Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-04-12
To SHIFT
CONV|CTS OFF
ROAD WORK ON
Legislator Would Establish Gen.
F., trail Prison and Give Part Of
Mems Earnings to Families.
BY JAMES 3. NEVIN.

been worked out IN It's ueIdllS, IOOh-
ing to the establishment of a central
penitentiary for cOnvicts, where they
may be employed in other occupa-
tions than road construction, when
desirable.
The member of the House Is an
experienced law maker, and long has
made the study of convict conditions
something of a speciality.
He believes that it will be necessa-
ny soon for the State to provide Aother
work than road construction for the
convicts. and particularly so in that
the forthcoming extension of Federal
aid to good roads cannot be given to
Georgia, save in so far as il applies
to contract road work, done by free
labor
This member, moreover, will seek
to have incorporated in his proposed
law a clause providing that a certain
portion of whatever profit arises from
the work of a convict in the peniten-
tiary shall be given over to his fam
lily and dependent ones, in order to-
help them along during the period OF
his incarceration.
Under the system proposed, the
convicts still might be worked on
such roads as seemed desirable-fOr
there will be many roads that cannot
hope to participate in the Federal
aid-but that work likely will not be-
sufficient to keep the total number
of convicts steadily employed.
There is no earthly chance that
Georgia ever viii go back to its old
and wisely abandoned convict lease
system, of course, but that some eX-
tension and amplifications of the
present convict law is desirable is
very generally agreed.
The idea of giving the convicts
family 4 portion of his earnings in
the penitentiary is an innovation in
Georgia, but it undoubtedly will have
strong support in the Legislature.
If the Georgia Legislature will hur-
~, it may save Senator Bacon the
embarra ssment of having his term
in the Senate interrupted as other
wise it surely will be, by reason of
the adoption of the popular election
of Senators amendment to the Fed
eral constitution.
The Legislature will be in session
fifty days. If it provides the ma
chinery for an immediate election of
a Senator to succeed Mr.. Bacon,
there will be time in which to hold
the election and get the returns back
to the Legislature for canvassing be-
fore it adjourns.
II this is done, the Senator will hold
mis- service in the Senate unbroken,
otherwise, there will be lapse in
the senatorial term, and. for the time
being, Georgia will have only one
Senator.
1t is likely that so soon as the
members of the Legislature realize
the situation, they viii proceed to it's
remedying with the necessary speed.
Going on record as in favor Of a
State institution for the care of way
ward girls was the most prominent
feature OF the April meeting of theI
Board of Directors of the Savannah
Associated Charities.
State Senator J. Randolph Ander
son. President Of the Association.
read before the meeting the substance
of "A bill to be presented to the Leg
islature in June having to do with
the establishment of such a home.
The Association prefers that the in
stitution be I'm the nature of d home,
and all of the representatives from
Chatham County will be asked 10 ia
vor the bill.
If Alexander A. Lawrence. of Chat
ham, persists in his Discrimination to-
come back to the House, after Rep
resentative- Stovall has been
named by President Wilson as Minis
ter TO Switzerland, he will be per-
sisting despite the protests of hun
dreds of Georgians who believe he
should agree to accept the commits
sion he unquestionably may have for
the mere asking-or the mere ac-
ceptance, rather
He long has been one of the most
valuable members of the State Leg
islature, and friends by the score all
over Georgia have written him of
late urging that he come back.
The Covlngton News has scant re-
spect for those freak" Legislators
who are reported headed for Atlanta
next summer
The News says: 1T is reported
that at the next session of the Leg
islature a bill will be introduced
against the hobble-skirt and also an
anti turkey trOt bill. Of all the freak
legislation ever proposed in Georgia
this beats the bunch. The hObble-
skirt and the turkey -trOt are both
almost divine compared with the in
tellect of rattle brains who attempt
10 take up the time of the Legisla-
ture in such manner"
Harrison Fisher is a real artist"
says the New York Sun.
If the Sun means Harry" Fisher,
of Georgia. the patriotic and liberty
loving people OF this State will under
stand what it means-and agree to
il!
Some members Of the Georgia Leg
iSIature cannot read, and half of
those who are able to read cannot
understand it," said r. T. Persons,
President of the Farmers Bank, of
Forsyth. at the bankers convention
in Macon.
Whew, II the honorable Legisla-
ture were in session, 1t would pass
some "-inging' resolution anent that
remark