CONVICT LABOR FOE ROAD WORK. 117 



from one camp to another for the superintendent to choose his syphi- 

 htics to send to the next camp. Superintendents say that they try 

 to keep the washbasins, towels, and dishes of such prisoners separate 

 from the rest, but it is almost impossible to care properly for syphi- 

 htics in a camp and they never should be sent there. 



Hookworm disease is found frequently among convicts in the 

 South. One physician stated that 15 out of 17 convicts whom he 

 had examined at one camp were infected with hookworm. No 

 attempt is made to cure such cases. 



Pellagra was found at only one camp, the others being remarkably 

 free from this disease. 



Cases of tuberculosis are not infrequently discovered in the negro 

 camps but, as a rule, are sent immediately to the State or county 

 hospitals for treatment. 



The daily sick rate at 40 camps in different parts of the country 

 was found to vary from less than 1 per cent to 6 per cent. This 

 variation is attributable to a number of different factors. Many men 

 who report themselves sick are suffering from slight indispositions 

 with vague and indefinite symptoms which lay them up for a day or 

 two. Others are incapacitated temporarily by sore muscles, lame 

 backs, boils, and minor cuts and bruises. Disturbances of digestion, 

 due to overeating, are rather common among men entering the camps 

 after long terms in the prisons. Such cases occur much more fre- 

 quently at the camps where a good variety of appetizing food is 

 served. An epidemic of coughs and colds or influenza increases the 

 average sick rate of a camp very materially. It happens not infre- 

 quently that a prisoner may receive an injury which incapacitates 

 him for work for several weeks. Under ordinary conditions such a 

 man is returned to the prison and a substitute is sent, but at honor 

 camps a man recovering from an injury often is kept at the camp 

 because it is considered a hardship to return him to the prison and 

 because the life outside will hasten his recovery. Cases have been 

 encountered where men were kept at the camps even though they 

 were obliged to remain on the sick list for six weeks or longer, "although 

 this humane treatment entails a high sick rate. 



In States where the examination of prisoners is lax, men subject 

 to frequent attacks of illness such as rheumatism, tonsilitis, hemor- 

 rhoids, and boils may be sent to remote camps. They are able to 

 work only a part of the time and yet are kept at the camps because 

 of the expense and inconvenience of returning them to the prisons. 

 This practice increases the sick rate but is no fault of the camp 

 authorities. 



Cases of pretended sickness occur occasionally at practically all 

 convict camps. The personality of the superintendent of the camp 

 is of great importance in preventing this difficulty and instances have 



