No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 45 



the Superior aud Criminal Courts, the justices of the peace and the 

 principal ofticers of any municipal or other inferior court presiding 

 in any other county or counties, which do not otherwise provide for 

 the working t)f their own convicts upon their own public roads, 

 shall sentence such able-bodied male prisoners as are described io 

 Section 8 of this act, from such other counties to work on the public 

 roads of said county, or townships applying for the same, in order of 

 their application, and the cost of transporting, guarding, and main 

 taining such prisoners as may be sent to any such county or town 

 ship applying for the same, shall be paid by the county or township 

 applying for and receiving them, out of the road fund of each such 

 county or township: Provided, That any and all such prisoners from 

 such other counties may at any time be returned to the keeper of the 

 common jail of such counties at the expense of the county or town- 

 ship having received and used them.'' 



CONVICT LABOR LAW IX PENNSYLVANIA. 



In Pennsylvania we have a law. passed at the session of 1899, and 

 amended at the session of 1901, which gives authority to prison 

 boards to require able bodied male prisoners to work on the public 

 roads within the limits of the county in which the prison is located. 

 This act should be amended so as to require such boards, to employ 

 their prisoners in this service, and also provide for the procuring of 

 prisoners for this purpose from other counties, when it is found desi- 

 rable to do so. The same act could make it possible for the super- 

 intendents of our penitentiaries to apportion short term prisonerjs 

 to the several counties, for road construction, and thus partly relieve 

 the State of the burden of the expense of their food and clothing 

 and at the same time assist the public in securing a much-needed im 

 provement, without interfering with any of the rights of paid labor. 



COST OF CONVICT LABOR. 



The following table, showing the cost of labor per convict per day. 



in road work, is taken from the report of the National Departmeot 



of Agriculture for 1901: 



Cost per day. 



Plorida, §0 30 to §0 50 



Georgia, 16 to 32 



Kentucky, 50 to 60 



Louisiana, 50 to 60 



Mississippi, 15 to 45 



North Carolina, 15 to 40 



South Carolina. 17 to 22 



Tennessee, 20 to 40 



Texas 20 to 40 



Virginia, 25 to 50 



't5' 



