Atlanta Tri Weekly Journal

SHIRTS WILL BE
MANUFACTURED BY
FLORIDA CONVICTS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 13.-
Governor Hardee announced Friday
that arrangements have been made
for the manufacture of shirts on a
commercial basis at the Florida state
farm at Raiford. Contract already
has been signed with
New York
firm to take the entire output, the
state to reserve to itself the right
to retain at cost the necessary num-
ber to supply all needs for state in-
stitutions.
In
making
the
announcement,
Governor Hardee stated that a pro-
test against inauguration of the
plans had been received from A. F.
Allison, secretary of the Interna-
tional Association of Garment Manu-
facturers, New York, who sent the
board a telegram after the contract
had been signed. It was pointed out
in the statement issued by the gov-
ernor that manufacture of shirts at
the prison farm, however, will not
conflict with any industry of the
sort in operation in Florida.
The statement follows:
"Upon assuming the duties of the
governorship, I felt that the services
of convicts should be so utilized by
the state that they would not be a
financial burden. I had in mind par-
ticularly the convicts at the state
prison farm at Raiford. This insti-
tution was costing the taxpayers of
Florida quite a large sum of money
each year. It occurred to me that
by reducing the number of convicts
at the farm and placing the ones so
taken from the farm upon the pub-
lic roads that a material saving
could be had and that the remain-
ing convicts at the farm might be
put upon a self-sustaining basis and
those removed could assist material-
ly in road construction. Following
this theory, the legislature of 1921
at my suggestion enacted a law giv-
ing the governor authority to re-
duce the number of convicts at
the farm and place not only the
number 1's but number 2's also upon
the roads. This to apply in those in-
dividual cases where the prison
physicians certify that such number
2's were able to perform manual
labor upon the roads.
Farm Expenses Cut
"Upon such legislative authoriza-
tion about 150 convicts were taken
from the farm and placed upon the
public roads, leaving at the farm
according to the minimum numbe
fixed about 350. The expenses of the
farm has been considerably reduced
through this policy and notwith-
standing the reduction in number
of men, the receipts from the farm
products during the present admin-
istration have been materially in-
creased yet it is not now on a self
sustaining basis. I reached the con-
clusion more than a year ago that
we could never place the farm upon
a self sustaining basis without the
installation of manufacturing plants
in which the services of the con-
victs there could be utilized. I have
discussed this question with gover-
nors of various states in our confer-
ence of governors, and I have ob-
tained data from good many states
of the union whose problems are
similar to ours. The consensus of
opinion as well as the experience
of all of the states is that a prison
institution can only be self sustain-
ing, much less show a profit to the
state, by utilization of convict labor
in the manufacture of needful ar-
ticles. Having reached this con-
clusion, I then turned my attention
toward securing for our convict
labor that class of manufacture
which would not be laborious and
which they can reasonably be ex-
pected to perform, having in mind
also the reliability of parties to
whom we might contract the output
of our manufactured product.
"The board of commissioners of
state institutions are unanimous in
the view that it is time in Florida for
the inauguration of a policy of build-
ing up a penal institution at Raiford
where all the number 2 convicts can
be utilized in manufacturing, not neg-
lecting, however, those farm indus-
tries now carried on which may be
profitable. Accordingly, we have
closed a contract with Salant &
Salant, Inc., shirt manufacturers of
New York city, the terms of which
are substantially as follows:
Terms of Contract
"The board will provide a building
and the necessary power for the
manufacture of work shirts. The
above firm will furnish all machinery,
raw material and every other need-
ful thing or expense, including in-
structors and technical expert help
in teaching the convict force. The
board will work, to start with, 250
convicts for the manufacture of work
shirts, and will receive for the work
shirts a maximum price of 72 1-2
cents per dozen. In this contract the
board furnishes nothing save the
building, power and the convict la-
bor. It is expressly understood, of
course, that the convict labor is not
contracted to the manufacturer in
any sense whatever, but will work
under the direction of the state
prison superintendent and under
such agents as may be employed by
the state, the state retaining all su-
pervision over the convicts as to
their hours of labor, care, mainte-
nance, discipline, etc. In fact, in no
sense does the state give to the con-
tractors any control over the
labor.
No. 1 Convicts on Roads
"It is estimated that through the
agreement which has been entered
into by the manufacturers and the
board of commissioners of state in-
stitutions that very large revenues
can be derived through the use of
such labor and the work to be per-
formed is light and under very fine
and healthful conditions. The price
we will receive for doing the work
is better than an average in other
states. Contract to run for three and
one-half years.
"It should not be understood that
the inauguration of this policy means
the taking of all convicts off the
public roads. The law provides that
all number 1 convicts shall remain
upon the public roads and worked by
the state road department, under the
direction of the board of commission-
ers of state institutions. There are
at present about 125 number 2 con-
victs on the public roads. Probably
most of these will be transferred to
the farm, but no number 1 convicts
will be disturbed."