The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-23
LEGISLATURE DID NOT INQUIRE

lAEAloLAA ONG OAO NOl ANQOARCa
 When the statewide campaign com mittee for the abolition of convict leasing challenged the clause in the legislative resolution that "twice dur ing the present session of the legisla- ture this question has been thoroughly, conscientiously and carefully consid- ered," the committee seized upon the elemental fact that the legislature had not only not given the subject thor ough and conscientious study, but had actually refused to consider it and denied the public it's inherent right to legislative hearing. Says the com nittee in reply to the legislative reso- Iution: Resolutions by the legisla- ture, stating it has thoroughly, COZ scientiously and carefully considered this question are, to say the least, straining the facts almost to the break ing point. On the first day of it's ses- sion the house passed resolution in- tended to strangle all debate, which passed the senate at the next sitting, and throughout this campaign the leg islature has steadfastly refused to hold hearings or receive petitions on this question:"
 Thus it appears that the facts as to the legislative conduct regarding con vict leasing are just the opposite of those recited in the legislative resolu- tion, resolution introduced by Repre- sentative Werner condemning the press and public for refusing to remain silent on the question. The rec ord of the legislature shows that it, has from the very first day determinedly and consistently de- clined to grant public hearings on this question, and has given only scant coprtesy to those who, in the public behalf, presented measures designed to meet the public will on leasing. Although the resolution of the legis- lature not to consider the question was not capable of legal enforcement, yet the bills that were legitimately presented in spite of the resolution did not receive the thorough, con scientious and careful" consideration claimed by the legislature, but, as the official record shows, were blocked and shuffled off the boards as quickly as it was possible to do so.
 When in it's resolution the legisla. ture expressed "the confident belief" that "all convicts are receiving as good, careful and considerate treat ment as they should receive" the leg islature spoke without full knowledge of the facts, or without having taken the trouble to ascertain the facts as to the conditions it condones. When the legislature indorsed the above quoted sentiments, it ignored the in vestigation of the Kilby legislature in which the conditions in mines and camps where convicts are leased were condemned in the strongest possible terms, and in which facts exactly con- tradictory to the expressions in the resolution were detailed by the of ficial report of that legislative inquiry. The legislature also ignored the pre- sentations of more recent findings of committees of citizens which show very clearly that conditions are now no better than they were when con demned by the former legislative in- quiry.
 The legislature passed its resolution aimed at that portion of the public and the press which refused to remain s: lent in the face of the fact that the circuit bench of Jefferson county has deemed the case one calling for ju- dicial inquiry in order to ascertain, as Solicitor Davis wrote Governor Bran don, whether the law has in truth and in fact been disobeyed in this county" The legislature acted merely on the assumption that what it wanted to be true was true, in spite of unim- peachable testimony to the contrary. The legislature, intent on its politico gubernatorial maneuverings, was con cerned more with maintaining it's own prestige and attempting to defend it, own indefensible record than with discovering the actual facts and pro- ceeding in accordance with the course those facts counsel and justify. The legislature has refused steadfastly to grant public hearings on convict leas ing, an avenue of appeal that not even the congress of the United States de- nies to the citizens of this nation. The people of Alabama are the jury that sits on this attitude and this leg islative record, and The Age-Herald, as one of those newspapers that re- fused to be coerced into silence, is content to leave the record to such jury.
 THE FIGHT FOR POLYGAMY