The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-07
Quarterly Report Of. the ; Department. Under the New Method of Working States Prisoners, Earnings Have Increased More Than
 One Hundred Per Gent.

One hundred per cent increase in the etate's revenue from convicts for three months, over the same period last year $ shown by the quarterly report of the Convict Department submitted yesterday
 This- increase Is due to the change in the method of working the convicts, which became operative with the begin Workea andep tss immediate rs % of the State instead Of being leased to the mine operators.
 The exact amount Of the increased rev ellue for the months of January, Febru- year as against sss. 800 .l6 for the same three months of last year.
 The quarterly report. which is signed by Judge J. M Carmichael, President of the State Board of Convict Inspectors. shows that the condition of the convcts md of the States property is excellent. The text of the report which is .ad- }ressed to Governor Jelks under date 6 yesterday Is as follows:
 Tn pursuance of my duty under the ew, I beg to submit the following report Tor the quarter ending March .3lst, 1903.
 'The4condition of the convicts at all the prisons, both under the control of the Convict Department and of the contrac. bors, is as good, perhaps better, than at lny other time in the past 7,
 The per centage of deaths. I think. ts
  nme. for the last several years. Most of hose who die are men. and boys who have tuberculosis and wonld probably lie, many of them, if they were not con- Eicts A considerable percentage of me- yroes convicted and sentenced to peniten- hary imprisonment go there with vene- real diseases which, if not remedied. de- Selops rapidly into tuberculosisl and in many instances results in death. These lhings are guarded against as closely as may be and many of those afflicted with them are rescued.
 Hospital conveniences are being stead fly improved by contractors, and it may be said that many of them are now very good
 "The usual work of the department has been done by each Inspector during the quarter. The first part of January was devoted to getting the new departure properly upon its feet which think was hone with a reasonable degree of sue eess. During the quarter the prisons have been inspected and the well-being pf the convicts looked after as. carefully ss we have been able to do The office work has been considerably increased in amount by the manner in which the con victs are being employed at the mines. Nevertheless we meet the exigencies day by day.
 The farming operations. under the su- pervision of the Department, are being pushed with a moderate degree of sue Tess, considering the unusual character pr the spring.
 'The saw mill at Speigners has been Pun during a large part of the quarter end the lumber has been used at the sev- gal prisons in making permanent i'm provements, which were very much need kd. These Improvements. all told, would hpproixmate in value l.500 or $2,000 The work, however. has been done by the convicts and the actual cost in money has been small consisting in wire. nails. hinges, sash, tools and the like.
 "The State mules, cattle. hogs and lheep have coem safely through the win Ter and, everything considered. are in first rate condition.
 'The first quarter under the new meth pds of woking the convicts at the mines has terminated and I am able to give you the approximate results for the three months. Ire reason I cannot give the exact results is that some small bills for purchases made for the mines have proh- ably not been presented and some small matters for work done have not been ad- susted.
 'In this connection, and before giving comparative statement. which shall do. I may remark that at the outset, we had no equipments for mining and had nec- essarily to expend a considerable sum of money to put things fairly in operation.
 For the three months. from January 1. 1902, to March 31, 1902. the department re- bllzed from the Sloss-Shefield Steel and