The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-11
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Fee System and Conyicts

ID the Euitor or The Age-H erald. I was very much gratihed to see in
 the dispatches from Montgomery a few
 days ago that the bill abolishing the fee
 system in Jefferson county at the ex-
 piration of the term of office of the
 present officials would become a law
 Better late than never. The people of
 the state voted on this proposition and
 authorized the legislature to abolish this
 system in Jefferson county at any time
 and I presume the present officials went
 Into office with full knowledge of thIs
 fact-but as I said, better late than
 never.
 have been more than disappointed,
 however, to see nothing definite re-
 gardng the bill to abolish this system
 throughout the state My recollection is
 that the great majority of our legls-
 lators (sketches and photographs of
 whom appeared in The Age Herald before
 the converting of the legislature) regis
 tered themselves against this system. It
 is to be hoped that the legislature will
 not forget in the rush of other bus-
 ness this pressing and vital matter to
 the state This nefarious system by
 which the officers of the law for many
 long years have been permitted to ex-
 ploit the poor and defenseless of our
 citizens. is as bad in every other coun-
 ty of the state as it is in Jefferson coun-
 ", In proportion to population. and the
 overwhelming vote by which the people
 sought to eliminate 1t in Jefferson coun-
 ty goes to show the sentiment on the
 subject. The legislature can abolish thl,
 system without reference to the people
 but if the people be given an opportun
 ity to vote on the proposition it will soon be destroyed
 l nave also noted In the dispatches With great satisfaction that it is high ly probable the convict lease system will De abolished. For many years, to our shame and degradation be 1t said. the state has exploited its convicts by leas- Ing them to persons and corporations whose sole purpose and object has been to wiring from them through their sweat and blood the almighty dollar By whip and spur they have been driven by these cruel masters to herculean tasks for these many long years and when they have failed to perform the allotted tasks by reason of weakness, sickness or a lack or Knowledge of the tasks to be per NoAHAco, thCy nave bGen SCOuTReQ to their dungeons as the quarry slaves of old. And mother earth now covers the bones Of many of them who will not cone forth to tell of their wrongs until the day of the resurrection.
 The fee system and the convict lease system go hand in hand, each the con comitant of the other.
 In considering these matters from an Impartial and disinterested standpoint it izA hw~ to allow these foul systems to exist so long. The power of the officeholder is, or course great, and they are now or ganized This no doubt, has a great deal to do with the existence of these sys- tems; but l am inclined to believe their existence is due mainly to error in our point of view. Perhaps also race prej- udloe has entered Into the matter and we have failed to see that the same laws apply to the black man and the white man; that where the black man must guffer under them the white must also. But as to the convicts. by some ric- ton of the brain we have come to re- gard them. 1t seems, not as human be- ngs but as brutes We have failed to see and to realize that after conviction they yet think and feel and love and hate as other human beings; we nave failed to note that the main difference between us and them is the little wall 'f stone or iron that screens them from our view; that when placed there they ,ry out, not so much for mercy>Sas tor Justice. We have failed to note that many of them are imprisoned for the | money there Is in 1t and many others | 'n frivolous charges. We have failed to | 'ealize that, as human beings with the | thoughts and aspirations of other human beings. unused to whip and spur and I lbuse and i'll treatment. they cry out | against it, and through the long months | IT years of Imprisonment there enters | leep into their hearts. not to be erad- | cated, an undying hatred of the law | md of their kind And when at last | hey. emerge from prison is it to be 'rutes than human beings? Is 1t to be that Jefferson county, which as been their dumping ground, has been athed in blood? If We SOW the wind. hould we not expect to reap the whirl- vind?
 I note 1t is said in the dispat tches that we take the convicts from the mines 'e must have bond issue to care for hem. And I say, if 1t is necessary to ave bond issue for this purpose, let s have it. If we can maxe amends y paying in cash for the wrongs If mich we have been guilty, let us pay . But there are many ways in which he convicts may be utilized. They may . worked upon the roads: they may . worked upon the farms of the state: hey may be used for the internal i'm. rovement of the state in many ways; icy may be used in the manufacture of arious articles used by the state in its arious institutions and departments and the manufacture of articles incident the various trades. to the profit of ,e state. And whom they emerge they