Convict Labor Barred

President Theodore Roosevelt issues an executive order “prohibiting the employment of convict labor on government works,” despite the protests of officials in the war department.

The president has issued an order prohibiting the employment of convict labor on government works. The question of the employment of such labor was raised in connection with certain river and harbor improvements in Arkansas, the contractor for which desired to employ a number of state convicts under contract with the state authorities.

The officials of the war department were almost unanimously opposed to the plan, and Judge Advocate General Davis gave an opinion that it was contrary to the spirit if not the latter of the labor laws of the United States.

“Convict Labor Barred,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 15, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/374.