The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-19
State of Georgia Has Plenty of
 Trouble on Hand
LEASE SYSTEM CoNDEMNE
Legislature Must Provide Method of Raising Revenues If Lease Sys- tenn Is Abolished, as State
 Will Lose Heavily

Atlanta, July 1S.-(Special)-The gen eral assembly will continue next week devotlng it's attention in the main to the solution of the convict problem. The purposed investigation of the prison com mission and the penitentiary department. report upon which must be made at the present session. will be gotten well un- OCT way and the Hoise will continue in it's efforts to reach satisfactory con clusion as to what future disposition should be made of the states felony conYcts
 It Is apparent that the death kneH or the lease system has been sounded. It Is not yet exactly char how the legis- lature is going to disDense with 1t imme- diately and altogethei but 1t Is a pretty well settled fact tha there will follow the enactment of that measure which will eliminate the gratest proportion of 1t and provide for the continuance of the remnant for the shortest time.
 Several plans in tis direction have been suggested and ae under considera- tlon One Is a constitutional amendment prohibiting the teasing of convlcts and providing for a bond issue to raise fund to enable the stae to put them un- der it's control upon tie public works. A constitutional ameri1ment however, would involve submission to the people, and the problem woun be no nearer to solution in the event of their failure to ratify it.
 Lease Sytem.
 i,,x-n n1yf1 to some extent a continuance of the lease system, at least until sufficient fund can be raised fpm this source to enable the state to tIke over the con- victs for public road duty or other work under ths direction q the state. The Mississippi plan of big state farm, where the convicts cold raise crops to be sold by the state, he net proceeds to go to the school fund, is also under con sideration.
 It is probable that sdne such plan will be adopted, including the feature which will permit such counties as desire it to take for work on the ioads their propor- tionate number of febny convicts until the state can find meals of working them itself.
 In the meantime tn, members of the general assembly ars exploiting their views on the subject. Some are present. ing the matter as a pain business prop osition the financial psrt of which should be settled before sentiment is brought into play. Others gre working them- selves into e frenzy eger the horrors ana iniquities 5f' the lease system until the auditors can almost hear the rattle or Siberian chains and imagine themselves t,,A 4ar rlrf
 An Orphan Child.
 Nobody appears to want the lease sys- tenn continued, but there is not coupled with the desire to get rid of 1t the spirit of self-sacriice which would voluntarily give up the valuable income which many of the counties now receive for scnooi purposes fran this source.
 It Is extremely probable that when this source of inDme Is gone next year there will be effors made to supply the defi- ciency by ticking onto the common school fund from the state treasury an amount sufficient to make up for It. rms was done when state prohibition LOOK the liquor license fund away from the school5 and 1t cannot be doubted the loss or the convict fund will be supplied in the same way. Just how far the state treasury can stand these inroads with constitu- D It looks now ls if the limit had been reached.
 All of which suggests the Likelihood that for the next year Governor smith IS going to be put hard to 1t to make both ends meet Georgia hardly has the money now to meet the expenses which the legislature has authorized, and the appropriations for 1909 have already been made upon a basis of taxable valuations In excess of those for 1907, while the probability Is that this year, as result of the money panic and stringency, the tax returns fill show a considerable fall ing off This Is true already of railroad and corporation returns, and there Is said to be little likelihood of any increase on the general tax digests.
 Anyhow the states total estimated net revenue Tor the current year, upon the