As large an amount of outdoor work as possible should be provided. A large farm should be operated, on which not only necessary foodstuffs be raised, but a flour mill for the grinding of flour and all other necessary plants for the turning of the different raw products into the finished articles needed in the various institutions. The making of roads is needed in almost every state, and is an ideal occupation for convicts. After providing for the needs of the state and state institutions the surplus labor could be used in this way. Only those convicts should be put to work on the roads who have been convicted of minor offenses, and can be trusted without ball and chain and armed guards. In this day of speedy communications by telegraph, telephone and wireless, the old restraints are very much less needed. At the present time none of the prisons of the country are self-supporting. All of these penal institutions are a burden on taxpayers of this country. All free workmen are taxpayers of the state, either directly or indirectly. It is unfair that any one part of the taxpayers should be discriminated against by the state. Concentrating the labor of prisoners in an institution into a few trades forces the free labor in those trades to enter into competition with the state. The selling of convict labor products on the open market in competition with free labor, at any price, throws free taxpayers, into ruthless competition with the state. Using convict labor to furnish the needs of the state and state institutions not only removes the state from the market for free labor, but also permits free manufacturers to meet each other in fair, free competition. They are then all equal as to labor costs, no products of slave labor being thrown at any price on the open market.