CONVICT LABOR FOE EOAD WORK. 135 
From the standpoint of mobility the cage usually is regarded as 
somewhat superior to the portable building, because in transporting 
the latter there is involved the tearing down and reerecting processes 
in addition to the actual transportation of the buildings, whereas 
the cage mounted on wheels has only to be hauled from one location 
to another and is always ready for occupancy. However, this ad- 
vantage never is fully realized, owing to the fact that the great weight 
of the cage, from 3 to 4 tons, makes it extremely difficult to transport 
over bad roads. In one county in Alabama it required two days for 
eight teams of mules to move a steel cage 12 miles over the muddy 
roads. Though this is, perhaps, an extreme example, the same objec- 
tion applies in lesser degree under better conditions. 
Furthermore, the time in moving saved by the use of cages is unim- 
portant except in those cases where the camp is moved very fre- 
quently, which frequent moving implies the performance of very 
light road work shown elsewhere to be generally uneconomical with 
convicts. When the camp is maintained in one location for from 
four to six months or longer, as is desirable, the interest and depre- 
ciation on the running gear usually will be found practically to 
absorb the value of the time saved in moving. 
Thus, from the standpoint of economy alone, apart from the sani- 
tary and sentimental objections, the cage is found to be unsatis- 
factory. 
The illustrations in Plate IX, figures 1 and 2, show types of wooden 
cars and steel cages, and Plate VIII, figure 2, represents a somewhat 
less objectionable type of wooden car. The latter is so arranged 
that by removing the adjacent sides two or more cars can be joined 
to form a single building as shown. 
PORTABLE BUILDINGS. 
For the purposes of temporary camps, probably the best type of 
housing is the portable building. This type has been adopted in 
many places with excellent success, and no doubt it will be brought 
into wider use when its merits are more widely recognized. Properly 
designed and constructed, buildings of this type have much the 
same advantages as tents in point of mobility, and they have the 
further merits of furnishing greater protection from weather and 
greater security and longer life than tents; also, they furnish suffi- 
cient security at lower cost and with less objectionable appearance 
than cars or cages. 
They may be constructed of wood or metal or of a combination of 
the two materials. Those made entirely of metal have the advantage 
of long life and of being fireproof and relatively vermin proof, but 
