Things were different in 1913

[bcp]

Need your rural roads fixed?

Bruce

 

[jack707]

It was a lot simpler back then.

 

[MossRoad]

Need your rural roads fixed?

Bruce

View attachment 440401

Then the streetworker's union sued and the plan was abandoned....

 

[turnkey4099]

It was a lot simpler back then.

Back in the 40s early 50s in N Idaho it was the custom to vote in a county commissioner fromas far out of town as possible and change them often. At least one road would get well fixed that way during each term in office.

Harry K

 

[chuck172]

Just think of all the work that can get done with the millions and millions of illegals.!

 

[Thomas]

I wouldn't mind seeing road side chain gangs etc. back in the northeast... shoveling snow off roofs to picking up litter everything in between.

 

[jack707]

I remember driving on I 10 to Phoenix in the early 90's and seeing the chain gang from Florence state prison picking garbage up on the medium.

 

[BHD]

1913 was a major depression,
and many were wandering and looking for work,
the only depression worst was the 1930's depression. in the 1930's they developed the WPA, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration

Perhaps the most forgotten period in American economic history is the eight years that followed the creation of the Fed and the income tax in 1913. From 1913 to 1921 the growth rate came in at just 1.4 percent per year. The period included two long recessions: one beginning in 1913, in which that year痴 level of production was equaled only two years later (and with the assistance of military production that did nothing for living standards), and another from 1919 to 1921 that was simply the worst depression the nation would ever suffer outside of the 1930s. 填nemployment quickly joined the parlance; people scrambled to measure the phenomenon, and the consensus was that it stayed in the high double digits in the latter recession. And then this novelty: the price level went up by 110 percent from 1913 to 1920, and then swerved down in the year following by 25 percent. Strikes swept the land, since wages had no hope of keeping up with the unprecedented inflation, and the new income tax system hit persons making as little as $1,000 a year ($11,000 in today痴 terms).
more at link

1913: Worst Year Ever | Intercollegiate Review

 

[MossRoad]

Then the streetworker's union sued and the plan was abandoned....

In all seriousness, my dad said when he was a kid, they used to use jail labor to rehab the brick streets here in town. They'd pull the bricks, level the sand under them, give the bricks a quarter turn and put them back. Everyone loved it except the street workers union, who said the prisoners were taking jobs away from them. So they stopped the program.

Up in Michigan, I've seen county prisoners in orange jump suits maintaining the parks. Two sheriffs and a van load of inmates. Some of the inmates are using chainsaws and tractors. Some only have hand tools. Some have their hands cuffed to belly chains and their ankles are chained together and they give them a stick and a bucket, a pair of sandals, and they shuffle around sticking cigarette butts. But they're working for the citizens of the county to repay their debt. I see no problem with prison labor. I'd think if they volunteer for job, they should cut their time a bit. I'd also think that if they put some skin in the game towards their community, maybe, just maybe, some of them would feel better towards society when they got out because they helped build or maintain part of the community. But we all know the huge recidivism rate of criminals, so maybe its just wishful thinking.

 

[oldpilgrim]

Just a couple miles from me is a "Correctional Institute". At one time in my youth its was called The State Farm. It was a prison but had hundreds of acres of farmland all around it, where prisoners would raise tend animals, and grow many many field crops. The farm produced enough livestock and crops to make it very nearly self sufficient. It functioned for many many years...well back into the 1800's.

Sometime during the 60's I think, some prisoners decided they didn't want to work anymore. Someone hired a liberal layer, who sued the state on behalf of the inmates, and the self supporting prison went to a multi-multi million dollar liberal politically run boondoggle of a prison.

The' Boston Strangler' was held there.

Prisoners aren't allowed to work around here...... it's inhumane to make them do so..