The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-09-24

ARE LEASED At
A GOOD PRICE
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AC.
CEPT BID OF A GROUP OF MA
VAL STORES OPERATORS AT
s2s3.15 EACH PER YEAR.
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL.

SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL.
Tallahassee. Sept. 23.-After an all
day session lasting into the night last
night the board of commissioners of
state institutions came to an agree
ment with a sufficient number of bid
ders to lease all the state convfets
. subject to lease for the two years be-
. ginning January 1st 1914
The new convict lease law throws
/ additional restrictions around the
leasing of prisoners and the Iessees
/ viii not be permitted to sub-Iet any
convict. Under the present lease all
convicts are let to one company and
that company subjects to several other
concerns who actually work the con-
victs. This time the specifications for
bids as we'll as the law made It neces-
sary for a company to bid for only
! such number as they desired to &C
tually work themselves. There were
some thirty or more bidders and the
price bid per able bodied convict
ranged from about two hundred dol
lars to as high as three hundred and
thirty dollars. The higher bids how
ever were not sufficient to have taken
up more than two hundred convicts
out of nine hundred available
The board Of state institutions be-
gan negotiating with the higher bid
ders to get them to agree to a price
which would be an average of the
highest bids covering the entire num-
Der Of state convicts to be leased
This eliminated the lowest bidders.
After considerable negotiations and
consultations an agreement was reach
ed last night and the entire number
of state convicts subject to lease were
let at a fiat rate of S2S3.15 each per
annum, the lessees to furnish food,
clothing, shelter, guards and medical
attention. All inirm male and all fe-
male prisoners will be Withdrawn from
the lease on January 1st, 1914. and
placed on the state prison farm In
Bradford county. The state will
eventually place some of the able
bodied prisoners on the farm also.
Provision was made in the recent
law relating to convicts that such
counties as desired could get convicts
for work on the public roads of their
counties. But few counties made any
and of the entire number Of state
convicts only 152 were asked for by
application for the convicts, however,
counties. This number will be re-
served for them and not leased
The price which the state will re-
ceive for it's coHvicts for the next
two years is slightly under the price
heretofore received but is as good as
any state official expected under pres
ent conditions in the naval stores in
dustry in which business convicts are |
worked.
The lease. expiring al the end of |
this year brings the state s287 each |
for al liable bodied convicts and in |
cludes the maintenance of all others. |
At any time the state could have
taken care of the women and infirm
male convicts the lessees would have
paid fifteen per cent additional for
able bodied convicts. 1t will be seen
that the present lease, expiring De-
cember 31st, was about SAT per able
bodied convict per year better than
the new lease will be, and yet the new
lease is a much better price than
many well posted men thought would
be offered.
Printing Court Rules.
Hon. Milton H. Mabry, clerk of the
supreme court. and his deputy, John
T. Crawley, have just completed a
of the rules of the circuit
and supreme courts of Florida. and
are now having them printed in book
form. This book will be very valua-
BILE to the attorneys Of this state, a!s
since their adoption by the supreme
court several have been abrogated or
amended by statutes. The book will
be on sale at the office of the clerk
Of the supreme court at Tallahassee