Under the plan organized labor favors, the convicts are always under the control of the state and its authorized officials. They may be shifted from one form of work to another as the needs of the state or the health and training of the convicts require. Every convict who has no trade and is capable of learning one should be taught one most suitable for him. Not in a haphazard, spasmodic way, but in a way that will make him an efficient, intelligent mechanic, retaining skill, and able to follow the trade when he is released. In the arrangement of employment for the prisoners the state should endeavor to supply itself with everything necessary in its various institutions. Convicts should be employed as nearly as possible at the work they are accustomed to, especially if they are skilled mechanics, in order that they should not lose their skill. A large proportion of the convicts are men accustomed to outdoor life, either on farms or other outdoor labor; many of them are convicted of crimes in no way violent or due to vicious or violent dispositions. To confine men of this kind in cells and compel them to work in shops is to endanger their health, break them down physically, and return them to society not only morally sick, but also physically and mentally sick. The death rate from tuberculosis is much higher in prisons than outside. In some prisons the conditions are such that a sentence of five years or more means almost invariably another case of tuberculosis and death. The danger to the public from the clothing and other products made by these tuberculosis infected convicts is so great that if the public only knew the facts, prompt remedial legislation would be forced. The states are spending millions of dollars annually to eliminate or reduce the great “white plague,” yet at the same time they are maintaining also at public expense some of the worst causes. These convicts are returned to society about every five years, and the product of their labor is in every state in the Union. Is it not better and cheaper to prevent tuberculosis by wiping out one of its most prolific causes than to let it continue to spread pain, misery and death, among our people who have committed no crime?