PRISONERS' FAMILIES
O'HARE, KATE R.
PRISONERS' FAMILIES The Convict's Suffering Is Often Less Than That of His Helpless Dependents By KATE R. O'HARE THE moat tragic victims of prison labor for private profita are the families...
...There is the msd, snd usually hopeless, struggle to rsise bonds, tho heart-breaking effort to secure legal defenae and court costs, the crushing blow of conviction, and the weary struggle to tske up life harassed by debts, pinched by poverty, blackened by shame, and robbed of the bresdwinner...
...But without a unioa under such circumstances it is merely a question of how long he ess keep from working before accepting the company'* term* or the similar terms of another company...
...Two boy* were in th* reform school, a thirteen year-old igrl was in tho county home, seriously infected with venereal disease, and waiting to give birth to an illegitimate child, and the other children were heeded in th* aam* direction...
...Every day I worked in the prison workshop I earned, at non-union wages, about $6 per dsy...
...It wss decided to nsme a committee of five from France, Belgium, Germsny, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries to assist the Secretary in case of need.* H. J. J. Eichelsheim was reelected International Secretary and the headquarters continued in Amsterdam...
...He keeps his job on the company's sufferance...
...The probability then is thst they will not be apt to retain their stock in ths particular compsny they sre work* ing for, since their idea of good stock : will depend solely upon what dividends are paid...
...At this meeting, which was devoted principally to a discussion of the British situation, it was resolved to support the British miners in every possible way, including plans for keeping down the coal production in other countries during the impending strike and inviting the cooperation of the International Transport Workers' Federation in preventing any extra export of coal...
...On my way to Frankfkort, Ky., to visit th* prison there I met a widow whose husband had been] killed in a coal mine, and whose young son was serving a prison sentence for taking an automobile from a garage where he worked without the owner's permission...
...It was also voted to send a delegation to a general meeting of the Russian Wood Workers whenever the Executive should consider the time ripe for such a move...
...More than 16,000 employes of tha company during ths lsst five years hsve psid mor* than thirteen millions on the installment plan for the purchase of compsny stock...
...Otherwise, they will not control their work and thsir life and they are at the mercy of the majority holders of voting-stock, the directors, end the bsnks...
...I was paid from IH to 3 cents per day, $10.50 for fourteen months* work, and I actually earned $1,800...
...Ninety per cent of all inmatea of our penal institutions corns from ths working clsss, snd the greet msjority from the poorest of the poor...
...Hi* pay is merely the pay ef ths Labor market...
...1 is shown by th* following statement by the Amsterdam Bureau: "Th* I. P. T. U. has shown its will* ingness to intervene by adopting the suggestion of the British Trsdes Union Congress and sending on* of it* secretaries to Britain for the purpose of taking psrt in the discussions of ths Labor organizations and keeping the I. F. T. II...
...The words of th* British miner*' leader: 'Not a cent off th* pay, not a second on th* day...
...On Use Company's Sufferance If th* stock carried with it a real share or a promise...
...There are now thirty-seven organizations in eighteen countries affiliated with the International...
...Secretary Woudenberg, who was reelected, explsined the drop in membership from 882,193 on Jsn...
...The Secretary laid that investigation had shown the Russian statements to be fslse snd, after a lengthy debate, a resolution was adopted declaring thst no official application for membership had been received from the Russian organization and thst, anyway, no decision should be made until agreement had been reached between Moscow and Amsterdam.' Dues to the International were fixed at six Dutch centa (about 2cents) per member per year for the first 25,000 members of a national union and five Dutch cents der eapita for the rest of the membership...
...from the poverty-stricken tensnt farms, snd from the unorganised, unskilled dwellers of the city slums...
...The next congress will be held in Prague...
...Attention was drawn to the fact that hesvy taxes burdened the tobacco industry in ajl countries, and that the increase in the use of machinery was constantly reducing the labor force...
...But when an employe neither belongs to a union nor holds stock, which, in combination with other stock-holders similarly .situated, carriea with* it power over the company's policies, he exercises practically no control over his working life...
...In a teport by Secretary C. Woudenberg on the possible amalgamation of the wood workers and the building trades organizations and of the two internationals, it was brought out thst immediste fusion was undesirable, but it wss decided to get in touch with the Building Trade International with the view of arranging for the exchange of membership cards be-' t ween unions affiliated with the two bodies and to continue consideration of eventual amslgamation...
...He works the I number of hours the company a*, tablishss in accord with the Labor market...
...have decided th* fat* not of the British miners only, but of those of all other countries...
