CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 117 
from one camp to another for the superintendent to choose his syphi- 
litics 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- 
litics 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 
