The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-06-24
LEASE Abolition
BODY TAKES ISSUE
" It H EXECUTIVE
Declare Governors State
ment Chiefly Concerned
With Defense

Issue is taken with Gov. w. W.
Brandon by the statewide commit
tee to abolish leasing and otherwise
employing convicts in Alabama.
The committee, headed by Judge
William E. Fort, senior judge of the
circuit court of jefferson county. has
grown from a small nucleus who
gathered in Birmingham few
weeks ago at the call Of Mrs. Scion
Jacobs, to an organization repre-
scented by influential men and women
in nearly every county and town in
Alabama.
Members of the committee have
forts unfit the lease system is abol-
ished. One of their first acts as an
organized body is the publication of
resume of the lease system, in
which the committee quotes utter
ances of the governor.
The committee has sent its commu-
nication to every influential news
paper in Alabama. 1t is as follows:
REPLY TO GOVERNOR
in his message to the legislature
on January 10. 1928. Governor Bran
don used the following language
which the state of Alabama handle 8
about so per cent of its convicts:
II am not familiar enough at this
time with the system to make defi-
mite recommendations believe,
however, that in time the lease sys-
TEN should be abolished and prison
ers should be taken from the mines.
II would favor and dc now favor
the abandonment of the lease sys-
tenn as soon as practicable. but not
having had the opportunity for
proper and careful investigation. I
cannot offer definite plan for the
solution of the question"
In February of this year. the gov
ernor approved a bill providing that
it shall be unlawful to lease con-
victs in the state of Alabama after
March 81. 1927.
Having stated in his message that
he favored the adjustment of the
lease system as soon as practicable
and having given his approval to a
bill making the leasing of convicts
unlawful after given date in 1921,
the governors sudden reversal of
his position. as shown in his state
ment of Sunday, June 10, is some
what difficult of comprehension.
We have no desire to enter into a
controversy with Governor Brandon
as to the facts of the situation. We
feel, however. that some reply should
be made to his statement In which he
defends system which has been so
thoroughly discredited The people
of Alabama should know the facts.
When they know the facts, they will
never permit the state. for financial
reasons or otherwise. to continue to
sell the compulsory labor of its con-
victs.
Says Defense Only Made.
from analysis of the governor
statement, it appears that he rs con-
cerned almost entirely with defend
ing the employment of state convicts
in coal mines. The manual of the
National Council of Workmen's Com
pensation Insurance, to which he re-
fers, merely indicates the compare
tive premium rates for the various
Industries. These rates are percent
ages of the pay roll. In calculating
the premiums, number of elem S
are considered, including in particu-
lar, the wage scale.
The fact that the premium for coal
mining is less in Alabama than it ID
for sixty-nine other industries does
not mean that coal mining is less
hazardous than the other industries.
but that the coal miners enjoy a
higher wage level.
Common sense and ordinary obser-
walton tell us that coal mining is one
of the most hazardous of occupa-
tons According to the United
States mentality statistics. the num-
Der Of deaths among all occupied
males, due to violence, was los per
cent of the whole. while among
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