...An employe need* some leverage to permit him to control hi* own work snd life.' Partnership in s compsny through th* ownership of stock which would carry with it real power over the company'* policies is such a leverage and is an even more powerful leverage than membership in a Labor union...
...Ths difference between the wages I earned and the pittance I received went not to the State to relieve the burdens of taxation, but into ths pockets of the prison Isbor contractor...
...Th* successful union bring* a, measure of freedom to th* employ*, More stock ownership carrying ne control giva* a man a certain amount of money which will lupport him if he i* disgusted with the compsny's wsge terms...
...3-7, Secretary Eichelsheim reported to the twenty-seven delegates from eleven countries that the membership on Jan...
...Oklahoma was rearing a crop of criminal*, prostitutes and defectives, but tha prison labor contractor is collecting $6 per dsy in profits on th* father's labor...
...1, lsst, by the secession of some 30,000 English wood worker* snd the effects of the stabilization crisis upon th* Carman Wood Workers' Union, which had fallen from IM.000 io 284.000...
...Tobacco Workers In Congres* At the second congress of the Tobacco Workers' International, since its reorganization in 1919, held in Brussels Aug...
...But I knew that the contractor and his human leeches were colei ting for ths boy's foolish prsnk at the rate of $6 per day, and that the mother was psying not only for her boy's transgression, but for our sin in permitting such conditions to exist In s little boarding-house at Mcwhose husband was serving a threeAlester, Okie., I met a woman yesr sentence foi selling a bals of mortgsged cotton...
...Most of sll hss this been true of the miners, who sre more directly sffected...
...An employe in such circumstances ha* the choice of either joining s union or, if uniting with other stock owning employes, to transfer the stock into voting-stock and then unite their forces...
...That the convict msy bs innocent or guilty, thst his crime was greet or small, that others suffered from it, that society msy have a morsi snd legsl right to punish offenders, mesns nothing to the convict's family...
...But the situation continues to be very critica), and it is well to be prepared for every contingency...
...International Behind Miner* Thst the International Federation of Trade Unions wss ready to do its duty by the British miners in case th* Tory Government had seen fit to challenge the power of organised Labor by allowing the mins owners to try to put through their proposed wage reduction on Aug...
...LABOR JOTTINGS FROM ABROAD International Backs Miners—Coal Nationalization Favored Tobacco Workers' Congress — Wood Workers Meet...
...PRISONERS' FAMILIES The Convict's Suffering Is Often Less Than That of His Helpless Dependents By KATE R. O'HARE THE moat tragic victims of prison labor for private profita are the families and dependents of the prisoners, who are innocent of any offense «4jainst the law...
...Not for one moment have th* working classes of other countries closed their eyes to their duty or felled to estimate st its true value the weapon to be used...
...When some delegates pointed out thst their union* had received letter* from the Tobacco Workers' Section of the Russian Food and Drink Worker*' Union, complaining that no reply hsd been received to sn application for admission to the International...
...1, 1923, snd 711,287 on Jan...
...ef1 a real share in the control of the cpmpany, possibly more of th* employea would rotaia the stock they have bought Even if this wore something they could reasonably look forward to, more might be apt to ratals it and not sell it to buy an automobile or th* like...
...The judge sentences the law-breaker, elected officials enforce ths sentence, snd the prison workshop swallows up the convict...
...That this would be so was a fsct which hss been generally recognized internationally throughout the whole of the long and anxious negotiations...
...The preparations msd* for affording effective assistance have been temporarily suspended in view of telegrsms received in Amsterdam...
...Tho mother went out waahing snd tho children rsn wild...
...For this reason alone it was important thst the British miners should be strong enough to msintsin their position...
...He is not a free man...
...Secretary Eicbelsheim explained thst the Russian union had inserted in its application that it was not part of th* Red Trade Union International, but wa* affiliated with Amsterdam by virtue of being part of* the International of the Food and Drink Trade...
...in constant touch with th* British strik* leaders...
...During the general discussion the hope was frequently voiced that effort* to obtain th* affiliation of the American, Spsnish and Italian tobacco workers' unions would soon be successful...
...No ssne person objects to the prisoner being required to work, but every fair minded person objects to having the prisoner exploited for the private profit of prison labor contractors snd corrupt politicians while their families starve...
...Minera for Nstionalization Only through nationalization of the coal mines and the regulation of production by international agreements can such crises as the one which recently menaced Great Britain and is now worrying the United States be avoided, according to a resolution adopted by the Executive Committee of the Mine Workers' International as a meeting held in Paris the last week of July...
...No reform under the present system but a decided step out of and above that system is the fit snd enduring remedy for the wrongs snd oppression* of Labor and Capital.—Stephen Pearl Andrews, n, Those possession* short-liv'd sre Into which we come by wsr...
