The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-25
.STAGG STILL WANTS
 COUNTY JAIL MOVED Calls it an Ulcer on Fair Birm-
 ingham'S Body IS LARGELY A NOTION
As the World Moves Demands Are Made for Improved Facilities and Improved Conditions In
 All Things.

or the original advocates or moving the present county jail. the ''carbuncle" of
 Birmingham. as he named it, yesterday i discussed the plan to let the people vote
 on the proposition of building a new
 Jail.
 Dr. Stagg urges that 1t be built out side the city limits, somewhere away 1 from the center of population, and where | the jail will not daily annoy the people of Birmingham Here Is Dr. Stagg's state
 ment:
 | "The discussion as to the removal of
 the Jefferson county jail seems now to
 so fill the air that most anyone can
 contribute little to the gayety of the
 nations, by arresting public attention
 long enough to find out where we are at 1 .Or. Shirley Bragg says the old bastile
 should be leveled to the ground, that there is no architect able to remodel it, l or school of physicians able to suggest l hygienic betterments that will make it l fit for human beings to be incarcerated
 in. Public opinion is fast acquiescing in the view of him, whom the commonwealth of Alabama has appointed to look after
 the health of her prisoners, and this com 1 l plans, at whatever cost, for the remedy l ing of the evils pointed out.
 Tt may be regarded, therefore. as set l tied that this community will no longer I allow prisoners to be confined in place
 that the jail inspector has declared to
 be insanitary for horses.
 What Shall Be Done? l ic. hat
 are We going to do about it. The Board l of Revenue, if reported correctly, has l said ask the people; and before the people have opportunity to make answer, I by their votes, there are some few who are trying to crystalize public sentiment 1 and everyone should be generous enough 1 to recognize that whoever writes on this | subject is seeking sincerely to arrive at 1 the best solution in the premises and is not trying to put aspersion upon any
 who may see other ,7ise
 That which stands largest in the pub lie eye just now is whether the new l jail, whateverN.be the character of the building, shall occupy the present site. | or one remote from where the old jail no .. stands. As reason for removing
 it from it's present site, it may be stated
 that there are communities much larger l than this, where prisoners are handled 1 equally as desperate as those handled l here, where jail and court house are far I apart In such communities I have been l told that there are fitted up a sufficient number of cells, amply protected, for
 the caring for as many prisoners as may appear before the tribunal of justice in weeks time. These prisoners are brought | to and taken from this temporary jail, l without knowledge on the part of the public, and without molestation by any | one. It is very difficult for one to see l how the expense of the county could be l increased very materially, or how the
 safety of the prisoners would be jeopard- l ized very seriously, if such a method were pursued here.
 Is Largely Notion.
 | 'I wish to insist upon the power of notions. In all primitive life the notions
 of people are very interesting to study. 1 For long time the notion persisted that 1 the only place to bury was in church yard and as far back as the date when Christianity touched the Saxon life, and he built his simple house of worship. he | laid his dead to rest somewhere nigh her 1 walls This notion found it's place in our American life. and the grave yard around | the old church where Paul Revere swung his light when begun the struggle for | American freedom is found to be a rest ing place of the dead. The old Trinity church yard in New York tells the same story, and down through Virginia at | Jamestown. and through the Carolinas, until we strike the widening of American 1 life, where 1t was no longer possible for l this old custom to be observed. And so 1 imperative has been the demand for change in the growth of this great coun- | try that cemeteries themselves have been pried into for the sacred dust of the dead, | in order that being removed, civiliza- | tion might then have her better play to build for those unborn. This matter of
 iail and court house joined together Is not so old, but nevertheless it is as much a notion as the grave yard and the church being joined together
 Modern ways of doing things have made 1t necessary for great cemeteries to become the cities of the dead, and have made it possible for big jails, with hun dreds of prisoners, to be erected where | the sun shines, and where the air in
 purity comes into the lungs, and where | they have room, ample enough for pris-
 oners even, at their work, to have little of their misery lessened, as they suffer that which is necessary for their l crimes
 | .The idea in all inhuman times is a dungeon, but as humanity moves apace
 we come to an old jail like ours, and then | when humanity moves apace further we come to think, what once was judged to be fine is now horrible, and humanity says | the old county jail must go.' That's cer- tain And it looks like humanity is go- ing to say that it must go where 1t won't damage property, nor impede pro- gress, nor corrupt the minds of little children by making crime the most con- spicuous thing in our city
 Must Be Moved.
 Tt looks now as though public senti- ment throughodt Jefferson county is go- ing to say. Tt Is not necessary for an ulcer to stay on the body of thing as fair as Birmingham might be made, and this destroyer Of beauty in the very heart of the city must be moved.
 "There is no surer evidence now of a bavseed tban .Zheu one comes to town -~~~r <.~