Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1906 — STATE “BUCKS” TWINE TRUST [ARTICLE]

STATE “BUCKS” TWINE TRUST

New Prison Work Hoped to Cheapen Twine to the Parmer. On a comparatively small scale the State of Indiana has entered a “trust bustin’ ” era. January 1 was the time set for the beginning of the manufacture of binder tvyine at the State prison, Michigan City. This is a product that hitherto has been made almost exclusively by the great trust controlling the manufacture of the agricultural implements, and the farmers of the various States have been made to pay the bill. With the State of Indiana going into the business for itself, the farmer will be benefitted, as the product will be sold at the lowest price consistent with the cost of production, according to James D. Reid, warden of the State prison. And, if this experiment in the twine-making business is successful Mr. Reid says the Indiana farmers will not be the onty ones benefited, as the success will mean the complete abolition of the private conviot labor system, which has obtained for so long both at the State prison and the Reformatory. At the Reformatory the new trade schools havs taken the place of the "farmed out” labor,

Warden Reid, the members of the board of trustees and even Governor Hanly, who has interested himself in the soheme, all expect good results. The board has visited similar plants in the State prisons of Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri, and they have been found to be entirely successful, so there is no reason for thinking that equal success will not greet the Indiana efforts. The experiment, which will use only a comparatively few of the men at first, will make necessary an initial expenditure of about $25,000. A warrant was issued from the State Auditor’s office last week for $13,932.60 to pay for sisal to be used in making the twine. This raw material, together with the little machinery needed and the new storerooms that had to be built, will bring the probable cost of the experiment to about $25,000. The real test will come at the beginning of the harvesting season. “We wish the farmers to give ns a trial order,” said Mr. Reid. “We will send the twine to them either in small or in carload lots. In either case it will be lower than the price at which it can be bought from the trust that no.w controls the output, but if farmers of a certain community should band together and buy larger quantities, it would be very much the cheaper.” There are still some contracts at the prison, but these will not be.renewed if the twine making is satisfactory, and all of the men will be employed in this work. The advantages claimed for this particular industry are that while the farmer is benefited, no Indiana industry is harmed, and the only commercial activity that is touched is the trust.