The age-herald., 1899-01-22
C0WANS REPORT ON THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

$733.SO for water for all purposes, including the water used in boilers for heating pur- poses.
 Section All of the code makes it the du- ty of the court of county commissioners to make special appropriation for heating the county jail in cold weather and supplying it with wholesome water for drinking and bathing purposes, etc. Section ,413 provides that a warrant shall be issued payable to the sheriff in compliance with section All, and section ,414 provides that the appro- priation having been made, and the sherin having received payment thereof, 1t is his duty, so far as such appropriation will chs able him, to keep the jail supplied with wholesome water for drinking and bathing and to keep the jail comfortably warm in cold weather Nothing is said in regard to lights for the jail, and so far as l can ascertain the above sections of the code are all that bear upon the subject With the courts, however, the law is different. as will be seen by referring to section ] ,422 of the code, which provided that it shall be the duty of the sheriff to furnish the cir cult, city and chancery courts and court of county commissioners necessary lights and fuel during their sessions. and therefor the court of county commissioners must, upon the presentation of an account by him, properly verified, make to him reasonable compensation, and for the amount the judge of probate must draw warrant on the treasury of the county. None of the pro- visions of the above sections of the law have been complied with
 DRUGS
 l find that the county has paid the fol- lowing amounts for drugs:
 For the year ending Sept. l, 1S97...$ s4G.o3 For the year ending Sept. l, 1S9S... 1,119.33
 Total ........ ........ ...... ......$l ,9i5. 5
 l find some of the accounts not itemiZed; they simply state Drugs for the county" and none of them were sworn to. Of the amount paid from the treasury in two years Messrs. Nabers, Morrow x Sinnige have re- ceived $1, ,765.O0 pr. Morrow, of this firm, l am informed is brother of Commissioner Morrow In September, 1887, the court pass ed an order allowing Judge M. T. Porter $1 500 for recopying map books Nos. and 2, which includes 42S73 lots or enclosures in the city of Birmingham. Hearing that MT. G. w. Chambers did the work, summoned him before me, and he testified that he was employed to do the work by Judge Por- ter and received as compensation $ 200; that the remainder went to Judge Porter.
 Other items of expenditures, including the ex-officio services of the county officers the extra amounts paid solicitors and assist ants salaries, etc., will appear in an ap- pendix attached to this report.
 ALMSHOUSE.
 The county has a well-equipped alms- house, with a hundred acres of land att tached, upon which are grown much of its supplies. I have endeavored to ascertain what it costs the county per capita to sur- port its paupers, but find this almost im- possible, owing to the irregular manner and confusion of the accounts passed and al lowed by the court. Some of the accounts simply state merchandise or goods for county not specifying for what purposes or on whose account the articles were fun nished am sure some of these goods were for the tlmshouse, but I am unable to state accurately. In stating tho aims house account I have only included such accounts or orders which specified the pur- pose for which they were purchased. (Be- sides, it was the custom of the commissions CTS to give orders for merchandise to indi gent people who were not in the alms- house) These orders range from $2 to sS Ter month In some instances I find small appropriations made for rent of houses for inS,ent people, and some amounts are al- lowed for transportation of indigent peo- plo from one place to another.
 I have aggregated these orders of the commissioners separately from the regular almshouse orders, and at the same time I have added the two together, allowing each year to show for itself.
 For the year ending September, 1897: