The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
REST CURE HAS NO TERROR FOR TRAMPS O'Neal May Grant Parole to
 Jail Prisoners FOOD BILL EXCESSIVE Auditor Draws Governors Attention to Heavy Food Bill for Mobile
 Prisoners-Hard Labor Sen
 tences Believed Better
FOOD BILL EXCESSIVE

prisonment, Governor ONeal has given out an interview in which he intimates that hereafter he will consider the ques- ton of granting paroles to prisoners con- fined in prison on jail sentences rather than allow the state to longer bear the burden of feeding these prisoners.
 Governor ONeaps statement followed the receipt of a letter from State Auditor .. Brooks Smith. in which the latter calls the executives attention to the food bill for the month of June for Mo bile county. The food bill for that county embraces 3703 days at 30 cents a day. which amounted to s11o.so. Of the total number of days, 1s4s were for Jail sen- tences, which at 30 cents day made a total of s654 70, which the state paid for feeding prisoners in that county dur ing the month. According to Auditor Smith, this was not an unusual month. but an average for every months food bill from that county.
 In his interview the governor declares that jail sentence is not as rule a de- terrent to crime, asserting that the ordi- nary criminal looks with more disfavor upon hard labor than none at all Many of the convictions in question are for vagrancy.' says the governor, and 1t does not seem that enforced likeness would be an efficient corrective for a failure to work. A tramp would hardly stand in terror of a rest cures'
 The governor maintains that sentence to hard labor is more beneficial to the
 
 more conservative of the welfare of the convict than the sentence to confinement in jail. which is so frequently imposed by the inferior courts of Mobile having jurisdiction of misdemeanors'
 In concluding his interview Governor O'Nea says:
 Judges are amenable only to their own sense of duty; and when 1t Is grossly abused should be directed in the use of their discretion only by the force of a just and enlightened public opinion"
 The interview in full Is as follows:
 My attention has been directed, by a recent letter from the auditors office, to an unusual condition of affairs which has for a long time prevailed, and still obtains in Mobile county, with reference to the imposition of sentences to impris- onment in jail instead Of to hard labor as punishment for persons convicted of
 Auditors Letter
 Hon. Emmet O'Neal. Governor, state Capitol.
 Dear Sr-I wish to call your atten- ton to the food bill for the month of June for Mobile county. Said food bill embraces 3103 days. at 30 cents a day for feeding prisoners. amounting to $l110s0. of which 1S49 days are jail sentences. This at 30 cents day would make s554. 70 that the state is paying for the month of June for feeding jail sentenced prisoners. which the state derives no benefit from. At this rate 1t makes s6656. 40 per year~that the state is paying for feeding Jail sentenced prisoners, from which the state derives no beneft--dead expense. If this was an unusual month for Mobile, l would hesitate to call your attention to 1t, but this Is about an average of every month food bill from that county.
 " I feel it my duty as state auditor to call your attention to this fact and see if you can remedy it in any way Any information you desire that this office can give you, I will be delighted to- do so at any time l suggest that you write MT German, one of the examiners of public accounts, who is now in Mobile. and ask him to go back for twU years and see If a great many of these prisoners who are now sentenced to jail have not during this time been sentenced before. good number of these prisoners are sentenced for 12 months, 10 months, six months. 1S months, 40 days and so on.
 1" Awaiting your pleasure, I beg to re- main, yours truly, c. B. SMITH,
 '' State Auditor
 'It Furthermore appears from the rec ords in the auditors office that for a number of years past the state has paid correspondingly heavy feed bills for per- sons thus sentenced in Mobile county sums much in excess of those paid in any other county in the state for like items. This practice seems to havG[eeen of long standing in Mobile county and It's preva- lence now may be simply the following of custom or there may be some local condition of which l am ignorant which makes that course proper In Mobile, which does not obtain elsewhere In the state. In the absence of the latter circumstance, the following considerations would seem to condemn the custom as a general one. "The imprisonment of persons in jail l Is accompanied, as shown, by a heavy l expense to the state. while from such | imprisonment no revenue whatever ac- C1ueS to eltneT tIlt Stttt, Couhty UT tltN. 1 The sentence to hard labor is productive of revenue-it at least maintains the con vict while he is such. Had the persons | for whose maintenance the state has paid 1 thousands. as shown by the auditor books, been sentenced to hard labor in- 1 atead of to confinement in jail. these l charges would not have been placed upon the state. and, in the absence of justi- I flying reasons, the state ought not longer 1 be subject to this burden. "If this character of punishment was | more effective as a deterrent of crime than the sentence to hard labor. or more 1 conslderate of the welfare of the con. vct, the question of expense would no' .I be of controlling importance.
 Tt must be admitted, however. tha | the ordinary criminal looks with moro dsfavor upon hard labor than none a all Many of the convictions in question are for vagrancy. and it does not seen that enforced likeness would be an eff l cient corrective for failure to work 4 tramp would hardly stand in terror o ! a rest cure
 50 as the conyicts themselves are con cerned, it does not require the opinioi l of an expert to convince that the wei fare of a man, both physical and moral is more advanced by occupation of min, and body than by idleness of both
 From every point of view, therefore it seems that except where peculiar con dtions create an exception to the genera | rule. the sentence to hard labor is nor beneficial to the state, more protectiv, to society and more conservative of tn | welfare of the convict than the sentenc to confinement in jail which is so fire quently imposed by the inferior courts o Mobile having jurisdiction of misdemean ors, and which puts this heavy expens upon the state