Ogden Daily Standard | 1917-10-20 | Page 20 | Kentucky Roads Are Built by Convict Labor

i HirflSiE ; BUILTBY CONVICT H i H i Convict road work is again before j J the Kentucky electorate for considera- H I tion. The renewal of convict labor H contracts in the face of protests by H organized labor promises to introduce H, j this issue into the November elec- H' The legislative committee of the H; United Trades Labor assembly asked H' the prison commissioners to put the H' convicts to work on public roads, a j procedure authorized by legislative H enactment two years ago. Because H this suggestion was entirely ignored, j candidates for election to the leglsla- H; ture and senate will be put to a test H' ' on their attitude toward the repeal of H the convict lease law and the restric- tion of convlot labor to public works H I under the supervision of the state. B This will again 'bring to public atten- H1 tion the fight which organized labor H: has carried on for more than forty H years against tho lease system of hlr- H ing out convicts to contractors to H compete with free labor. If tho con- 1 tractors axo defeated in their effort 1 I to continue the system of exploiting H the prisoners, the state will benefit di- H rcctly through the building of much- H l needed public highways and the utill- Sgj zation of convicts In agriculture. The national committee on prisons and prison labor, organized labor, good roads organizations, and the social workers of the state vrore instrumental instrument-al in securing the amendment of 1915 to the Kentucky constitution permitting permit-ting tho employment of Kentucky prisoners outside prison walls, and also the legislation of 1916 authorizing authoriz-ing the employment of prisoners on roads and farms. This legislation did not abolish tho contract convict labor system, but left the entire matter to the discretion of the board of prison commissioners. Had they chosen they could have made tho prisons a worthy part of tho country's industrial system, sys-tem, j