CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 69 
accomplish this it is necessary that these buildings be placed with 
their longer sides facing east and west. 
The camp should be located near the road under construction or on 
a highway affording connections with the entire territory served by 
the camp and with the nearest town or city. It is desirable that the 
camp structures be elevated somewhat above the road and back from 
it far enough to avoid the dust; but the ground contours should 
be such as to permit economical construction of driveways and 
approaches. 
When convenient, it is desirable that the site shall provide a fairly 
level open space where the convicts may be allowed to exercise under 
the supervision of their guards or officers and where, if possible, a 
baseball diamond may be laid out. 
A limited area to serve as truck garden where fresh vegetables may 
be raised by the men is another desirable feature. In many camps 
it is found that the convicts enjoy the light work involved in the 
cultivation of the garden as a recreation after the day's work on 
the road. 
The purely aesthetic considerations should not be overlooked 
entirely, as seems to have been done, unfortunately, in many of the 
camps inspected. On the contrary, the grounds surrounding the camp 
should be made as attractive as the conditions will permit. By saving 
large and graceful shade trees when the site is cleared, by sowing grass 
seed, by laying out and constructing walks of cinders or gravel, and 
by planting a few flowers as walk borders or in beds it is usually pos- 
sible to make even the most forbidding site reasonably attractive in 
a short time and with little expense. 
In selecting the site, thickly settled rural communities should be 
avoided if practicable, and the camp should be located as far as pos- 
sible from a large city in order to minimize the chance of escape which 
the proximity of the city promotes; and, finally, after a site has been 
selected tentatively, it is proper to make inquiries in the neighborhood 
to ascertain the sentiment of residents regarding the presence of the 
camp among them. Neighboring property owners often have pro- 
nounced objections to settlement of convicts nearby, and whenever 
possible this sentiment should be respected. 
Plate I shows a contour map of a desirable camp location with a 
good disposition of structures. 
WATER SUPPLIES. 
QUALITY. 
Water obtained from any source may be sufficiently pure for use, 
but before deciding to use any given source the purity of its water 
should be determined by means of a bacteriological examination, and 
a thorough survey of the immediate and remote surroundings should 
