At the close of this service, after the chaplain has retired, the company which came in last, rise at the word of their keeper, and march out, and the others follow, in their order, in the same manner. Passing through where their kids of rations and cans of water are placed in rows, they take them to their cells, are locked up, and the assistant keepers and guard, (except those on duty,) disperse for the remainder of the day. In excessively warm weather, however, they are sometimes required to assemble and take the convicts out for airing just at night, Sunday afternoon.-Soon after the convicts retire from the cha pel, the chaplain commences visiting from cell to cell, and spends the remainder of the day in giving them, individually, at their cell doors, moral and religious advice and instruction, with the happiest effects, Discharge of Convicts. When the time arrives for the convict's discharge, he is decently clad, and furnished with money to supply his wants till he can find employment. An interesting interview now takes place between him and the chaplain and Agent, during which a brief account is taken of his former life, education, habits, propensities, vices, &c, when he is again, and for the last time, kindly and affec tionately advised and admonished; and then, frequently with eyes streaming with tears of joy and gratitude, he bids them a tender farewell, (C.) Letter from James Hall. Hon. I, R. VAN DUZER: New-York, Jan. 14, 1833. Dear sir-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from you, dated the 3d, and post-marked the 6th instant. However incompetent to satisfy the important inquiries contained in it, I feel honored by your notice on the occasion, and shall proceed to answer your letter in that spirit of frankness which I consider the magnitude of the subject requires, and which will be most acceptable to yourself and your coadjutors of the committee, First you ask my opinion of the quality of the marble upon the premises belonging to the State at Sing-Sing, so far as my knowedge of the article extends. I answer, that, in the most unqualified sense of the term, it is of the most inferior quality. I cannot be mistaken in this matter; my knowledge of marble is the result of long experience, and much hard labor. It has been the material out of which I have chisselled my fortunes, whatever they may be. The texture, or consistence of the Sing-Sing marble, is not sufficiently firm to insure durability, and it is extremely liable to contain flaws, or layers of decomposed substance, even in the largest blocks, which render them less valuable for heavy and profitable works, after all the expense and labor of quarrying. This is my candid opinion of the quality of this marble. It is honestly expressed; and when the question for the gentlemen of the committee to decide, in behalf of the State, relates to profit or loss, and well founded objections exist against the very quality of the article to be furnished for market, I trust that it will not be deemed impertinent for me to suggest, that the quarrying of marble at Sing-Sing, can never become in any great degree, profitable. Second. You ask whether I suppose the convicts could be hired to contractors for their labor in the stone-cutting business, the contractors having the privilege to furnish stone from the quarries, or such other places, and of such kinds as they might please, to be landed on the prison wharf, and prepared in the yard of the prison for use? I can perceive no solid objection to the plan detailed in this question, and the concluding paragraphs of your letter. There are marbles of an excellent quality for building, lying in parts of Westchester county, adjacent to the prison. The rough blocks could be brought there to be worked, and transported thence in a finished state, with great certainty, cheapness and despatch. I know that objections have been urged against the State of NewYork competing with her citizens in any branch of business, particularly in that of stone-cutting. But mark the fact: The objec tions have not been raised against the right, but the mode of this competition. In other words, the powerful State of New-York has been, perhaps through ignorance, or inadvertence, brought by her agents into competition with the hard working mechanic, through the doubly ruinous process of underbidding in the market. Let the State hold the labor which she may have to hire out, at the fair market price, and then, I feel assured, the free mechanic will not complain; because the comparative inconvenience of the location of her great work-shops, the obstructions thrown by winter in the way of a continued transportation of the finished material, and other obstructing causes, will always keep up such a counterpoise in his favor, upon the interests and necessities of the employer, as to ensure the rent-paying, and family-feeding journeyman, of the city and country, constant and profitable employment. The services of a convict would be equally as valuable at stone-cutting, as any other branch of business at which they might be employed. Should any thing further occur to my mind, you may rely upon my communicating it. Having been from six to seven years engaged in the Sing-Sing quarries, before the State purchased them from Mr. Marsh, what I have just now stated for your consideration, may be depended upon; and any further information you may desire to have, if it lays within my knowledge, I shall be happy at all times to forward to your consideration. ( D. ) Letter from John I. Labagh, Masterton & Smith, Rogers & Moffat, and James Hay. Dear Sir NEW-YORK, January 28, 1833. Your letters of the 3d instant, to several of the master stonecutters in this city, were duly received. According to your request, a number of gentlemen have consulted together on the (to them interesting) subject, and we would have answered them before this, if we could have visited the quarries at Sing-Sing, as we intended to do, but owing to the ice in the river we could not get there conveniently; since which we have seen a statement of the Inspectors of the prison, taken from the Albany Argus, from which it appears to us, that it would be unnecessary for us to go to the trouble and expense of visiting the said quarries. We would merely remark on your first interrogatory, that the marble that we have seen here from those quarries, is of an infe rior quality, (both as to texture and uniformity of appearance,) to that which we have been in the habit of receiving and working, from other quarries. Your second inquiry is more difficult to answer, as it involves questions very serious, if not altogether destructive and ruinous in its consequences, to nearly all the journeymen in this city, employed in preparing stone or marble for buildings here, or indeed any. where in this State. On reflection you will at once perceive, that if we contract to get our work done at the prison, it must be done at a lower price than men having families to support or even single men can do the the same work for here; consequently those men must be reduced to poverty, and at an advanced age, would be under the necessity of seeking for other employment, which would be cruelty indeed, in the extreme. There is another view of the subject; (according to the present system, which certainly is very laudable, if all can be realized which is hoped for from it,) when the term of service for which the convicts are sentenced has expired, should they come out reformed in their morals, also good workmen, where are they to find work at stone-cutting? for it appears from the last statement of the Inspectors of the prison, that there are more men employed in the prison, by twenty-five per cent., at that business, than there are employed in this city; so that the business of stone cutting, if persisted in at the prison, must be very much injured, if not altogether eventually destroyed. For it is impossible for individuals, in contracting for work, without great sacrifice of capital, to come in competition with the State Prison; the State Prison work must be done from 10 to 20 per cent. less than what it can be done for here. If we reduce the price here to what it will cost without any allowance at all to the employer, for his time in procuring and over looking work, at the State Prison, the work will be done for a less price, which must drive all competition from the market. At the State Prison, that business must be done that most can be made of, or in other words, that by which least will be lost; the State treasury always supplying the deficiency wanting, to support the expenses of the prison. There are other objections which might be mentioned, such as the utter impossibility of preparing the work at the prison, without the necessity of fitting it at the building, getting it here in the winter when the river is not navigable on account of the ice, &c., &c., too numerous to mention and enlarge on in a communication by letter, but could be easily explained at a personal interview; indeed much more might be said as to the principal objection, as it relates to the journeymen employed here. Believing the hints thrown out sufficient, we forbear extending our remarks. We remain, Yours, JOHN I. LABAGH, MASTERTON & SMITH, JAMES HAY. The Hon. I. R. VAN DUZER. |