Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-10-24
Some Recommendations.

M.the pardons granted BY both McMillin
and Patterson were for bootleggers and
pistol toters.
Some Recommendation.
/ favor the enactment of a law that
will devote part of the earnings OF the
convict to the care and maintenance OF
those dependent upon him, to the end
that they may not become charges upon
public charity or be driven into crime, a
the result of poverty and neglect.
| favor the buildsg of hospital for
tubercular prisoners, to prevent the con-
taminatiOn of sound men who are sekt
to the penitentiary, and to diminish the
spread Of the disease among the people
by the prisoners who are discharged.
revived the use of the Juvenile parole
law which had not been used in several
years, and have placed number OF
small boys in good homes.
When the Legislature refused, for par
tisan reasons, to enact a general parole
law, dug up an old law passed before
the civil war, giving the Governo" power
to grant conditional pardons, and 20 pre-
scribe the conditions himself. have
been using this an parole law, although
it is crude and awkward, without any of
the ordinary machinery incident to the
elaborate parole system of other STATES.
Beginning nearly year ago, | have
granted farty-sevEn paroles or condi-
tional paroons to men and boys in the
State Prison. Not one of them has VIC
lated his parole yet and had to be Pc
manded te prison. | think my success
full use Of shis homemade parole law will
induce tn, next Legislature to enact a
proper ayd adequate parole system, as
well az the indeterninate sentence law.
In tbs connection, l may say that all
applications for pardon that have been
presN.ted to me have heen thoroughly in
vest .gateu and carefully considered. The
Lax manner in which executive clemency
hal previously been exercised has caused
large numbers of applications to me
which contained no merit whatever. The
work of dcontinuing this pernicious
auuse of executive power has, Their Gsre,
been difficult one
Visits to Prison.
Some of my critics have found much
cause for merriment in the fact that /
have frequently visited the penitentiary
aad spent considerable time there. If
this pleases my enemies, am indeed
glad, for nothing has afforded me more
pleasure than to feel that l am person
ally known by more men within the
walls than any Governor that Tennessee
aver had.
have studied their conditions at first
hand, and bave turned men out of prison
that had no attorneys, no friends and
no applications for pardons.
winnie we have striyen to place the
man above the dollar in the management
Of the prison, we have at the same time
made the administration of the prisons
a business success. There has been some
rather picturesque prevarication about
this matter upon the part of some of my
political enemies. This has all been due
to the fact that the Comptroller refused
In 1911 to pay off large amounts of the
vouchers issued in the closing months of
the preceding administration, and these
vouchers were dumped over into July,
1011, the month when my appointees as
sumed charge of the prisons. The prison
books have always shown the cxpendi-
lures of the prisons as made, and they
are kept now in just the same way as
heretofore. 1t is not at all material
Ahen the vouchers are paid off by the
Comptroller and Treasurer 1t would
be possible for the Comptroller to hold
them all twelve months, but the final is.
suaIee of his warrants would not shoY
tilat the prisons had spent nothing for
eleven months and tremendous amount
in the twelfth month.
The comparison of the receipts and
expenditures that | am now going to
make is taken from the prison books OF
the McMillin, Patterson and Hooper ad
ministrations, as kept by the respective
officials of said administration. These
books are open to the inspection OF any
body.
Results Compared.
Ny prison commissioners took charge |
In July, 1911, and l therefore compare |
their first year with the corresponding |
years of McMillin and Patterson:
Year Ending July l, 1900.
(McMillin)
accepts ...-......a.......$ 39S, 090.79 |
Expenditures .............. 253,S4S.11 |
Excess Of receipts ...... $145, 142.6S
Year Ending July 1, 1901.
(IeMillin)
Receipts ..................$ 1914, 1920 |
Expenditures .............. 2SS, 1920 |
Excess of receipts .....,.$ 85,73o.49
Year Ending July l, 1909.
(McMillin)
hecelpts ..................$ 472, 647.64
Expenditures .............. 29,185.45
Excess of receipts .$143, 46alNS
Year Ending July l, 1911. n
Patterson
Receipts ..................$5 1Sy
Expenditures ............ .l416y
Excess of receipts .......S1
Year Ending July /, 1871
tHooper)
EecelpJS .p0oV
Expenditures .............. 1871
Excess of receipts SEQ
1t is thus apparent that the NJ
from the operation of the pri
been much greater in the frs
my adm inistration than they
any yeas of McMillins.
IL,