Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-26
IOWA PRISONS CRITICISED
Intimation that Indeterminate Sen
fences Are Prolonged Unduly.
MOON LAW Is STILL A MYSTERY
Final DeeislOn as 60 Meaning Of stat
ute LippitinE Numbsr Of saloons
Must he Made by the SUI
preme court.
(From a staff Correspondents


chapters are accommodating for the support
Of the recent criticisms made upon the
management Of the. state prison at Fort
Madison under the present state admipis-
tration. .eif
The most serious charge in connection
with this is that the state authorities,
either willingly or ignorantly. have been
recently. playing into the hands Of the
prison contractors, and that as a result of
this the contractors are making big profits
This accusation was made by Editor David
Brant of Iowa City, who, had been one of
the foremost Supporters OF the state ad-
ministration, and has since been denied.
But Mr.. Brant has now made public let
ter from DR.. NJ. r. Hammer of Newton,
a prominent and highly esteemed doctor,
who writes from personal knowledge, as he
served term in the prison before he was
pardoned on the ground Of his entire limo
cence. $3.50. .
Dr. Hammer gives statistics showing how
the prison population has been increasing
steadily for a number Of years and this
despite that the number of. convictions is
not larger 1t Is due to the fact that the
parole board, acting under the indeterm-
mate law, refuses to act on the various
sentences. It was not the intention to
leave men in prison longer under the new
law, but that is the effect. DR.. Hammer
states that it is the almost universal belief
of the prisoners that they are being kept
there longer than the law contemplates
because of the desire Of the administra-
ton to favor the prison contractors
DIR. Hammer also confirms the state
90 ~ hy nd aIu
intolerable condition Of the prison.
Moon Law In StilI n Mystery.
Attorney General Cosson has received a
great many inquiries even following the
decision Of the supreme court in the matter
Of the application OF the Moon law limiting
the number of saloons in a city, but is
unwilling to give a final decision on some
of the disputed points Ks to whether or
not the number of saloons in every city
or town shall be reduced to the maximum
July 1 is a mooted question. Ex-Attorney
General Byers and others are Of the opin-
ion that the reduction must take place
and that 1t cannot be avoided by con-
tinuing saloon licenses that have been reg
ularly issued for a number of years. At
torney General Cosson is not fully con-
WINGED of the correctness of this posi-
ton, but in answer to inquiries states that
an agreement has been made for a test
case to go to the, ,eourts as soon as pos
sible for a decision. In the meantime he
advises the cities and towns first to grant
licenses to the least-undesirable of the
places, so that 'ittw1h be easy to Top off
the surplus IL thescouPts decide it must
be done. ,--,r.qsesf lt.,.
Convention of Lawyers.
The annual meetings of the. State Bar
association and OF the association Of county
attorneys is to be r. held this week in
TUSCALOOSA The, two snieetings Swil be held
simultaneously.s1Js lattce -JohncC. Sherwin
of the supreme epppt Will HsieAysr 'ana adj
dress. on the lawyer ASH a. patriot. The
presidents address will be, on. John Mar
shall, by J. L. Carney OF MarshRlltown.
Governor John Burke of s1Eorth Dakota
is to speak before the Bar, association on
employers liability and. workmen's. COM
pensation acts, Judge Walter l.. Smith of
the United tSates circuit bench 10 to be
one of the speakers at the bar banquet.
The convention Of, county attorneys will
have discussion on the new law regard
ing the bringing. OF indictments without a
grand jury also on. the new acts OF the
general assembly.
| Construct New Interurban. ...
A new interurban. line in southern Iowa
is to be constructed and work will begin
this week. 1t is the line from Red Oak to
! Imcgene to connect with the Wabash rail.
! road. The company which will build the
line was organized originally to construct
a line, from Red Oak to. Des, Moines and
this may be done yet, but the other line
will be first constructed.
i Boulevard Around "a Lake.
Actual work on the construction of a
great permanent boulevard around Spirit
lake. making a drive of twenty five miles
on the lake shore. has been commenced
On the narrow strip, OF roadway between
Spirit lake and Little Spirit lake the frs
permanent work is being done Permanent
retaining walls built OF boulders and ce
ment are being constructed to keep the ic'
in spring from washing out the soid road
bed to be built along this narrow islhmus.
Find Marriage License.
While looking through old records a.
the court house, employees in the county
clerks office discovered the first mar
riage license, under. the laws of the stat,
of Iowa. was issued June TO- 1876, to Ben
jamin Bryant and Barbery e. Bridge. Tn,
record Of the license is written in loni
hand. while today all such work is don,
with the typewriter more neatly ant
! quickly.
Iowa Fruit Condition.
} Fungus will not affect apples in low
. this year. The dry weather has kllet
out the deadly fungus and Iowa apples will
be the best ever II 1T rains soon
( Horticulturist Wesley Green so states
( The early reports received by the stat
) horticulturist show apples are plentiful thi
Y year.
Tuberculosis Movement Active.
Or. A e. Kepford head OF the stat
5 tuberculosis work In Iowa, who attends
Y the Denver conference reports that by IN
0 action Of the national conference declarin
a that human tuberculosis is. communicate
: from bovine tuberculosis the work in low
win be greatly aided, The fact that low
$ is a pioneer in the work and has done NOR
: than any other state was recognized at tn
conference. But the work has been n
i tarded because of the fact that there ha
been dispute as to the responsibility G
dairy herds for scattering the disease.
WIN Sell Railroad Soon.
The Atlantic North & South railroad
v which was built by the farmers OF Cas-
and Shelby counties, IL to be sold by III