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HOW CONVIOTS ARE WORKED. The Merits and Demerits of The Var ious Systems. News and Courier. Washington, July 30.-Conviet la bor in the United States is discussed at length in a report just made to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor by Commissioner Charles P. Neill, who recently stirred up the packing interests of this country by his expose of conditions in the Chicago stock yards. In his report to Secretary Metcalf, the commissioner of labor says: "To meet the public demand for information concerning the prison la bor of the United States an extensive investigation of the subject was be gun early in 1904. Investigation showed that the convict product as a whole was very small when compar ed with the entire product of free labor. "A letter was sent to every prison reformatory and jail in the United States, asking if the inmates were engaged in productive labor, and if so, the value of the goods produced ? "Reports were secured from 296 institutions, of which 257 were penal institutions and 39 juvenile reforma tories. These institiutions covered more than 100' places in which con victs were located. Of the 296 insti tutions 103 were undler State or Terri torial control, 139 under county, 25 under city, 1R unlder lessees, 2 under United States, one each under town ship and private, and 7 under dual control. In these institutions there was a daily average og S6,036.04 con victs in confinement, of which 74, 771.7 were in penal institutions, and 11,264.7 in juvenile refornaories. Of the convicts in tle institutions cov ered, 93.5 per cent were males and the remailnder females. ''There are six geieral systells un11 der which eolvietHs are at work in tIlis country, first, lease; secnd, Cont rat ; third, piece price- fourthi, publie ae count; fiitli, State use, and sixti pub lie works and ways. 'Under Ile lase system he State enters into a contract with a lessee to feed, clothe, house ad guard he con viet, keep himil at work and pay a specified am1oliunt for his labor. Right DE S' One2 S S1 getCto Sa b -*rmfr hetAve *8 is reserved by the State to make rules for the care of the convict,.and in spect his quarters and work place. No institution is .maintained other than a place of detention, whore the con victs can be held until placed in the hands of the lessee. "Under the contract system the State feeds, clothes, houses and guards the convict, and the contractor pays a stipulated amount per capita for the services of the convict, sup plies the raw material and superin tends the work. , ''By the peice price system the only difference from the contract method relates to superintendence and deter mining the speed at which the con victs must work. "So far as the convict is concern ed the public account system does not differ from that of the piece price, but for the institution it is entirely different. By the piece price system the contractor finances the business and assumes all the chances, but in the public account system the State enters the field of manufacturing on its own account. f. ''By the State use system a busi ness of manufacture or production is conducted, on the principle that the State shall produce only for its own consumption. ''Under the public works and ways system labor is not applied to the manufacture of marketable articles, but to the construction and repair of prison or other public buildings, breakwaters, parks and roads. ''In each institution investigated an effort was made to secure the opinion of officials and employers of conviets as to the merits and demerits of the several svstems under which convicts work. Replies to this inquiry may be summarized as follows: In support of Ie lease sy'stem the only argument of fered is the poverty of the State. in ability to provide quarters, food and guards and suitable work to keep con viets eiployed. "So far as tile welfare 44, the conl vict is conerlne(il contract is far sIpe rior to the lease sys(emi. for the State piovides sheler and food, selling on ly the labor and retaining close super vision and control of maintenance and discipline. "Contractmrs pay for fhe work un der the piee pi.riee syste.i not by the MC Week ~j 11C s ofwater 'the point o6 Where pressure water us u whie breakfast jthis malleable iron pin-extI g. When water 'water front, which has mci hot reservoir heating surface than any 3 love awa , other, supplies abundance by shifting of hot water to - shown. -. all parts el the house it th .A p leorervoir. AI ERBYHAl dbbO &.A~ day, but by the piece or article pro duced. Prison officials may or may not supervise the work, but they .con trol the pressure under which the con vict must work. "By the public account system the State goes into business, places its goods on the market and assumes all riks of profit or loss. By the system the State seeks to gain for itself all the profit the,contractor might