Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-12-27
CONVICT LEASING
IN ALABAMA NEAR
DOOM, PAPER SAYS

BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Dec. "a
Alabama's convict lease system will
be abolished at an "early date" at.
cording TO the Birmingham News to.
day. Negotiations now under way
between the state convict board and
coal operators whose mines employ
convict labor, will be sufficiently
successful to insure a change from
the present leasing system" it is
asserted.
The News says that negotiations
have been under way for several
weeks. The state is said to have
made proposals to the operators
which provide for abolishing the
lease system and some development
to that end is promised in the next
few days.
Among those who took part in
conferences, it is understood, are
Hugh Morrow, vice president of the
Sloss-Shefield steel and iron com.
pany, Carl Mccormack, president of
the Pratt consolidated coal company.
and w. A. Gibson of the same Com
pany; L. A. Boyd, president of the
convict board. and Roy L.. Nolan,
also a member of the board.
Final Farley This Week
Negotiations under way are said
to be in conformity with the an
nounced intention of Governor VIII
liam W. Brandon that he would
abolish the system just as soon as
details could be worked out practi'
tho NpwS
says, that the convict board feels
that the state could take over and
operate convict mines, selling the
coal to the owners of the mines and
that the governor favors some such
solution of the problem.
It is said. that other conferences
will be held in Montgomery this
week and it is expected that final
agreement will come by the week
end.
An operator, whose name the
News withholds, who has operated
mines. with convict labor in the past.
was quoted as saying he believed
the present negotiations would end
In the abolition of the system but
that he did not know whether the
state would be successful in it's eff
now worked by convict labor.
Sees No Improvement
This operator was further quoted
by the news:
"As I understand the situation
the state is willing to end the lease
system by leasing the mines itself
or operating the mines with its own
convicts and selling the coal to the
owners OF the mines. If the state
is going to insist on such conditions
as to make as much profit from its
convicts as it has in the past, 1 fail
to see where any good will result
to the convicts. This would mean
that the conVicts would be driven
just as hard to obtain production as
has been charged under the lease
system. Critics Of the lease system
have objected to the men in poor
physical condition working IN the
mines. 1t seems to me that il the
state is going into this business in
order to make a large profit then
the convicts will be driven just as
hard or harder as they have been
under the old system. I hope very
much if the lease system is to be
abolished it will be abolished in such
way as to bring about some of the
reforms that have been proposed
and that there will be no grasping
for profits on either side.
II believe from what I can hear
that there is every chance for a
successful outcome to the negotia.
tons, though it is possible that the
convicts will be taken entirely from
the mines as q result"
The last legislature extended the
leasing system at the will of the
governor, thus multiplying law pass
ed at a previous session to the eff
feet that the system would end De
cenber 81, 1923. A bitter fight
statewide in nature, developed dur
ing consideration of the question a.
the last quadrennial session of the
legislature in January this year. The
leasing advocates won out by a sub
&.antial MARGIN in senate and house