The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-11-16

where a mining company was using
County convicts, the State and county
convicts should be housed separately ana
should work in separate chambers and
they should eat at separate places Inc
memorandum provided that the mining
company should furnish all houses and
hospitals and their equipments. Inc
contractor must further furnish such
machinery and appliances as nave mere
tofore been used In the mines.
State Yields One Point.
The first memorandum contained pro-
vision that the coal mined by the state
convicts would have to be weighed at the
cars. This provision was changed In
second memorandum prepared after the
conference began, and it was the only
material change which was made. IL was
recognized by the administration onicials
that confusion would necessarily follow
in the delivery of coal at the same place
hy the state convicts, over which the
state had control and by the County con-
yicts over which they hadSno control
The first memorandum contained a
number Of unimportant details wnicn
were left out of the last one.
The operators declared that the hrs'
memorandum was more advantageous 70
them than the last although tne oihei'
ence was not great.
when the operators had read the men,
orandum furnished them the Governor
sxnressed his pleasure at having the OPP
orators with them. 1t was the desire OF
the state oficials, he said. to confer WIN
the operators.
"If it lis all the same to you. gentle
men" said the Governor, I'VE would ike
to close this matter as soon as possible
A general Ndiscussion Wmcn at TIMES
grew quite technical. followed, ana the
GENERATORS showed anxiety to get at tne
fin intentions of the officials The off,
Gals were frank in supplying Information
as to their purposes. At no time In the
conference did the operators intimate
that thew had any other intention than
accepting the new order of things ana
bidding in accordance with conditlons
prescribed by the Governor and the Con
Wet inspectors. At no time did they Oh
fer a. protest or attempt to dissuade the
officials from their announced course
They apparently viewed the situation as
already prescribed and settled and tney
made the best of conditions which were
assuredly not to their liking.
No Wry Faces Made.
If the new order of things was to them
a bad dose they took their medicine with
good grace.
Tne QueSllOHS dHu SuSSSSNNo
onerators. however. brought to light all
the difficulties which would be encount-
cred by the State in placing its convicts
upon the basis OF free labor.
A considerable part of the discussion
centered about the condition in the MEM
orandum which provided that the state
and county convicts should be worked,
housed and fed separately.
Upon the condition that the coal mined
by the convicts was to be delivered at
the cars another rather long discussion
hinged.
In simplifying the statement of the at
titude OF the administration as set forth
in the memorandum, the Governor said:
I'VE want so much per ton for coal
mined by the convicts and delivered at
the cars. We want the convicts TO do
what free labor does"
Governor, is the contract price Tor
each ton of coal mined by the convicts
to he upon a sliding scale?" asked Col
onel Maben. m
mo" replied the Governor, "it Is to
upon a nat scale"
one of the operators thought that bids
should not be required the day on which
thew had received the memorandum He
said the proposition vas so entirely new
that It would require time for conference
Anallv agreed that the operators should
have until Tuesday afternoon in which
to file bids.
Colonel Maben Talks.
Colonel Maben, returning to the ques-
t,op Of scales, said that a r1Xed price for
mining coal might be dangerous to the
operators. Coal was up now, he said. but
no one could say how long the present
prices would prevail. The average oper-
ator he said. unless he had ample cap
ital hack of him, would have to suspend
n he made the contract at low figure.
The Governors original determination
that the scale should not be sliding was not
changed and a question from his ELECTED
the information that the mining compa-
nies were now paying free miners 50
cents ton.
The time limit of the proposed contracts
came in for attention and discussion. The
opcrators wanted to know how long their
contracts would be made for, If their
bids were accepted.
President Carmichael OF the Board SAID
that the bids would be made for not less
than three year contracts and that the
bidder would have the opinion OF bidding
for one or two years additional
Colonel Maben said that the prohts
which the companies made out OF their
commissary stores ought to be considered.
The Governor replied that that matter
had already received the attention of the
BOARD and would be considered in the
contracts.
In discussing tho proposed contracts
Colonel Maben said
I'VE all recognize that the State can