Last Friday, it was announced that Anson Shirt in Wadesboro would be closing its doors come April 21. Anson Shirt is one of two manufacturing plants in North Carolina run by Polkton Manufacturing Co. of Marshville, which also does business as Seagoing Uniform. The other is in Robersonville, and it will be closing April 21, as well.

In all, 240 hardworking people will lose their jobs and in most cases, head for the already lengthy unemployment line.

Anyone who walks around downtown and uptown Wadesboro may notice a number of empty shops and restaurants, as they seem to be closing right and left. This latest plant closing is just one more sign of the economic times, you might say.

But there's something about the closing of Anson Shirt, which has been in Wadesboro since 1955, that makes it a little bit different. The plant— and Polkton Manufacturing Co.— was a contractor for one of the United States Navy's uniforms. Anson Shirt made the shirts; the plant in Robersonville, the pants. But, although the company has held the contract since 1970, the Navy decided to get a new contractor, one that could create the same number of uniforms for a lot less money. That's what it all comes down to, right?

But, as Polkton Manufacturing Co.'s vice president, Aaron Efird, said, one contractor gets first priority with the Department of Defense— UNICOR. UNICOR isn't a fancy acronym meaning anything; it's simply the trade name for Federal Prison Industries (FPI). According to its Web site, www.unicor.gov, it is "a wholly-owned government corporation established by the Congress June 23, 1934. Its mission is to employ and provide job skills training to the greatest practicable number of inmates confined within the Federal Bureau of Prisons; contribute to the safety and security of our Nation’s federal correctional facilities by keeping inmates constructively occupied; provide market-quality products and services; operate in a self-sustaining manner; and to minimize FPI’s impact on private sector business and labor."

That may sound all well and good but essentially, federal inmates are creating products that are normally made by hardworking, law-abiding American citizens, including those in Wadesboro— these prisoners build office furniture, dorm and quarters furnishings, industrial mezzanines and catwalks, shelving, electrical cables, mattresses, bedding, linens and towels, oh, and uniforms for law enforcement, medical fields and the military, like Anson Shirt. And you can bet the bids that FPI/UNICOR is able to make are lower than those of private industries.

Granted, it does say they wish to "minimize the impact" on private business and labor. But we wonder what the folks at Anson Shirt would think about that, since they will soon be out of a job, while inmates in federal prison get to keep their jobs.

Essentially, people who commit a felony— which can include assault and battery, arson, burglary, selling illegal drugs, and of course, the biggies, murder and rape— have a better chance of getting a job and making money than the average American in today's economy. Is there something wrong with this picture? In our eyes, there certainly is.

We understand what FPI/UNICOR is trying to do. And we applaud them for wanting to do something to help turn these criminals' lives around. But couldn't they continue the old cliché of making license plates? Couldn't they perform some sort of supervised community service?

With the country's textile industry already shipped overseas, do these struggling plants really need the competition of cheap labor on our own soil, by convicted murderers and rapists, no less? Those who will be unemployed come April 21 would probably say, "No way."