be found in the fact that most of such work was conducted by a contracting firm acting under instructions from the leaders of the dominant party in the city. The newspaper press and the court proceedings demonstrate just how one of these contracting companies almost wiped out of existence one of the best paying enterprises in New York city. In order to obtain work on this special contract a man had to see his district leader, and in proportion to his usefulness to the said leader he was billeted on the payroll of this particular company of contractors, the corporation paying the bill regularly. It was all that could be desired for the contractors and the men employed by them while this condition of things lasted, but its existence was somewhat abbreviated by an order from the court taking the work out of the hands of the corporation and the company interested and placing a receiver in charge.

A reference to the table herewith shows the increase in the business of the bureau as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1898:

PRISONS AND PRISON LABOR.

BY HON. JOHN T. MCDONOUGH.

The summary of the report of the Superintendent of State Prisons and that of the State Commission of Prisons for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1899, make very interesting reading.

Both deal with the important problem of the labor of convicts, cost of maintaining prisons, conditions of penal institutions and other subjects of interest.

The reports relating to the prison population are a great surprise, showing a decrease that is not accounted for and that is really remarkable.

Decrease of Prisoners.-The following is a statement showing the number of male convicts in the prisons September 30, in each of the last ten years:

Auburn..
Clinton.....
Sing Sing..

Total..

PRISON.

1890. 1891.1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899.

1,151 1,263 1,273 1,186 1,158 1.126 1,014 1,005 969 1,057 804 759 953 1,031 1,031 1,007 886 881 947 854 1,533 1,592 1,369 1,275 1,365 1,375 1,220 1,243 1,286 1,2503,488 3,614 3,595 3,492 3,554 3,508 3,120 3,129 3,202 *3, 161

This table shows a decrease in the three State prisons since 1891 of 453.

The decrease, however, is not confined to the State prisons. It is more marked and greater in the penitentiaries, particularly in those in which the old contract system of prison labor existed to such an extent as to demand the presence of large numbers of prisoners.

Decrease in Penitentiaries.—A table showing the total number of prisoners in the prisons, penitentiaries and reformatories during the years 1895, 1898 and 1899, as published by the State Commission of Prisons, is as follows:

The three State prisons.....

A decrease during the past year of 44, and a decrease since 1895 of 374.
New York State Reformatory.

A decrease during the past year of 62, and an increase since 1895 of 126.
Penitentiaries

An increase during the past year of 3, and an increase since 1895 of 24.

A decrease during the past year of 603, and a decrease since 1895 of 2,387.
Houses of refuge for women..

Daily average number of convicts in the three prisons, in 1898, was 3,311; in 1899,

3,350.

It appears from this table that since 1895 there has been a falling off in penitentiary prisoners of 2387. The falling off in the State prisons since 1895 is 347, making a total of 2734. In the penitentiary of New York county, in which the contract system had no existence, there has been no decrease of prisoners.

Has the abolition of the contract system had anything to do with this remarkable decrease of prisoners during years when the population of the State has been rapidly increasing?

It was claimed during the debates in the constitutional convention that the demands of the prison contractors for prison help were so pressing that prisoners were sought after and men were sent to contract prisons oftener and for longer terms than would otherwise happen.

Do these figures corroborate those statements?

Insanity Decreasing.-Before the new prison system went into effect it was claimed by prison officials and prison reformers that it would not furnish work enough for the prisoners and that on that account insanity among them would increase to a frightful extent.

The new system has now been in effect long enough to fairly test this question. The result is in favor of the present system, showing only forty-five cases in the three prisons last year. The following table shows the number of prisoners who became insane in the three State prisons for each year since 1895:

Work of Prisoners.-The Superintendent's report complains somewhat of the lack of sufficient orders from public institutions to keep all the prisoners busy with most improved machinery. Last year complaint was made about the idleness of prisoners in the Kings County Penitentiary. It seems that now those prisoners are busy making brushes and brooms for the street cleaning department of New York and Brooklyn, and thus the State prisons have lost this work. Complaint is also made that since

the new system was adopted the insane asylums of the State have put their inmates at work manufacturing articles for the use of their inmates, thus diminishing the demand for prison labor, but giving healthful work to many people who formerly were supported in idleness by the State. The Commission of Prisons, which has always given the new system hearty support, and has done much to make it a success, is satisfied with its results and pronounces it a success. The report of this Commission says:

"All things considered, the present industrial system of employing convicts has made satisfactory progress, and is furnishing a reasonable amount of employment to the convicts, and a remuneration to the State as great, if not greater, than the system superseded by the new Constitution, and that in a little more time, when the out-put of prison made goods has been more accurately adjusted to the demand, and the difficulties incident to the establishment of new industries and the purchase of prison made goods by public officials have been overcome, the earnings of the convicts will be largely increased and the new system will be even more successful than at the present time."

Amount of Sales.-The Superintendent shows that while the sales of the three State prisons in 1898 amounted to $494,720.15, in 1899 they fell off to the sum of $394,501.61, owing to the competition of other penal institutions and the insane asylums.

The Commission states that the sales of prison products made in all prisons, penitentiaries and reformatories during the year amounted to $436,543.24, a decrease as compared with 1898 of only $72,000.00.

The net earnings of the three State prisons is given at $54,000.00 and the gross earnings at $174,079.67.

The Commission says:

"This amount is obtained by taking the cost of the raw material from the value of the product. The amount used from the gross avails of the productive industries to pay sales agents, superintendents of industries, foremen, instructors and other citizen employees in the industries amounted to $51,946.75. This sum is to be subtracted from the gross earnings of the prisoners in arriving at their net earnings.

"The Commission believes that, in the near future, the payment of such a large sum for foremen and instructors in the industries can be materially reduced by the employment of keepers and guards qualified to act as foremen and instructors in the industries, as required by section 84, of the Prison Law."

Too Much Machinery.-One of the objections to the use of so much machinery in the prisons seems to be the cost of foremen and instructors.

In this connection, and especially in view of the fact that the people of this state do not now expect to make profits by running prison factories, it may be well to call attention to chapter 141 of the laws of Pennsylvania, passed in 1897, which provides that no machine operated by steam, electricity, hydraulic force, compressed air or other power, except machines operated by hand or foot power, shall be used in any of said institutions [certain institution named] in the manufacture of any goods, wares, articles or things that are manufactured elsewhere in the state."

If this plan were adopted in the prisons of this state there would be no question about keeping all the prisoners employed in useful occupations. The originators of the present plan had in mind the passage of a law by which all felons should be sentenced to the Elmira Reformatory and the state prisons, and those convicted of misdemeanors to the county jails of the several counties, thus doing away with the penitentiaries. If this were done, the state prisoners could be kept busy manufacturing, and the county prisoners, only a few in most of the counties, kept at work on the county farms, about county buildings, and at road making. Some of the counties now successfully work short term prisoners on roads, notably Oneida county where the system gives satisfaction.

In Other States.-The New York plan of prison labor is attracting much attention in other states.

The U. S. Industrial Commission, which has been in session in Washington almost a year, among other things investigated the question of prison labor, and after taking a great deal of testimony on the subject recently concluded to recommend to Congress and to the several states the New York system as the most satisfactory to workmen, to manufacturers and to those inter ested in prison reform.

The state of Iowa has now the question of following the New York law before its legislature, and the newspapers of that state generally support the bill.

A similar bill passed the lower house of the Ohio legislature last month, and its friends expect it to become a law.