The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-05

I DdtuFudAs
/ average throughout the state of
| Georgia
The only thing that could possibly
cause a failure in the working of con-
| vfcts on public roads Is lack of suf-
| fcient convicts to offset what is known
as overhead charges. To obviate this
! obstacle a county with too small a
number of convicts TO work profitably
could alternate in constructing good
! roads with adjoining small counties
and thus work in turn their united
forces to splendid advantage. After
enough convicts have been retained
to work the state farm and operats
the cotton mill at Speigners the re-
malnder should be prorated among the
counties, according to population.
The honor system in working con-
victs has proven successful wherever
| II has been tried, notably in Oregon.
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and
Utah. In Colorado a crew of conyicts
| in custody of a convict as guard has
done splendid work in construction of
/ roads, 800 miles from the prison. In
colorado only one convict in every
hundred has escaped, which is far less
| than the desertion from the United
States army or navy
Inc Falue OF GOOd Roads
mo internal development or improve
Inent can mean more to the people
than the construction of good roads
THE state has made splendid progress
looking to the future construction of good
roads by the creation and maintenance
OF the state highway department, which
is doing great work for the people
Hundreds of thousands Of dollars have
been wasted In the construction of cheap
and temporary roads, attributed mainly
to ignorance.
have supervision of all work done by
convicts on roads, not to dictate to the
counties, but to see that the people get
value received for money spent; to see
to 1t that the work done is of perma-
nent nature and of lasting benefit to the
present and future generations.
Good roads mean better farms mean
better farmers, mean better schools, mea n
better churches, mean more contented
farmers.
viii make farmers out of farmers
sons, thereby conserving our best rural
| citizenship.
Mean low cost of transportation, there
by benefiting both producer and con-
sumer.
will build up our farms and will make
country life more desirable, thereby
bring thousands of acres of land into
cultivation, that is now lying idle
"Will enable the farmer to market his
perishable products by giving easy and
and quick access to markets and shipping
points. Mean increase of land values
Ala bama will never have a thorough
system of permanently constructed good
roads unless they are built by the con-
Victs. Then let us proceed with all pos
slble haste to begin to build good roads
with convict labor
Children Out of Cotton Mills
II believe that the little children should
be taken. out of the cotton mills Most
of the cotton mills in Alabama are To-
Gated in our mountainous sections. Our
mountains are populated almost entirely
by white people; they are poor but hon
est. The little mountain children hear
and respond to the call of the cotton mill
whistles, which. like the songs of the 81
rens, entice them to their destruction.
The little employees of cotton mills wear
a tell-tale, prison pallor; they are thin
chested, poorly fed and lily clad; they
draw but small wages yet they toll faith
fully for their masters.
Il remember seeing a picture the other
day entitled, A Giant Who Starves His
Dwarfs.' sleek, fat, heavy -jowled hu-
man brute sat at his dinner table, at
tired in dress suit; diamonds sparkled
ON his fingers and in his shirt front:
wealth and luxury was everywhere about
him. Little cotton mill children we're
approaching him with silver trays bear
ing every elegant Wand that human ap-
petite could crave; all the delicacies that
the market afforded were laid before him:
champagne and cigars were placed at his
elbows; yet the little children that bore
these luxuries wore thin, wan, hunted
looks: they cringed as slaves before their
master; they were in tatters, the sadness
portrayed by their faces contrasted strilx-
ingly with the exuberant, exultant smile
of satisfaction and success expressed on
what purported to be the countenance
of bloated cotton mill king who smaclxed
his lips in glee
THE picture illustrates great truth
within the suffocating confines of the
cotton mills the little bodies. the brain,
the Drawn of the little children are be-
ing ground down by the capital that re-
lentessly filches its fortune from the
blood, the sinew, the spirit and some
times the very life of Alabama S neg
ected little Saxons of the mountains.
81 would save them from their living
death within the nerve racking clash and
din of their cotton mill prisons. 1t is
an outrage that rapacious cotton mills
be permitted to pile up millions for their
owners upon the bighted lives and the
wrecked possibilities of our pure -blooded
American children. who are but slaves to
their voracious task masters; this bane-
full practice must and shall be stopped.
Utilities and Conservation Commission
"A public utilities and conservation
commission should be established in
order that appropriate supervision may
be had over all public utilities and the
natural rights of the state belonging
to the people in their sovereign ca
pacity. In carrying out this pro-
gramme, no new office should be cre-
ated: the. powers of the railroad COM
mission sshould merely enlarged.
This commission should be vested with
the power to regulate express, tele-
graph. telephone, street railways
hydro electric and all other public
utilities companies and corporations,
taking occasion to see to 1t that
fair return only is had upon their in
vestment and that unreasonable rates
are not extorted from the people.
All Officials Should Be Bonded
'All state and county officials
should be placed under good and suf-
ficient bonds in order that the inter
ests of the state may be safeguarded
at every point. All state officials,
handling public money. should be re-
quired to settle with the state auditor
at the close of each days business. and
all checks should be made payable to
the state treasurer. This would min
imIze the possibility of the misuse of
the peoples money.
Conner and State Finances
IAN examination of the reports of
the state treasury shows that when
Mr. fr,o tod