“‘Yes,’ I admitted, ‘It is not for us to throw stones.’
“Later, however, as on our silent homeward walk I summed up all the dismal impressions of the day. I began to feel that after all there was a difference. American poverty was overwhelming, but it was not everywhere, and it was not so hopeless. Men did escape from American slums, and their children escaped.
“But the English slum was a prison, in which the fallen man and his children and grandchildren rotted. There was a droop, a sagging to these people; an inexpressible indifference to surroundings, an utter self-abandonment. You could seek out poverty anywhere, but in London it obtruded itself—stark, menacing, unescapable, like the naked, dirt-caked arm of the superfluous wretch who had followed my hansom.”
Prisoners to Build Roads.—It is an assured fact, according to the New Orleans Picayune, that a model road built by convict labor will be constructed connecting New Orleans with Kenner. This will take off four miles from the present railroad and other routes to this thriving section.
The state board of engineers will make the surveys as soon as possible and once started the work will be rapidly pushed.
Nothing but the best material will be used, and the drainage of the roadway will be given attention. It is expected either shells or some other substantial “topping” will be put on the thoroughfare.
New Jersey Adopts the State-Use Plan.—By the signing by Governor Wilson, the bill abolishing the present system of convict labor at the termination of the existing state prison contracts, all convict labor in the state and county prisons in New Jersey may be employed in the manufacture of articles for use in the institutions of the state and its subdivisions. The convicts are to be employed for nine hours, except on Sundays and public holidays. They may be employed in the construction or repair of prison institutions, and the labor of the convicts must be so directed as to produce “the greatest amount of actual product of articles and supplies” for all state and local institutions, the buildings and departments or offices of the state, “or in any public institution or department owned, managed and controlled by the state or public sub-division thereof.” Convicts may be employed in agriculture, horticulture and floriculture, and “all surplus product of this convict labor is to be disposed of at public sale to the highest bidder.” The new law extends the prison labor system from the state prison to all county prisons, and makes city and county departments, offices and institutions, as well as the state institutions, its beneficiaries. The sum of 50 cents a day is to be paid to the families of the convicts.