The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-11

N1CtS. It IS a comm menQaDle arrange ment provided the task is not too heavy and provided 1t is left to the voluntary decision of the prisoner. If 1t is true as were told by prison CTS in two mines that refusal to work for this extra pay meant punishment we are not certain that we should give it our full endorse ment.
 We asked to be taken into the mines, but it proved to be i'm practicable. We went some 50 or so feet into the entrance of the mine at Belle Ellen and at Aldrich, and found the path so slippery with wa ter. and the tunnel so dark and low that we could not safely proceed without an experienced guide. For this reason we have to depend en- tirely on what the wardens and the prisoners told us about the way they work in the mine. At Aldrich a man on the night shift told us that they entered the mine at 530 in the evening, but that it took them un til seven to get to the place where they were digging coal, the hour and a half being necessary for them to proceed stumbling through the dark, falling over rock, and bent half double because of the low walls to the night work They worked until 5;30 in the morning when another hour and a half must be added to the toll of the. day so that they reach the mouth of the mine at seven. In all this Is practically II hours of labor.
 Many Beg For Paroles.
 Here and there in the prisons, we found men with a life sentence or sentenced for a long period of years, who have served for years and have good prison records. They begged us to use our influence to have them pardoned or paroled as they had no family or friends on the outside to interest themselves in their welfare. Of course, we had no opportunity or authority to make a careful study Of any concrete cases, but may be sug- gest that the federation should use it's influence to have a parole com missioner investigate all such cases in the prisons?
 At the lumber camp at River Falls, we found prisoners working long hours, from daylight to dusk. We found doghouses prepared for punishment. We found the men how | ever, working in the sunlight, In places here the citizen could see and know the conditions under which he works.
 No attempt was made to see the county convict camp. We knew that the state had made vast improvement in recent years in the treatment of it's prisoners and that we should see the system to its best advantage In the state prisons. Fifty-seven of the counties of Alabama lease their con- vcts and as far as we know there is no state or county supervision of the camps where they are kept. The fed eration has indorsed the principle of state control of all convicted per sons; but before we can actively work for such a measure, 1t would seem advisable to bring out state system up to the standard of the forty seven other states.
 Our conclusion is that the present | state officials as well as those of the Hast administration have made earn est effort to bring the prisons to the best possible condition under the present system, but that the system | is inherently wrong. It is wrong for the following reasons:
 "'1t permits a miscarriage of jus tice as sometimes the sentence of Imprisonment pronounced by the courts has been changed to death.
 "1t permits first offenders to be controlled almost entirely by hard ened criminals.
 Tt increases the burden of the state and society by making cripples. "In increase the burden of the state and of society In making crimi- nals Ga warden told us that 50 per cent of his charges were repeaters.)
 "It considers the profit in money to the state and to the leasing com pany as more important than the latent human value of the convict.
 We believe that the responsibility of removing this false system should be shared by every patriotic citizen of Alabama.
 We believe that the present gov ernor and legislature have it in their power to make their term of office blessing to the state by abolishing the lease contract system.
 Respectfully submitted,
 MRS. F. l.. CADE,
 MRS. OSCAR DUGGER, MRS. s. J. COLE.
 MRS. PRIEsTLY ToULMIN, MRS BREVARD JONES'" Favorite cigars of J. Pierpont Nor | gan. Sr., cost s1.50 apiece. The capitol was officially the "con- gress house" In Its early days.