In presenting this volume to to the public I do not intend that the convict shall pose as a martyr. And as sensationalism is almost invariably incompatible with the truth, I shall also avoid that. Far more eloquent pens than mine have exhausted the subject of contract labor, showing the world the injurious effects it had on the workingman. It is now my aim to show the misery it causes to his more unfortunate brother on the inside of the walls. I make no comments, I merely portray the facts. I am the artist. You, reader, are the critic. But in sending forth this little book, should it gain the attention of some of our public benefactors, and through them be the means of bettering the condition of those bound to these modern despots, I shall feel that I have not written in vain.