The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

Gus to the occupants of the buildings.
whether gamblers or bonafide tenants
We strongly condemn the existence of
such conditions and most earnestly
recommend to the city commission OF
Birmingham that suitable laws be en-
acted to prevent the erection of such
doors and screens, and that your honor
will bring the attention of the commits
sion to this condition and urge the re-
moval of these doors and screens
Violation of the Prohibition and Reve-
nue. Law
I'VE have conducted an exhaustive
examination on this subject and we find
there have been many violations of the
law and we have Indicted a large num-
Der and returned the true bills into
court. In the Investigation of this
character of cases we find that many
Of the wholesale liquor dealers have
delivery wagons with regular routes
from Birmingham and the smaller
towns out into the mining and indus
trial districts and the drivers of these
wagons are permitted to take orders
receive the money for the same. and
the next day deliver the goods ordered
This we understand to be a viola
tion of the law, and we recommend
that the sheriff and his deputies and
the police authorities of the city and
smaller towns give this matter more
consideration and bring these offenders
before the proper court for these yio-
lations of the law. The grand Jury,
through committees, visited a large
number of the saloons of the county.
and find upon the whole that they are
generally well kept, but we find fur
ther that the law is not strictly OBJ
served, particularly with reference to
the large number of idlers and loiterers
who are permitted to remain in and
about these saloons for hours at time,
and this Is particularly true of tho
saloons set aside wholly for negroes
Upon personal investigation we
found that negro women and girls were
permitted to go to the back door of
many of these places and make pur-
chases of intoxicants through the door
way, and in many of them we saw
drunken men staggering about the sa-
loon, drinking whisky from bottles and
beer from buckets, and we recommend
to the excise commission of this county
that they exercise more rigid care with
reference to this particular subject We
find that about certain OF these saloons
such numbers of idle men are permit
ted to congregate that many of the citi-
zens. and especially ladies, are required
to go out of their way in order to avoid
these places, but upon calling the at
tention of the city commission of Bir-
mingham to these matters, they readily
promised to relieve that situation, and
we are glad to say that we notice some
improvement in that direction.
County Convicts and County Prisons
1--WE found the convicts we'll fed and
cared for, and conditions around the
camp sanitary and we'll kept We heard
no complaint from any of the convicts
In regard to wrong treatment, but, on
the other hand they spoke very highly
Of their treatment. We went out upon
the road where they were working and
found the mules and convicts at work.
We also found the system to be good,
and no noise and bad language being
used about the work.
County Roads
I'VE have examined not less than 200
miles of the county roads. The sys-
tenn of working the roads at present is
bringing about desired results. Nearly
all of the roads we examined were in
good condition. some of the roads we
examined were not in very good con-
dition, but the board of revenue as
sured us that these conditions would
be improved upon In the near future
We believe that the county will have
one of the best systems of roads in the
south IL the present system of road
building is continued.
"We need legislation to force the in
corporated towns to put their streets In
condition to connect with our main
county roads.
N0n-Payment of Witnesses
1--WE would most respectfully call
your honors attention to the condition
of the fine and forfeiture fund of the
county. We find that there is approxi-
mately 100000 worth of registered
claims outstanding against this fund.
and probably about 100000 not yet
registered; that a very small sum of
money for the maintenance of this
fund Is derived from fines imposed and
collected, and that its principal source
of maintenance is the proceeds from
the hire of convicts and that this
source is very rapidly decreasins->be-
cause the terms of these convicts are
rapidly expiring, and it will be but a
few months until there will be no reve-
nue. from this source
1--WE are informed that the convicts
now at hard labor for the county on
the public roads and bridges are sem
fenced to perform hard labor for the
county for a certain definite period |
and an additional time to pay costs.