The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-06
WILL ABANDON FARM
STATE WILL NOT CULTIVATE TALLAPooSA RIVER FARM.
Three Farms Have Been Operated at Dead Loss and One to be Aoan- doned as Retrenchment Measure.

Governor Jelks announced yesterday tne determination of the administration to abandon the cultivation of the State farm at prison No. f. eight miles from the city on the Lower Wetumpka road.
 The convicts now on the farm will be removed to the Walls at Wetumpka or the prison at Speigners or the more aole- bodied will be leased to turpentine ana lumber operators. The farm Will In all probability be rented.
 The decision of the State officials to cease operating the Tallapoosa River farm was taken after long deliberation. The determination is another step toWaros placing the management of the convlcts on a more profitable business oasis' lhe farming operations of the State have nev- CT been remunerative. The State has steadily lost money on its farms.
 One year the losses would be larger than in another, but there has always been a deficit in the farming accounts. The profits made by leasing the convicts Tn the mines the turpentine and lumber camps have been drawn upon heavily to meet the losses on the State farms
 There are three of these farms. one at SpeiEners, one at the Walls at Wetump- ka and one at Prison No. on the Talia- poosa River. They have all been run at loss No matter whose administration operated the farms there was deficit at the end of the year
 The biennial report of former President S. B. Trapp of the Convict Board to Governor Johnston upon the management of the convicts from September 1, 1889. to August 31. 1900, contained the following statement relative to the farms
 The State farms located at Speigner, Wetumpka and on the Tallapoosa River
 
 State. consuming largely in their opera ton the amount the State receives from the hire of convicts.
 "The State lost in the operation of the State farms for the two years ending August 31 1894. in round numbers. about $l04 900; for the two years ending August 31, 1s96 S92, 900: for the two years ending August 31. 1898. $69,0Oo. and for the two years ending August 31. 1900, $72,ooo."
 For the past two years the losses have been considerably decreased, but they are large enough to have given the State of- ficias food for serious consideration. In the past two years the losses on the three farms have been over $42. GOO. The fact that the two years were considered among the worst years for crops in the States history has some bearing upon the deficit, but 1t did not explain away the large Ioss.
 since the gathering or this year crop on the Tallapoosa River farm the State of ficials have come to the conclusion that business principles and economy demand the abandoning of the cultivation of the river farm.
 It is practicable to cease the opera tion of either the farm at the Walls or the farm at Speigners. All the women of the State are confined at ST eigners The State does not lease nor hire out any of it's women prisoners. They are all sent to Speigners, where the best possible use is made of their labor. They have not, with the few male con- victs confined thera been able to mak. the States farm at 'Speigners profitable The officials have not expected 1t. and | In the future they look to some deficit l at the end of each year. Nor has the farm at the Walls been | any more profitable The State hospital | for convicts is located at the Walls The | halt the lame and the blind of the con | victs are sent there There are but few a ble-b bodied convicts at the Walls. and | that they could not till the soil at a l profit to the State Is not a Ematter of | surprise The convicts that are sent to the Walls are those which have been re- | fused by the turpentine, mining and lum- | Der contractors, but for that matter none | of the State farms have conVcts who are | 1t for the mines. Tt has been decided as a measure of l ec onomy to abandon the cultivation of the , Tallapoosa River farm" said the Gov ernor yesterday. "The State farms have always been operated at a dead loss to the State. We have decided upon the |