The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-26
Operation of New System
 is Commended.
President Carmichael of State nureav Presents Highly Interesting state- 7 ments for Two Years of Ills
 Administration of Affairs.

For the last fiscal year of the State of Alabama which has just closed, the State Convict Department turned into | the Treasury over a quarter of a mil | lion dollars in net receipts, or 10 pc more exact the net receipts of the de-
 sss .75.
 the biennial report St a presidens Goensct ns. a partment which was filed yestsrday with Governor Cunningham. Thers | are other figures, many of them, which Sicts ShS of the State has increased but there are no figures so eloquent as these. The report carries the fact that for the two years ending August 31. and which are also the two years s445, ,e60 .9s was paid into the State | treasury. The report mentions the
 fact that the amount the State rec received before the present administration be- gan, was $6.527. .s2. Since then the receipts have been steadily increasing | until they have reached their present
 splendid New system. In his report President Carmichael deals exhaustively with the new sys- | tenn of working the convicts put into effect by the Convict Department, a | system which is almost wholly respon-
 sible for the great increase of the re- | .
 He points out that not only have the | receipts largely increased, but that the | condition of the convicts has been | ameliorated and improved. The pur- have been met. the enlargement of the | States income and the betterment oi | the condition of the convicts.
 This system in short Is the placing | of the convicts directly under the con- | trol of the Convict Department, allow | ing the contractors to get the beneht | of the labor of the convicts but looking directly to the care of the prisoners.
 Other States which care to follow | the lead of Alabama In the successful | management of convicts may ind the ways and means and the. benefits of | tho system explained in the report of President Carmichael.
 The President of the Convict Board l briefly discusses the question of inde- | tencing prisoners which Is in effect in l number of States. Judge Carmich-
 ael thinks that such sentence should
 be pronounced in many cases in Ala l the hope, not that the sentneces of any
 convicts will be heightened but that
 the sentence of some of them may be
 The establishment of the reforma. tory for youthful negro prisoners al Speigners Is. recounted and It's work
 discussed in the reportl Judge Car | michael is thoroughly convinced of the | wisdom of the reformatory.
 In beginning his report which is ac- | companfed by reports from subordinate
 officials and numerous exhibits Judge l history of the Convict Department
 much of which was gathered from Du- Bose's history of Alabama.
 Report of President.
 Reaching the present management
 of the Department the report con tinues:
 I nf he n i hoped that the present inspectors may
 be pardoned, for believing that their
 administration. in number Of re-
 which has preceded it. If this as
 sumption Is correct, 1t may be suggest
 ed that 1t Is due, largely. to the fact
 that there were two prime objects in
 tion, at its beginning, which has in-
 fuenced the entire work.
 Tn the first place. and primarily, the | object of the management had refer
 ence to the preservation of the life
 and we'll being of the individual con- | vict, and, in the second place. the pur-
 pose was. and Is. to realize as much of profit to the State of Alabama from 1 the labor of the convicts as ought req
 sonably to be expected.
 Acting under the first influence, the | management has not hesitated to take
 such steps as have been deemed neces- | sary to secure the proper treatment of
 the convicts. For illustrations:
 The Sloss Company was required to
 move its prison to the present location | at Flat Top because of the death rate | at the prison formerly occupied by | them. The mortality was a great grief | to each of the Inspectors of the depart ment and so continued until the kpeo- | pie were moved. Their present loca-
 tion Is fin all respects comfortable and | healthy.
 Lumber Company. in the County of Mo- l bile. was, with the cooperation of the Governor. set aside, and this resulted in reforms in the construction of a the necessary reforms to make the
 place healthful, and in all respects a | suitable place for the occupancy of l convicts. When this had been done l the contract was permitted to be re- l newed.
 Frequent antagonisms between the
 en. every one o< which have resulted
 in favor of the position taken by the management.
 "sinoe the last biennial report be- tween seven and eight hundred con-
 victs, not heretofore under the imme- diate control of the department, have
 fallen immediately in the care of this January 1908. contracts were made with the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail- road Company, and the Sloss-Sheh1cld
 Steel and Iron Company. as you well
 know. for the mining of coal by the piece. as 1t may be expressed: that Is. at so much per ton. the department having the entire control and man aEement of the convicts, feeding, cloth ing. medicating, etc. all the men la-
 boring at these two places
 During the present year a contract has been made with the Durham Lum-
 ber Company to work from fifty to sixty-five hands in saw milling at Dun
 ham. the department to have the ex-
 elusive care and treatment of the con-
 victs. These several prisons are. as is believed, managed more successful
 terest of the convict than has ever been
 done heretofore. and as a conseduence-
 the death rate has been much less
 during the past two years than ever
 before in the history of the institu-
 tion; and this is believed to be due to something more than half. are under the immediate care of the department Further reference will be made to what is deemed the necessity of taking all the convicts under the care of the
 department in a future page of this
 report.
 "After the expiration of three years
 and a half of experience in the admin tstration of the Convict Department. each of the Inspectors is firmly per- suaded that the best interests of the
 convicts themselves will be subserveo by taking them under the control and
 the department. and not permitting them to be worked simply by contrac- tors, for 1t is believed that the great est purpose and desire of the contrac- tor Is to promote his own individual interests primarily. and that the sec | ondary consideration is the well being of the convict. and the first Is fre- nuanf1v an dominant that the second ia