00:00If that road is built, it's going to mean ruin.
00:03Yes, ruin to all the small cattlemen of the county.
00:06They're all falling in line with him, Warden.
00:08When he gets through, you better get up there and straighten him out.
00:11Maybe you're right, Andy, but what can we do about it?
00:14The state condemned the right of way across your land, and they paid for it.
00:18The state never paid for it.
00:20If I hadn't cashed their check, and I don't intend to,
00:23I've blocked the building of that road for 20 years, and I'll keep on doing it.
00:28You're a big man, Willard, but not big enough to fight the whole state.
00:32And I'd like to know what makes you think you're right.
00:35Maybe that road will be a good thing for us.
00:37The highway will bring in a lot of small farmers.
00:39Not if we don't sell our land.
00:41You'll sell, all right. We'll all sell.
00:45Once the road is in, they'll raise our taxes until we have to sell.
00:49How can we stop them from building the road, Andy?
00:51I'll tell you how you can stop them.
00:53You can sign this petition to the governor that will be handed around at the end of the meeting.
00:57And by signing this petition, we'll also get rid of that road camp of young criminals.
01:01Shut it down immediately.
01:03They belong in the penitentiary.
01:05I agree with Mr. Willard in one thing.
01:08If our road camp is closed down, those boys will go to the penitentiary.
01:13I served as warden of your state penitentiary for 30 years.
01:17I know what prison does to you.
01:19Released after serving their first sentences,
01:22they found that the stigma of prison made them outcasts.
01:25Their only friends were hardened, older criminals.
01:28Soon they came back to the penitentiary as second offenders.
01:33Then as third offenders.
01:35Hardened criminals now doomed to a life of crime.
01:38The purpose of the road camp is to give young first offenders a chance to repay society
01:44and to save them from the associations of prison
01:47and to teach them the habits of industry and self-discipline.
01:52And now one of my boys stands accused of crime.
01:55I believe he is innocent.
01:57And why did he run away?
01:58Because he was frightened.
02:00And under the circumstances, who wouldn't be?
02:03I ask you to give the road camp a fair trial,
02:07even if one of these boys has made a second slip.
02:10Is that reason enough to condemn all the others to prison?
02:14Think before you sign a petition to close the camp.
