The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-10
NET RETURNS ARE
NOT OVER $4,000
Expenses in Convict Department
Are Larger
Conner is WELL RECEIVED
Argues at the Capital In Favor of
Rates for Alabama Similar to
Those In Force In Other
Southern States.

Montgomery, March 9.-(Special)-Mo
or less having been said of the increased
gross earnings of the state convict de.
partment it may not be amiss TO go fur
Their and make the statement that they
will not net, unless present indications
are deceptive. more than, say $4,000 than
they did last year In fact it is now figured
that the net returns will be about $780,
900 for the year ending the first day Of
September as compared to a little over
100000 the last twelve months. While the
income has been greater it is a fact that
the expenses have grown almost in pro-
about what they would be with the nor
NAL betterment over last year
Many things enter into the question of
returns of the department, as is the case
with the outgo. For instance it costs an
enormous amount of money to run the
cotton mill and keep it in stock. especial
Is as the price of that staple is high Also
one month may show more returns FROM
the lessees than another, or the expense
may be light in one month and heavy In
another so that ii is not safe guide to
compare months as to income to get an
idea of returns. The profits were large
last year and will be as great this. with
what may be regarded as natural in
crease.
The cash returns of the department are
not so much what is sought at this timc
however. Rather is the governor and the
other state officers trying to better the
81 tla
AS it is now the death rate is far be-
low that of aay other southern state pos
sibly and is getting better all the time
It is expected that the good work begun
by President j. NJ Carmichael in the
interest of the prisoners in a general way
and the plans for their health set on foot
and carried to development by DIR. Shirley
Bragg, the physician inspector SO long
and now the president, will have the ef-
feet of making this the banner state in
the Union in the humanity shown towards
these unwilling wards of the common
wealth as well as in the returns of cash
Humanity Feature.
1t is a fact not generally known that
the plans of the convict board are such as
of the whole country. There are three
general classes of service, one in the
mines, one in the saw mill and turpentine
plants and one in the walls and farms.
This is exclusive of the cotton mill work
Most prisoners received iii are affected
with tubercular troubles, mainly as re-
suit of the dirty and filthy jails from
which they come, When received in this
shape, If not too far gone. they are sent
IN I ba nil a nd ufot. oil in, ba
saw mills or turpentine forests If able
to labor or just kept there If not The
pine air soon restores them to health. 1t
is well known to the officers that hundreds
of cases of insipent tuberculosis have
been cured by the treatment thus afforded
and many a man has had his life saved
by being sent to the state service and
removed from a disease infected jail
This is the feature of the convict service
now being developed more than the cash
end and will be so from now ON.
School Lands.
There is no feature of the states inter
ests so much in need of attention just
now as the school lands, which are slip
ping away from the children for whom
they We're intended by Uncle Sam in
thousands of acres of value we'll into the
millions The books of the secretary of
state and of the land agent show in Tus-
caloosa county, for instance page after
page of sixteenth section acres that have
never been patented to any one, and so
far as the records show are yet the right
full property of the state. However, it Is
quite likely that most of these were
bought outright in the bad days just after
the war and money paid for them into
state banks where 1t was never property
credited or made to correct the records.
OF course, in cases like sthis the owner of
them will have no trouble in getting q
good title. Just now the land agent,
Capt. j. r. Mccain, is getting up an
abstract of unpatented lands in Jefferson
county and the amount of ii is something
wonderful. These holdings are in many
cases no doubt legal by right of purchase
or unmolested occupancy, but 1t will be
found no doubt that much of it rightly
belongs to the schools Of the state and
ought to be brought back to the children
where 1t belongs The main trouble is
that the state is so parsimonious It will
not pay to have these lands looked after
and consequently is losing many times
what they would cost to keep up with
them 1t is hoped that the next legisla-
ture will see the necessity of taking care
of the valuable lands in this class and
make appropriation to see that they are