make out of the labor of the convicts, who work more willingly for the State than for ac ontractor. ''Under the lease system the State victs are employed in the same man ner as under the public account sys tem, the only difference being in the disposal of the products. Goods .uist be consumed in the institution, or sold to other State institutions or depart ments of the State Government. This system has been adopted largely be cause of the objections of free labor to the competition of 'prison-made goods.. There must be competition between convict and free labor, but under this system it is indirect, for what the State provides it does not have to purchase, and thus cost of maintaining institutions is partially met and taxation reduced. This sys tem seeks to conserve these three in terests, financial, general interest of the convicts and free labor, which is ignored entriely in lease, contract and piece price, and to a great. extent in the public account system. A system of State use, however, has its faults. It cannot supply all the wants of the convicts, as the convicts cannot enter every industry, and, as the demand for convict products is limited, the con victs cannot be worked to their full capacity. "Public works and ways system is nearly the same as that of State use, and competition with free labor is fur ther removed], for the State is the sole beineficiary of the work of the con viets who are employed in erecting public buildings, building highways of a permanent character, rather than making articles for consumption. Much work is done that would be delayed. Or possibly not undertaken at all, if it were not for this use of convict la bor. No difficulty is experienced in proeuring an apporpriation for the maintenance of conviets while so en gaged, when it might be impossible to NS Beginr We hea The by the par-exc4 CHARC a the fac .coal Ir< leads b: week, us expi why it buy ori * . Cori * coffee. son UWith tic warew -* ornament, knib.a cent les ID0WARE secure a direct appropriation for the same work to be performed by free la bor. An objection to the employment of conviets on public ways is that they are exposed to the gaze of the public, which is admitted to be against the best interest not only of the public, but of the convicts as well. Prison labor is not like free labor. Conviets are on hand whether wanted or not, and it is more often a matter of find ing work for the convicts than of find ing employees for the work.'' R.. M. L. A Seved Situation. The rising artist was paintin in his studio when a visitor entered lead ing a dog. The animal at once com ienced barking furiously at the pie ture on the casel. ''Oh," said the caller, "you folloNi nature closely. The best eivdence oj the faithfulness with which -you havi painted that (log in the backgrouni is the earnest way my dog barks ai him.'' ''But that isn't a dog,'' was the re ply. ''It's a cow." It was a terrible situation, but th< visitor did not. lose his head. said h< languidly: ''Well; the dog's eyes are bettei than mine. He always 'did detesi eows.'' His Blooming Mistake. A countryman of Goethe recently Vave an instance of the difficulty z foreigner has with the English langua age. He was invited to dinner soon after his arrival in England and waf desirous of saying something in a verN pleasant way and made use of thc following expression: 'Will Vou have the bloomii- kind ness to,'' etc. He used it in the sense tlat the word ''bloominw' is used ir German, as being sometling verN clharming and beautiful, little know ing what. havoc slang has played witl le word in England. He was absolu. f(ly at a loss to understand why everybodv Was so utterly horrific, at what le thouight was an extremel. nice expression.-London Express. Bisevuits baked riglit in three min. utes every day next week at our ne1 store. Newberry Hardware Co. 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Our immense stock of spring goods ai tiesland fancy goods and staples, our M ing novelties in millinery. Come and sc right thing in prices, style, quality, &c. ply cannot beat us, we don't make a c you up on balance, people getting e and looking out more for No, i. Come Forty years experience counts somethi don't you forget it, PROSPERIT *0*@*0*@*0*0 *04 igust6 1 ~o call any day during the a nstrate the superior qualiti tic MalleaL I Iron~ Rari LE and steel range :as forrr en considered throughout tl of any other range made. E lace of Steel, making it dou ge in existence made of Mal ~e that if quality is conside ANT YOU TO CALL at our ew feature:-CHARCOAL IF .material for range bodies, anges. We want you to ca gained will serve you in the E AND BISCUITS-FREE week and have buttered hoi ajestic in three minutes whi E SET OF WARE-FREE ~monstration we will give absolutely F ware will be on exhibition at our stoi ee it, and you will agree with us that that. 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