The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-05-31
GOVERNORS =
REASONS FOR
VETO|NG BILL
DID NOT APPROVE OF THE MEAS
URE TO ABOLISH THE CONVICT
LEASE SYSTEM OF FLORIDA.
Special 60 The journal.

Special 20 The Journal.
Tallahassee, May 30.-In disapprov-
ing Of the bill abolishtng the convict
Lease system in Florida, Governor GIL
christ says:
Hon. T. A jennings. Speaker Of the
House of Representatives.
Sir: I have the honor to return
herewith without my approval, the
following BILL which originated in
your honorable body:
An Act to Abolish the Present Con-
vict Lease System, to Provide for the
Conv1cts and Providing for the Work
ing Of the said State and County Con-
victs upon the Public Roads.
The title Is defective and misleading.
The title calls for provision for the
maintenance of the state and county
convicts. No such provision for main
tenance appears in the body Of the bill
The state has no prison or peniten-
tiary. This bill does not provide that
the prisoners 1t requires shall be en-
ployed in the maintenance and con-
struction Of state highways" shall
be considered In law to be in the
state prison" as does the present law
Should this bill become a law, this
defect may lead to the discharge on
fenced by the courts. The dangers of
this omission in this bin are too
serious to the welfare of the state to
be overlooked.
Under the present administration
and under my recommendation to the
legislature of 1909, fifty thousand dol
lars was appropriated under Chapter
ing the Board of Commissioners of
State Institutions to Purchase Lands
for a Prison Farm, to Erect Buildings
and Equip said Farm, and Directing
that Certain Prisoners. be not Leased
for Pay, and Providing the Means to
Defray the Expense Necessary to
Carry out the Provisions of this Act"
The said board was authorized to
purchase a tract or body OF land suit
able for agricultural purposes, and
was authorized to erect on said prop
erty suitable buildings for properly
conducting and maintaining a state
prison farm" etc.
The hoard has purchased s,154.60
acres, at five dollars per acre, stu
ated in Bradford county, near Ellerbe
and Raiford. The board took an OPP
tion on 7,445.50 acres more Of adjacent
land, at the same price, subject to the
action of the legislature In appro-
priating money for the purchase of
same. This land is conveniently 10
Gated with reference to railway facili-
ties. The Atlantic Coast Line Rail
road runs along one side Of It. A sta
ton, E1lerbe, is on the land. The Sea-
board vAir Line Railroad Is three to
four miles from the tract.
Favors Aboiishing System.
This administration has shown, in
it's recommendations and in its ac-
tions, that 1t favors the ultimate re
peal of the lease system for working
state convfcts. From humanitarian
standpoint I am opposed to the en-
ployment Of long term convtcts on
public roads. When convicts are used
on public roads, they are usually
housed in iron cages on wheels, SINH
lar to cages in which animals are
carried around in the menageries
which often exhibit in our state. I
have seen such a cage, under the
present convict system Of Georgia,
twelve convicts provided with berths,
the cage being about seven feet by
fifteen feet. The cages are moved as
the exigen cieS of the work require.
There can be but little convenience for
bathing, for provisions, for fresh
vegetables from adjacent, or for any
convenience for toilet arrangements at
night. A foreman is placed over the
the convicts. These convicts are
chained to a big log chain at night,
and are chained to such log chain on
Sundays. It is true that in some of
the larger towns, the long term con-
victs are housed in permanent quar-
tiers. For instance, at cambridge,
Georgia, being in the county Of Deca-
tur, there are no such permanent quar-
tiers, nor are there are such in said
county. In the city of Waycross, there
are such permanent quarters. Where
ever there are such permanent quar-
tiers, my impression is that the con-
victs fare as we'll as they fare under
the present lease system in Florida.
From Humanitarian Point.
From a humanitarian point Of view,
consider the present lease system
Of Florida as being far in advance of
the present Georgia system. Under
the present lease system in Florida,
every convict has a comfortable iron
bed. comfortable springs and mat
tresses and other comforts. Bathing
facilities are provided. Their diet is
provided for by contract. The hours
of work are fixed. They can at least
be comfortable at night and on Sun
days. 1 submit that such a condition
cannot exist in the movable cage me-
nagerie" system.
It is true that the following condi-
tions do not exist in every state con-
vict camp. In one convict camp, es-
tablished under the present lease,
Their is artesian water, a water system,
a sewerage system, all the facilities
for bathing, vegetable farm, etc The
sleeping accommodation are second
to but few hotels in Florida Last
year, with two or three members Of
the cabinet, I visited another camp,
one Saturday, the same being sixteen
miles from a railroad station. Fifty
convicts were employed in this camp.
I learned that none of the convicts
were at work that Saturday, all having
completed their weekly tasks. Fully
half of them were lounging around the
camp, the other half, with some of
the guards, had gone off fishing in one
of the nearby lakes. In Florida not
one state convict is chained or man
acled at night or during the day.
Prisoners Handled.
In my message to the legislature OF
1911. 1t was stated that there were
handled during 1909, 1,7o5 prisoners,
Ia dying. During 1910, 1,7S1 prison
ers, 20 dying. For 1909, the death
rate per thousand was S.21; for 1910,
1t was 11-23. Considering the number
who were diseased before entering
camp, this is a remarkably low death
rate. The United States census for
1900 shows that in the registration
area, including the New England
states, New York, New Jersey, Della
ware and the District of Columbia, the
death rate was IFS per thousand I
have no access to the death rate for
such territory as shown by the United
States census for 1910.