...The part thst poverty plsysd in msking them criminsls we csnnot discuss here, but mors and more thinking people are realizing thst squslor, wsnt snd economic insecurity, which always darken the lives of the people of the social abyss, are large factors in breeding and trainine criminals...
...But hsd they been in the condition of the sversge convict's children they would have been thrown into the street Perhaps my boys might have been driven to crime snd my girl to prostitution, while the prison isbor contractor and a choice assortment of politicians collected the profits on my labor...
...Breed for hungry mouths, shelter for shame-bowed heads, and clothing for poverty pinched bodies sre all thst really matter...
...At the Mercy Of the Majority Holder...
...In doing so, they have rendered no mean service to workers of other trades snd other countries...
...The Miners' International Secretary, Frank Hodges, reported that negotiations were under way with the miners' unions of Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico for the purpose of obtaining their affiliation...
...At a preceding meeting of the Executive Committee held in London it was decided to delay sending the committee of investigation to Russia un" til after the coal crisis had passed...
...It takes little knowledge ef ths lives of the poor, snd leaa imagination, to realize the ghastly tragedy that settles down on s working clsss family whsn the bresdwinner runs sfolli of the lew...
...GREAT IS THE PRISON-MADE SHIRT AND WISE THE MAN WHO WEARS IT...
...Th* shareholderemploye," the company organ says, "would feel that he was permanently placed, so long a* he was able to render * fsir dsy's work, snd would ultimstely come to realize thst his employer's success was dependent upon th* kind of servie* rendered...
...1, lsst, wss 120,883, of whom 81,496 were women, "en increase of about 200 per cent since the reorganization, although there' had been a loaa in 1924 of almost 20,000...
...Repetition of the plan depends upon their holding this stock, sine* th* compsny'* intention is to use this ss a leverage to increase the interest of the employes in th* company's welfare...
...Hi reality the situation is such that the real wages of the British miners who are working for the export trade are much lower than those of other important countries of production...
...The compsny expects thst msny will sell the stock but that msny more will keep it ss sn investment or at least will keep much of it, (tiling only the amount needed to start buying a home or psy for extraordinary needs, such as hospital expenses and the like...
...Mors snd more intelligent people ars beginning to ask why the profits of convict labor should not go to tha family of tho convict rsther than to a few greedy, unscrupulous grafters...
...Fortunately, my four children had a father who could care for them, snd they did not suffer want...
...The financial situation of the International situation of th* International has improved materially during the lsst yssr, and mora active work is to be begun St once...
...I ssw them together in the prison office, snd I saw him bending over a machine, making shirts Thst evening I talked to the mother again and found that sorrow and tragedy had taken their toll of the woman's life, ard that there was nothing left for her but suicide or the poorhouse...
...In addition to the forty-six regular delegates from twenty-one organizations in fourteen countries, there were present three fraternal delegates from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, headed by President W. L. Hutcheson, who made s speech outlining the condition of the trsde in the United States and expressing the view that his organization would eventually become affiliated with the International...
...The company will add half of the accrued (dividends on this stock, and with th* higher value of th* stock now, the total accruing to the employea will make the twenty-two millions duo them...
...1, 1924, to 623,779 on Jsn...
...Robert Herrick...
...Thin committee is to look over conditions in the Russian mines and to examine the possibility of the affiliation of the Russian miners with the International...
...Social vengeance falls heaviest upon, not the criminal who violates the law, but upon the innocent ones bound to him by the ties of blood and love...
...BENEVOLENCE" Issued by the Social Weifare Department, National Catholic Welfare Council a COMPLETING at the end of this year a stock purchase plan for ita employee which will result in employeownership of nearly $22,000,000 worth of stock in the company, Standard Oil Co., of New Jersey announces that it will wait to see whether the employes sell the stock or keep it before another such plan will be provided...
...The story of the high wages of the British workers is a fable of which the employers have made unfair use...
...Wood Workers Meet In Hmssels At the regular Congress of the International Union of Wood Workers, held in Brussels, July 20-22, there was considerable discussion regarding the possibility of admitting the Russian Wood Workers' Union to the International, which ended in the adoption of a resolution proposed by the British delegates providing for a continuance by the Executive Committee of its efforts to obtain the affiliation of all outside organizations prepared to accept the rules and regulations of the International...
...The drastic punishments for crime, for which the unthinking clamor, punishes the mother, wife and children of the convict far more than the man behind the walls...
...There were six children too small la help., ran the tenant farm, ao they moved to the county seat...
Vol. 2 • September 1925 • No. 36
