This is only the economic side of the question. The moral side of it is seen in the fact that the system tends to debauch all those who come in contact with it. It dehumanizes the prisoners, leaving them without hope or reward. It hardens the sensibilities of the guards watching over them. Wherever the system is in vogue there will be found brutality rampant. If the prisoner is unable to do his allotted task, punishment is resorted to to force him. Wardens of all such institutions will tell you that the tasks assigned to the prisoner are much less than the average product of the free laborer, but I have found it universally true that the tasks assigned equal, and in some cases exceed the output of the free man. The prisoner is given thirty days to become proficient in his work. After that time he is expected to do his task each day. For the first lapse he will be warned, for the second a light punishment will be given him. If he continues unable to perform it, some severe punishment is meted out to him. For instance, I have seen a prisoner strung up by his thumbs for the noncompletion of the task, and left this way for a period of three hours. Can you imagine the feelings of this man toward society and the State after going through this experience? The prison in which I spent my last confinement was unique among contract-labor prisons. In this one the prisoner was at least given a chance to earn a little money for his own use. Not all, but there were a few among the many who were able, by heartrending toil, to do a little over their daily task. For this overwork the prisoner was paid by the contractor at the prevailing rates, fifty-five cents a task. The amount of money earned by the man would average about three dollars a month. Of course a great many of the men would earn absolutely nothing. A few earned a sum exceeding the average. This same overwork money has been the stumbling-block to the institution of any reforms in this same prison. Any criticism leveled at the institution itself or the system in vogue at the prison, would be met by bringing forth these same overtime earnings. The sum in the aggregate appeared large, but to one wise in the law of averages the amount shown but proved its insignificance. From the books of this same institution it has been shown that the average amount taken out by the men discharged has been under two dollars. What a munificent sum with which to begin a new life!