CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 65 



patrolmen on tlie maintenance of State or comity roads. They should 

 wear no regular uniform and should receive the full compensation of 

 free laborers, but, during the period of their parole, they should be 

 required to report monthly to a designated officer with regard to 

 their satisfactory observance of the conditions of parole. 



Provision for promotion or demotion of all convicts through the 

 various grades, as the reward of merit or the punishment of misbe- 

 havior, will go a long way toward the mitigation of the cruelty of 

 punishments, as the severest forms will be approached only by 

 gradual descent, except in cases of violent assault, mutinies, and riots. 



CAMP LOCATION. 



" As a rule, it was found that the officers in charge of the camps 

 investigated were possessed of a general knowledge of the cardinal 

 principles of camp location, and had applied their knowledge fairly 

 effectively in the selection of their sites. 



Accessibility to the road work was in general their first considera- 

 tion, and usually their policy was to select the site near the center of 

 the section of road to be improved. The average distance which it 

 w,as considered practicable to cover from one location was 3 miles. 



For more exact determination of the site the proximity of a supply 

 of good water was considered as the controUmg factor, though in the 

 majority of cases it had not been thought necessary to make any 

 special investigation of the character of the water they were using. 

 Whenever practicable, the site was selected near naturally flowing 

 sources of water, such as springs, mountain streams, and lakes, or 

 when opportunity offered use was made of city water supplies and 

 the wells of farms or residences close at hand. The digging of wells 

 was avoided, where possible, on account of the expense involved, but 

 when the impracticability of other sources made that expedient nec- 

 essary there was an evident tendency to make a shallow, well suffice. 



The camp sites were usually high enough to secure dry soil and fair 

 natural drainage, and several of the camps inspected in the Western 

 States were splendidly located on the high banks of rivers or on 

 knolls protected from the wind by trees. Other camps, both in the 

 East and West, were established near the foot of hills and were ex- 

 posed to flooding in rainy weather. It was not always possible to 

 avoid locations of this character, and when the camps were allowed 

 to remain only during the dry summer months little difficult}'^ was 

 experienced. As a rule, the camps in the Eastern States were aban- 

 doned during the severe winter months, while those in the South and 

 far West were maintained throughout the year. Locations for win- 

 ter quarters generally wen; chos(;n with considerable care, and every- 

 thing that reasonably could be expected was done for the health and 



