Convict Labor
the employment of convicts in the production of useful commodities as a means of lessening the cost of prison administration and for the moral betterment of the convicts. This has been accomplished through various systems, the first of which, in point of time, is the "lease system," still employed in many Southern States. Here convicts are directly turned over to private contractors or employers, and practically the whole responsibility devolves on them. Many abuses have been the result, convicts being often retained in a condition of chattel slavery long after the expiration of their terms, in many cases imposed on them for trivial offenses. This system is now universally condemned and is fast going out of practo what was more fully named the Na- considerable opposition from organized tional Convention, which succeeded the National Legislative Assembly on Sept. 21, 1792, and was dissolved Oct. 26, 1795.
It began by abolishing royalty and proclaiming a republic. In diplomacy, a convention is equivalent to a treaty. Thus there have been conventions by the United States with the leading nations of the world to secure uniform and reciprocal action for special purposes.
CONVERSE, FLORENCE, an American writer, born in New Orleans in 1871. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1893. From 1908 she was a member of the staff of the "Atlantic Monthly." Her novels include "The Burden of Christopher" (1900); "The House of Prayer" (1908); "The Children of Light" (1912).
She also wrote "The Story of Wellesley" tice. Instead the "public account" system is being adopted by an ever-growing number of States. Here the labor is performed on State premises and the prison authorities are in full control. In some of the States the commodities manufactured are sold on the open, competitive market. This method has aroused labor. In other States only such commodities are manufactured which can be used in other departments of the Government. This plan is especially favored by the national Commission on Prisons and Prison Labor. In several States, as in New Jersey, the convicts are paid regular wages, which they may collect at the expiration of their terms. In 1920, however, no employment was given prisoners in 29 States.