We had expected that the state of Idaho would have an Industrial Army of its own. Experience, however, convinced us that it would be far better to do all its work through the Association. Insane, weak-minded, blind, sick, aged and infirm persons who were members of the Association were cared for by the Association, so that the state had no duty to perform toward them. The children of our members inherited membership, losing it only by violating its laws in some few particulars, so that insane, weak-minded, sick or infirm children of members were all cared for. To care for persons who might be afflicted, however, and were not members of the Association was the state’s concern. To punish criminals was its duty. The Great Council contracted with the Co-opolitan Association to care for its afflicted and its criminals, and the sole consideration which it charged for this burden was that it have the benefit of the labor of the able-bodied among them.
We soon found that the criminals whom the state consigned to our care, when given a fair opportunity, were most of them able and willing to work. This was all the more apparent when we offered a reward, consisting of wages equal to a Co-opolitan’s dividend, for meritorious conduct. We rarely ever permitted a convict to become a member of our Industrial Army, however meritorious his work, but we did not oblige him to quit our service on the penitential farm or in the penitential factories when his term of service expired. Yet we did admit Barnstead, who invented a flying machine; Applegate, the inventor of the electric plough; Turner, that poet who sang with wonderful power the songs of Remorse, Injustice and Sorrow, and some thirty others. The state criminal is now almost a thing of the past, yet fifteen years ago our penitential farms and factories were important concerns. But we made them pay. They produced not only enough wealth to support themselves substantially, but enough to support the state insane, weak-minded, sick, aged and infirm, whose several asylums adjoined the farms.
Our Industrial Army in that year—1910—contained twenty-four departments, in which 1,025,525 persons were at that time enlisted. Of these four hundred and sixty-two thousand one hundred and twenty-one were women. It was a magnificent body of well-trained, intelligent, earnest, industrious and faithful men and women. The chief of this body was the President of the Association. Its movements were directed by the Legislative Council. Its general laws were enacted by that body, but each department and subdivision had regulations of its own which did not conflict with those provided by the Legislative Council. There were then twenty-five general departments, as follows:
1st. Department of Agriculture. All occupations requiring the cultivation of the soil, except such as were within the Nursery and Fruit department, were within its province.
2nd. The Live Stock department had charge of all cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and other animals, as well as birds.
3rd. The Nursery and Fruit department had charge of all orchards, vines and plants bearing fruit and all horticultural plants and flowers.
4th. The Irrigation department had charge of all waters and the distribution of the same.
5th. The Commerce department had charge of all department stores and was charged, as now, with supplying the needs of the people.
6th. The Manufacturing department had charge of all factories and all manufactures.
7th. The Transportation department had charge of all highways, methods of transportation, vehicles and the operation of the same.