The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-21


this excess as to cost. except as to sucf
items per ton as would be constant sucl
as blasting material etc. This should bt
considered and added to the daily cos
OF supplying the net tonnage The re
suit of our Investigations as to cost oi
supplying the 1900 tons daily, CONSIDERING
fixed charges, salaries, operating depart
ment would make a total of s1s95 ant
allowing 26 working days per month
would give a salary cost of $685. pei
diem" gff
The report then set out each item O.
expense and the recapitulation is as fol
lows:
Salaried officials, per diem .....s.5s.6 81
Lay men outside .................... N.2s
Day men inside ...................... So;
Present officials .......,............. 81 81
Maintaining prisons ...........,....- 112 a:
Lave stock and supplies ............ 1872 al
Total cost for 1900 tons ......... s406 2i
Cost per ton equals 22.5T cents plus II
per cent for incidentals and miscellaneous
equal to 24.S2 cents per ton; Go cents minus
4S2 equal 40.1S cents per ton profit. Eigh.
teen hundred tons at 40.1S cents equa
$I2S.2 net earnings per day for 400 men
equal to $3.50 plus per man per day. OIL
$3.50 per man per month of 26 days
Estimate Very Conservative
This estimate. they declared. was very
conservative. After receiving this re-
port, which showed that with proper man
agement, the state would earn SAG. 80 pei
| man per month net. | had another con-
ference with the officials of the Pratt
Consolidated company and their attor-
| neys. At this conference the attorney
general and my legal adviser vas pres
ent, as well as Mr.. Oakley, the presi-
hn hos rd af .t..t Inc
While from the investigations which ]
had made and the reports which had
| received, I had concluded that the sum
of Go cents would give the state a rea-
sonable profit, there were other provi-
sions of the contract which l believed
to be objectionable, and. therefore at
the conference | required that several
of these provisions should be changed
I. In the second section of the contract
struck out the provision that the coal
should be merchantable
?. had changed the provision that the
superintendent, who, under the then pro-
VISIONS OF the contract. was employed by
the state and company Jointly, should
be employed by the state alone, believ-
ing that no proper service could be given
under divided allegiance.
B. Under the provisions of the contract
as 1t then stood any failure of cars to
u oitsl'ptt tfit tOdl WdS visited upon Inc
state. | required that this should be Wis
tied upon the company.
A. To absolutely guarantee the state
against any loss that might possibly
acrue, l required the insertion of a pro-
vision in the contract that the convicts
should net the state under the Pratt
Consolidated. or Banner mine contract,
as much per man per month as they had
netted to the state under the contract
Ixx~t{1 II, H. NJ.
road company, without reference to their
actual earnings under the contract as ap-
proved by me, and which was $27. 81 per
man per month.
Upon the execution of the required bond
/ then signed and approved the contract
Most of the convicts which We're trans
ferred to the Banner mines had been
leased by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and
Railroad company. The contract with
that corporation expired with the year
1911. I called Mr.. Oakley's attention TO
the fact that it was but fair that the
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad COM
pany should have an opportunity of re-
newing their contract II the terms they
offered were satisfactory. 1t was repre-
sented to me by Mr.. Oakley Mr.. Nesbitt
and others that the seam of coal being
worked by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and
Railroad company was thin, being about
tiiIee or lour ltel, tfidt tle men Were
forced to mine the coal with picks and in
a STOPPING position, and that the work
was difficult and rapidly exhausted the
strength and vigor of the convicts so EN-
ployed, but that the great advantage In,
the transfer to the Banner mine was that
the seam of coal at that mine was six or
seven feet, that the men could work
standing up and that most OF the coal
|>could be taken down by the use of ma
chinery and a very much larger output
per man secured. Mr.. Oakley stated that
he had informed the officials Of the Ten
nessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company
that their contract would expire, a fact
of which they had knowledge. but that
they had made him no offer of renewal,
and that If he wrote them directly on the
subject it would. no doubt, be considered
by them as an effort on his part to in
duce them to renew their contract, and
would prevent the state from receiving
the highest and best offer II he pursued
was Heard from the Tennessee company
until after the negotiations had been
practically completed with the Banner
Nine or Pratt Consolidated company and
the contract signed. | then received a
letter from the, president of the Tennes-
see company inclosing me copy of a let
ter which he had written to. Mr.. Oakley
III WHICH ne cOmp1alueu tilat ne na0i been
unfairly treated. l replied to this letter
by stating what Mr.. oakley had informed
me on the subject, and that 1 had pre-
sumed from their silence that they did
not care to renew their contract. Subse-
quently,= when I was in doubt as to
whether the proposed contract with the
Pratt Consolidated company would be
profitable to the state. and interviewed
the officials of the Tennessee company,
they stated TO me that their policy was
to discontinue the lease of convicts, but
that as favor to the administration
they would consent to let their contract
remain in force for a maximum of six
months longer. This proposition + de-
clined to entertain.
Sent McNee1 to Birmingham
Prier to the report which I received
from the special committee selected to
examines the conditions at Banner mines
had heard that the Alabama Consoli-
dated would pay a better price than the
offer made by the Pratt Consolidated
company. | Immediately sent my secre-
tary, Mr.. John D. McNeel, to Birming-
ham, who had several conferences with
Mr.. C. HI. Matthews, and Mr.. Matthews
finally wrote me that his company was
not prepared to entertain proposition to
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