The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-09

SOrS Who teach the law and Dy JuuSeS
 who apply it and it is true. think. that it is the settled opinion of the business
 world, employer and employee alike, that there should be an adjustment of indus trial accident cases yet it is by all men
 admitted to be problem most difficult
 of solution.
 The difficulty of reaching a satisfactory
 basis for It's solution was amply illus
 trated in your deliberations upon the sub
 iect at your first session. Representa-
 tives of mining and manufacturing inter
 ests assured me that they were sincerely desirous of reaching just and fair pasls of settlement; representatives Of em- ployees gave similar assurances but at
 the end the two interests were about as
 far from an agreement as when the mat
 ter was first preached. Prejudice should be laid aside There should be no strug-
 gle for advantage by either side The
 only question for settlement is as to what
 is fair and just and workable. SureN
 this legislature will not find it impossible
 to get in line with other progressive states on this very important question.
 CONVICT SYSTEM
 One of the most perplexing and dlffi- cult problems confronting our state ln- wolves the control of state convicts. The contract system, while successful rom a purely financial point of view, IS re- pugnant to our higher sense of justice, which demands humane treatment of the criminal and a minimum of competition between his labor and that of the free workman We must abandon it as soon as better system is found which can be put into practical operation. It would
 be folly to do so simply to meet a de- mand that comes from mere emotional ism or sentmentalism based on misun- derstanding, exaggeration and lmprac- ka
 The question is, what Is better system and how and when can it he nut into practical operation with inc least possible confusion and in- terference with related depart ments and interests of the states Lam confident that the question will he satisfactorily answered and that the end of this adminfs- tration will mark the end of the lease contract system in this state. My Judgment is that we should move gradually.
 I have already cancelled several con . tracts with turpentine operators ana rewritten them for expiration at the end of this year. They should not be renewed and the convicts should be removed from the turpentine camps, where proper supervision by state of
 ficials is impracticable. and placed in other operations. This is in line with the plans of the convict department The farming operations of the depart ment should be extended and their scope broadened to give healthful and uplifting employment to a greater number of con victs Machinery has been ordered TOT the enlargement and better equipment ol the cotton mill at Speigner. This devel- opment will be extended further and as far as conditions justify. The long term, able bodied convicts might be used to advantage in the operation or coal mine on the state lands. It IS not true that the working of convicts in the mine is necessarily attended by cruelty anu inhumanity as is thought by many goou neople who have no intimate personal knowledge of the subject. The abuses re- suit from the fact that under the con i tract system the state loses control or l the convict when he goes into the mine | and does not regain control until ne 1 comes out Under state operation that would not be the case. l The same treatment should DC 1 insured the convict as is given the | free miner, due allowance DeinS l made for the character of the men l themselves and the necessity Tor l strict discipline to control them. l Many thousands of good men In Ala bama voluntarily choose work In coal
 mines as their life work, and 1t goes
 without saying that work which IS | oood enough to be the free choice or ] so many good, law-abiding citizens is
 pot foo had for the criminal. The opening of a state mine should, how
 ever be undertaken only after most
 careful investigation that promises
 reasonable certainty of success for the
 experiment. And then convicts may
 be used in building public highways
 when in the judgment of the state highway department, such use can be l made to advantage.
 I visited all the convict camps Of the
 state during your recess and am pre-
 pared to say that whatever may nave been the treatment of convicts in the
 past, all reports of cruel treatment and