n robbed. A statement should be given to him to show what
it had cost to keep him and how much his labor had brought and the
balance remaining in his favor. With this little balance he could
go out into the world with something like independence. This little
balance would be a foundation for his honesty--a foundation for a
resolution on his part to be a man. But now each one goes out with
the feeling that he has not only been punished for the crime which
he committed, but that he has been robbed of the results of his
labor while there.

The idea is simply preposterous that the people sent to the
penitentiary should live in idleness. They should have the benefit
of their labor, and if you give them the benefit of their labor
they will turn out as good work as if they were out of the
penitentiary. They will have the same reason to do their best.
Consequently, poor articles, poorly constructed things, would not
come into competition with good articles made by free people outside
of the walls.

Now many mechanics are complaining because work done in the
penitentiaries is brought into competition with their work. But
the only reason that convict work is cheaper is because the poor
wretch who does it is robbed. The only reason that the work is
poor is because the man who does it has no interest in its being
good. If he had the profit of his own labor he would do the best
that was in him, and the consequence would be that the wares
manufactured in the prisons would be as good as those manufactured
elsewhere. For instance, we will say here are three or four men
working together. They are all free men. One commits a crime and
he is sent to the penitentiary. Is it possible that his companions
would object to his being paid for honest work in the penitentiary?

And let me say right here, all labor is honest. Whoever makes a
useful thing, the labor is honest, no matter whether the work is
done in a penitentiary or in a palace; in a hovel or the open field.
Wherever work is done for the good of others, it is honest work.
If the laboring men would stop and think, they would know that they
support everybody. Labor pays all the taxes. Labor supports all
the penitentiaries. Labor pays the warden. Labor pays everything,
and if the convicts are allowed to live in idleness labor must pay
their board. Every cent of tax is borne by the back of labor. No
matter whether your tariff is put on champagne and diamonds, it
h