50 men working daily on the gardens and ranches, raising crops, which, while they make very little return in cash to the institution, make a material reduction in the cost of maintenance.

"We have 62 men working in the stone quarries and stone sheds, preparing dressed and undressed stone for building purposes, for which we find a ready

market.

"Our blacksmith and wagon shop is occupied by 13 mechanics, doing work in this line for the institution.

We are doing a very satisfactory business quarrying limestone and burning the same for the market. This branch employs an average of 75 men, and we find a ready market throughout the State for the product of their labor.

We are employing about 20 men daily in building a State road, which is to reach from the city of Pueblo, on the eastern slope, to Grand Junction, on the western slope, near Utah line.