Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-12-18
CONVICT LABOR.
Refusal Of the Commissioners to Re.
Lease the Penitentiary.
The Whole Matter Left 10 the Next
General Assembly.

The Commissioners of the Peni;eu.
tiary met in the Governors Office, il
Nashville, on the 4th inst, to decide
whether they should lease the peni,
Tertiary. The following isa report oi
their action:
Section 4 of the act passed March
"A, 1875, to provide for the release OF
the penitentiary was read as follows
That the Governor, prior to the
making of said lease, shall direct the
Secretary of State to advertise for
thirty days, in three or more newspa-
pers of the State having the largest
circulation for sealed proposals for
the taking of said lease, which said
proposals shall be filed with the said
Secretary of State, and by him opened
in the presence of the Governor, and
the Inspectors, or any two of the lat
ter, in conjunction with the Governor.
anc the proposal for the payment of
highest rental or hire, on the best
terms and conditions, guaranteed by
solvent sureties, in bonds in the penal
ty of 100000, shall be accepted, if sat
isfactory to the Governor and said
Inspectors. In case no proposal shall
be satisfactory, the Governor is au-
thorized to extend the lease with the
present lessees for a period not exceed
ing eight months: Provided, howev-
er, that the rights of the present lessees,
secured in the last clause of their
lease contract, made and entered into
with the State on the 18th of Novem-
ber, 1911, shall be observed and their
rights thereunto secured.
The cause of the lease referred to
was also read as follows:
In the event the State should, at
the end of the term, desire to contin-
ue the policy of leasing, the present
lessees shall have the preference over
others not Offering more favorable
terms, upon such terms and conditions
as may be agreed upon"
Gov. Porter said that, having care
fully read the laws governing the case,
he was of opinion that tie Commits
sioners had the power to reject any or
all bids if not satisfactory to the Com
missioners and that, whether the pres
ent lessees did or did not make bid,
they were entitled by the cause Just
quoted to the preference. If there
fore, satisfactory bid should be re-
ceived, the lessees would have refu-
sal of the lease at the price named.
In order to be fully satisfied as to his
own conclusions, he wrote to Attorney
General Heiskell for his opinion re-
garding the matter, and the Attorney
General gave similar construction to
the law.
During the session Of the Commits
sioners, Gen. Anderson said he was
to present a verbal bid
from the lessees, in which they agreed
to give 81 600 per annum on a basis
of 800 prisoners. Under .his bid the
lease would now be worth
S56, 900, there being 1.100 prisoners in
that institution.
The Commissioners decided that,
having carried out the requirements
of the law, they had no power to re-
open bids, and would therefore have
to tefer the leasing of the penitentiary
back to the legislature. They accord
ingly drafted the following as their
The undersigned commissioners des-
Ignated by the legislature of Tennes-
see in an act entitled ''an act to pro-
vide for the management and lease of
penitentiary, assembled in the Office
of the Governor of the State on the
first day of December, 1873, when the
following bids, three in number, were
opened by Charles n. Gibbs, Secretary
of State, in the presence of the said
to wit: The bid of n.
b. Forrest of twenty-five thousand
dollars per annum, as hire or rental
on the basis of an average of eight
hundred convicts for service. The
bid of w. H. Cherry, Thos. O'Connor,
A. p. Humes, and w. Y. G. Humes,
of twenty-six thousand dollars per an
mum on the same basis. The bid of
A. L. Lands and Geo. W. White, of
thirty-six thousand dollars per annum,
on the same basis, and upon consider
alton thereof, the undersigned are of
obinion that the sum offered by the
highest bidder is inadequate and un-
satisfactory.
This opinion is confirmed by two
verbal bids made since the closing of
the biddings, at forty one thousand
dollars on the same basis, but in the
absence of authority to consider these
verbal bids, we have determined to re-
fer the whole subject to the next Gen
eral Assembly OF Tennessee.
JAS. ID. PORTER, Gov,
s. r. ANDERSON,
THOs. MENEERs,
j. G. SAWYER,
commissioners.