The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-29

CHAPTER 47.
 There was che teacher in the city high schools who said to me, after I had conducted his party througl the prison: "In what particular manner were you tempted not to re. turn here while on that visit home 9
 "The truth Is l was never at any my pledged word"
 I'm glad to hear that" said he shaking hands again.
 His high schools added to some o1 my unusual experiences. The school, were planning a series of debate. between picked teams, and the question for discussion was an ole one: Resolved, That Capital Pun. ishment Should Be Abolished" Gu to the state prison came one of the teams looking for data. The. warden turned them over to me. I took care in giving them all the facts con. corning various cases and I told then a great many things in addition. Int following day a team for the other side arrived, and on the third daS thereafter two debating teams or different sides of the question were there at the same time, sitting witt me around the long pardon room I table. That situation-and because of my desire to be fair alike to all- called for special effort upon mS part against showing where I stood l in the matter.
 The result of all that was, that John W. Cane came to be talked ot quite a bit among the high schoo pupils, and a still further result was that one afternoon four instructors and all the pupils from one of the high schools came up there and re. quested that I address them on the subject, How to Prevent Crime"
 They had chosen for me a rather big subject. For some 40 minutes however, I held their attention. managed to sidestep the ordinary | generalizing along theoretical lines and for most part my talk dealt with the question of how to keer from arriving|at the temptation tc commit crime.
 I Give Another Lecture.
 A rumor reached me that some people were outraged at thought ot the instructors taking the school UT there to hear me speak. But a few days later three professors from the state university came down ant brought the whole class in philoso. phy and asked that I address them I shall never forget my feelings as l stopped at a point from which by looking through window, | could see that roomful of those uni. lversity students without their see ing me. For a moment I wavered surance possessed me. Fer long ] had been won't to appeal to "the man within" when special effective ness was desired. And to him in si- lent thought language I spoke thai day: Here near at hand we have the cream of the country who have been brought for the purpose of learning something from you and me. Let us now be at our very best in impressing truths upon the minds Gf these people,
 The professor who acted as spokesman explained that I had been discussed in the classroom; that some things in my writings led them to conclude that had aligned myself with the utilitarian school of philoso- phy; and that if such a surmise was correct, they were desirous of hear ing my opinion as to how the system of penology there squared with the principle of "the greatest happiness to the greatest number"
 They could not have chosen a sub ject that I then liked better. l addressed them for an hour and ten minutes, and I do not believe that during the last 40 minutes of or her seat.
 My Life's Best Hour.
 After I had finished speaking, the professors and the student body came and shook hands with me-and as yet I count that as the best hours work that l have ever done in my whole life.
 l am sure the reader will under stand the foregoing has not been told with any desire toward exploita- | ton but merely to bring out again the truth, There Is no excellence without great labor"
 My Is years for me was finished in April My application was duly filed for the pardon board meeting in May The aplication was laid over till July 1 but because of vacations there was no meeting that month. The docket was automatically continued until | August. That all resulted in the pill ing up of many applications. The board was never inclined to rush through with any cases of import ance-particularly a case in which opposition to clemency had been raised--so my petition went without hearing until September.
 Under the new parole law lifers had been arriving at the end of the required Is years and had been re- | leased, until l was then the oldest man in the prison in point of service j. I had then been a prisoner for 15 l years, months and 14 days. count I ing from the time of my arrest, and everything from the mere matter Oi time up to and including the work i ings of the law of compensation seemed to indicate that my time there was drawing to . close.
 O O O
 l Board Meets On Lucky Date. The September meeting came or Saturday, the twentieth. That was | the birth date of one of the most