The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-30
CONNECTS FOR PRIVATE GAIN

CONNECTS FOR PRIVATE GAIN
 That Governor Brandon's policies regarding the administration of con victs have turned the clock of Ala bama's progress backward is hardly to be disputed. That the governor has meager conception of modern tenden- cies in prison management or of hu- mane principles in the treatment of convicts, his own official record is offered in evidence. That the re- ported plan to alter the existing agreements for the working of con- victs in mines will operate to make the situation worse instead of better is the sober conclusion of able mer who have given the subject careful thought. That the welfare of the convict department is secondary and the profit of the mine operators a primary consideration seems to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. That the governor should be diverted from the execution of the reported plan is SoSSH1idl u tue PuoiiC SSHSS oI uS- cency.
 Although Governor Brandon has re peatedly declared that the state needs the revenue derived from convict leas- ing, it is apparent that the real reve- nue goes to the employers of convict labor. It is further evident that the proposed new agreement would ac- tually tend to diminish the states revenue from this source, while pro- portionately swelling the private reve- nue. The price paid the state for de- livering the coal would be nominal and arbitrary, and fixed by agreement with the operators, instead of by com petition such as controls the price at other mines. This would work di- rectly to the advantage of owners of convict mines and to the disadvantage of operators of free mines. Most of all, it would work contrary to the pub lie will of the people of Alabama, who demand that the system of convict leasing be at once and unequivocally abrogated and brought to an end. Governor Brandon can do this at any time, and he now has no such excuse as he offered during the legislative session, namely, that the state needs the money. For it has since been shown that the states revenues from taxation have increased and the states expenditures have not been increased. The only excuse that can now be of- fer'ed is that the operators need the money.
 As for the condition of the convicts themselves, it is quite apparent that it is worse than before. According to Judge Hugo L. Black, the new agree ment would take away the convicts' right of suit against the operators for injuries received in mining; would compel the convicts to involuntary servitude to private corporations in ad- mittedly the most dangerous mines, where, according to Judge Black, fla talities have been from two and a half to five times as great as in other mines; would give to the operators profits from convict labor which should go to the convicts' families or to the state; would block the public demand for immediate, unconditional and final abolition of convict leasing in Alabama. In the public view, Gov ernor Brandon is not protecting the public interest nor acting in the public behalf when he contemplates the all legged plan. Neither are the people of Alabama misled as to the nature of 1 the favors it is now sought to bestow upon private firms and individuals by the unconscionable program of further exploiting the helpless human beings under state authority.