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Show EMPTY JAII.S AND WORKHOUSES IIY PUTTING PUT-TING PRISONERS TO WORK. As nn aid to crops and other lines of production produc-tion just now, the old costly custom of keeping prisoners lying idle in jnil should be dispensed with. Every nblebodied prisoner in the country should be put to some productive employment. It hns long been the contention of those cngnged in prison reform thnt we have not the right to confine men nnd force them to remain in idleness, idle-ness, this being the cnuse of n lnrge per cent of the sickness, nnd deaths in our jails. But aside from the question of the humane treatment of these prisoners themselves, there is thnt of the cost of maintenance. An idle man cuts practically ns much ns a worker. And the working mnn must feed the idler. Every prisoner pris-oner nftcr conviction be his term long or short, should be required to literally fulfill the terms of his sentence, which from time immemorial immem-orial hns always read as such a period of time nt "hnrd labor." The county jnils, the city workhouses, any nnd all branches of the law's punitive ngencics should yield up their idle inmntes thnt they may join in the great army of producers this year. The small offenders could Inrgcly be placed upon their own recognizance, while those restrained for graver offenses could be put to work where nn oversight could be kept of them. At this time n ninety-day sentence is equivalent equival-ent to n good work hand through the crop season sea-son for the farmer who would go security nnd feed nnd work tle offender. Such offenders nrc usually our neighbors, or nlmoat nlways they arc people ve know nnd frequently could trust to faithfully serve out the sentence given them. In fact, tho majority would prefer to do so. Empty the jails and put tho inmates to work. Quit asking men to feed others who arc maintained main-tained in idleness. Let the prisoner earn his keep and something besides for thu good of society. |