The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-11-16

| FIFE state of Alabama has decided @ not to lease it's eonviess to coal
 operators, as has been the GUS tom heretofore, but at the expiration of the present leases in January it will use the convicts in mining coal for itself, or, in other words, putting them on about the same footing as free labor. This decision was reached at a conference held in the capitol I yesterday between Governor Jelks and the board of convict inpectors and the coal operators.
 The operators express themselves as satisfied with the new arrangement. and will put in bids on Tuesday for convict labor The state hereafter, in- stead of hiring out it's convicts at so much per man per month, will in a sense go into the contracting business, and will mine coal on its own account, the coal operators paying so much for the coal as mined, the operators retaining the control and general su- pervision of their mines. The only new officials which the state will need by this arrangement are few mine foremen, the operators agreeing to fur nish stockades as heretofore,
 Two Sessions.
 There were two sessions held At the o1. in the forenoon the state submitted tentative plan. which was freely dis- cussed, and when an adjourned meeting was held in the afternoon the governor and the board had agreed upon the fol- lowing revised plan upon which bids were invita-:
 l The state asks for bids per ton for I mining coal and carrying the coal to the mouth Of the room, the contract to run for three years and an additional one or two years, at the option of the bidder at the time the contract is executed. | The Conditions. The state to furnish the tools, explo- sives and such other things as free miners now furnish in mining coal; the state to have entire charge and expense of the feeding and clothing and general main tenance of the convicts, including the care of the i'll; the state to otherwise con- trol them in the mines and out and to work them by it's own agents.
 The contractor to furnish and operate | the tram ways, cars and hodsting appa- ratus and such machinery as they now 1 furnish in their mines operated by free miners; the state to have It's own mine foremen or pit bosses, subject to the gen. eral direction of the company's mining engineer. Where the coal runs into fault exceeding four feet in depth or height the mine owners to pay the usual price for cutting through such fault. The declared purpose Is to put the states convicts in exactly the position of free miner in so far as the labor is concerned.
 Where a contractor Is working or de- sires to work county convicts, the same agreement will hold as above, with this additional agreement; that the state con- victs are to be worked in separate rooms from the county convicts and are to be housed under different shelter and fed in a different place. In this latter case, also, the mining company and the state must agree upon a division of the costs of the guard.
 The contractor to furnish the prisons, the hospitals and the equipment of the hospitals; also the beds and bedding for the convicts and such bathing arrange meiits and wash houses and water as the physician inspector may require. The contractor Is to agree to pay for all necessary narrow work at an agreed 1 price, anu tO hCcP hP NhO eoPoe4tJ NaA& output of the mines.
 l The contractor must furnish without | cost to the state such cpnveniences. ma chinery and appliances for mining coal 1 as are now or may hereafter be furnished l without cost to free miners. The contractor will furnish all things necessary for the proper ventilation and drainage of the mines. The contractor must furnish an enclos- ure for garden of sufficient size tillable land on which the state may grow the necessary vegetables.
 The state reserves the right to reject any and all bids.
 Operators Pleased.
 All the operators who were seen last night spoke in approval of the plan. al- though not all of them, it is said. intend to submit bids.
 It is understood that the state will con- sider bids for not less than 200 convicts but any operator is at liberty to bid for all of the state convicts. There are about coco of which the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company is working 400 and the Sloss-Sheffeld company about 200. The old leases expire January l.
 It is also understood that the bids must be fiat and not sliding on the selling price of iron. as the contracts with the United Mine Workers provide; that Is to say, the operator must bid so much per ton for all the coal the convicts mine within the three, four or five years for which the contract is undertaken, regardless of the prices paid to union miners on the sliding scale. The price for digging coal in 1898 was 371kc: today the maximum of 55c is paid. In case iron prices drop, next year or the year after, the state must receive the fiat price that is agreed upon in the contract
 Building Stockades.
 The question of building stockades was the subject of much discussion among the operators last night. One of the most experienced and successful of them stat ed that he could build stockade that would be sufficient to house several hum dred convicts for s4000. Another said |
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