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Show I WORK FOR CONVICTS. I Roud BulldlnR Would 1'rpvnnt Compotl- I tlou with Ipre I.ubor. I In a good many of the states the in- I jnates of penitentiaries are already em- I ployed, to a greater or leas extent, in I improving the highways, and every- I where the verdict is that good roads I have been secured where they wouM I , not hae been built for a century to I ramc if the taxpayers had been obliged I lo initiate the work and bear the whole I cost of it. Curiously enough, this most I excellent scheme has made most prog- I ress in the communities where itjscou- I nected with a prison system that is I ' strongly and justly reprehended. In I tlwse states of the south where they I liave what is known as the "chain gang system," the idea of putting the prison-I prison-I crs at work on the highways suggested I itself naturally. The convicts were I kept In open-air campswith guards fur-H fur-H ntahed by the state, and nothing was more natural thnn to engage them in I road repair in the vicinity. I "Where convicts nre housed in great I buildings of stone and iron, and where they have been put to labor at mechau-B mechau-B icnl employment, the transition is not B no simple and naturnl. Still it can be B made to a certain extent, and thntwith-B thntwith-B . nut destroying or impeding the work of B prison reform. In South Carolina there B arc now said to be about 000 convicts at B work on the highways, and the value of B what they have done has produced such B nn effect upon the people of the rural B sections of that particularly pro-B pro-B ' grcs-sive sUitc that county commission-B commission-B era everywhere are stirring up the sub-B sub-B ject of "systematic rond construction, B Tennessee has a law that permit It, and B ' IS'cw York has authorized a similnr ex-B ex-B IHirlment. Ft seems to us that ihi' JSVw H York- law might very profitably be H adopted in Minnesota nt the next ses-BJ ses-BJ slon of the legislatutx'. This contem-B contem-B plates the employmentof only a portion H of the state's convicts, to be selec'ed by H ' the prison warden, probably with the H assistance and approval of the state board of chnrities and corrections, who H ' , hnulil bo put to work on rond improve- B "' Hr ' ment tinder the direction of experts In road construction engaged b3' the state. , It Is unquestionably true thnt the i work of reforming the criminal, of which we must never lose sight by cx-altlng cx-altlng the commercial motive, la entirely entire-ly consistent with utilizing convict labor on the highways. There Is a very huge percentage of prison, population for whom this would be the most desirable de-sirable form of labor. By judicious (ejection of men, and by engaging them in small gangs upon the highways, it Is probnble that more wholesome influence in-fluence might be brought to bear upon them even than In a well-conducted prison itself. At any rate, here is nn occupation which does not compete with honest labor, which i.9 available for a great number of convlcta to whom mechanical pursuits ore not naturally adapted, and whose results would be in the highest degree beneficial bene-ficial to the state. We believe that further experiment, njong this line should be mode at onee, and that our own community should attempt it. St. Paul (Minn.) Globe. |