8 



ALABAMA. 



the most excellent bread ; but when you came 

 to feed on it you found it was powdered glass, 

 and you had been eating the deadliest poison." 



These are but a few of the examples that 

 abound in contemporary literature. For Prof. 

 Huxley's own views, the reader is referred to 

 his works, especially such essays and chapters 

 as are semi-religious or speculative. While 

 Prof. Huxley is, as has been seen, popularly 

 and no doubt rightly credited with having 

 originated the term agnostic, in its modern 

 acceptation, he is by no means the founder of 

 the school that holds to a belief solely in ma- 

 terial things. The Grecian sophists, and proba- 

 bly more anciently still the various Chinese 

 and Oriental schools, taught and teach similar 

 theories. In more recent times Descartes, 

 Kant, David Hume, John Stuart Mill, and oth- 

 ers have followed out trains of thought more 

 or less identical, but all suggestive, whether 

 just or not, of atheism. With Huxley the re- 

 pudiation of atheism was strongly emphasized, 

 but his orthodox opponents have never been 

 willing to admit that he and his contempora- 

 ries succeeded in freeing themselves from the 

 implied charge. As popularly phrased by the 

 "Saturday Review," it is held to be "atheism 

 writ large " ; and yet, when candidly examined, 

 the agnostic creed can hardly be distinguished 

 from those of the more liberal Christian sects. 

 It is an accepted principle of law that a court 

 may properly decide as to the scope of its own 

 jurisdiction, and a school of religion or phi- 

 losophy should in like manner, and in good 

 faith be permitted to interpret its own belief. 

 While repudiating the charge of atheism, the 

 agnostics have frankly admitted their inability 

 to define or individualize their conception of a 

 deity. Perhaps it is not unnatural that those 

 sects which accept the teachings of the Old and 

 the New Testament, in this regard, should con- 

 sider non-acceptance as equivalent to atheism. 

 Some of the more important of the essays bear- 

 ing upon this subject are as follows: "Agnos- 

 ticism," sermons delivered in St. Peter's, Cran- 

 ley Gardens, by the Rev. A. W. Momcrie, (Ed- 

 inburgh and London, 1887) ; " Agnosticism 

 and Women," " Nineteenth Century," vol. vii, 

 by B. Lathbury ; " Agnosticism and Women," 

 a reply, " Nineteenth Century," vol. vii, by 

 J. H. Clapperton ; " Confessions of an Agnos- 

 tic," "North American Review"; "The As- 

 sumptions of Agnostics," " Fortnightly Re- 

 view," vol. xiii, by St. George Mivart ; " An 

 Agnostic's Apology," " Fortnightly Review," 

 vol. xix, by Leslie Stephen; "Variety as an 

 Aim in Nature," "Contemporary Review," No- 

 vember, 1871, by the Duke of Argyle. 



ALABAMA. State Government, The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Thomas Seay, Democrat; Secretary of 

 State, 0. Cl Langdon ; Treasurer, Frederick 

 H. Smith, succeeded by John L. Cobbs; Audi- 

 tor, Malcolm C. Burke, succeeded by Cyrus D. 

 Hogue; Attorney-General, Thomas N. McClel- 

 lan ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 



Solomon Palmer ; Commissioner of Agricult- 

 ure, Rufus F. Kolb ; Railroad Commissioners, 

 Henry R. Shorter, Levi W. Lawler, W. C. 

 Tunstall ; Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 George W. Stone ; Associate Justices, David 

 Clopton and H. M. Somerville. 



Finances. The balance in the treasury on 

 Oct. 1, 1887, was $276,488.82, and on the same 

 date in 1888 it was $555,587.87. During the 

 year, in accordance with a law passed by the 

 last Legislature, the entire school-fund, hither- 

 to retained in the counties and disbursed there, 

 was paid into the State treasury. Of this fund, 

 there was in the treasury at the latter date 

 $181,301.21 ; leaving the actual balance for 

 general purposes, after deducting this and 

 other special funds, $316,916.39. The bonded 

 debt of the State remains the same as in 1887. 

 An act of the last Legislature providing for re- 

 funding the 6-per-cent. bonds amounting to 

 $954,000 into S^-per-cents. has not yet been 

 complied with by the Governor, as the former 

 bonds are not redeemable till 1890, and he asks 

 an extension of his power till that time. The 

 tax valuation of the State in 1886 was $173,808,- 

 097 ; in 1887, $214,925,869. And for the pres- 

 ent year about $223,000,000. 



Education. The report of the State Superin- 

 tendent of Education for the year ending Sept. 

 30, 1887, presents the following statistics: 

 Outside of the cities and special school districts, 

 3,658 schools for white pupils and 1,925 for 

 colored pupils were maintained; the total num- 

 ber of pupils enrolled in the former being 

 153,304, and in the latter 98,396. The average 

 daily attendance was 93,723 in the white 

 schools, and 63,995 in the colored. During 

 this time the total number of white children 

 within school age was 272,730; of colored 

 children, 212,821. There were 2,413 male 

 teachers in the white schools and 1,237 female; 

 1,264 colored male teachers and 569 female. 

 The average length of the school year was 

 only 70 5 days, a decrease of over sixteen 

 days from figures of the previous year, due 

 to the omission of returns from the city and 

 (pecial district schools in this report. The 

 total sum available to the State for school pur- 

 poses during the year was $515,989.95, and 

 the expenditures amounted to $527,319.88, 

 necessitating the use of a portion of the unex- 

 pended balance of former years. The schools 

 of the State stand in urgent need of stronger 

 financial support. For several years the school 

 fund has been increased but slightly, while the 

 school population has been steadily growing in 

 numbers, being 32,614 greater at the close of 

 the school year in 1887 than in the previous 

 year. The per capita disbursement by the 

 State in 1887, being about seventy cents, is less 

 than in many of the Southern States. 



The Convict System. The contracts under 

 which the convicts sentenced to the State Peni- 

 tentiary had been previously employed, expired 

 by their terms on the first of January, and. in 

 accordance with the law, proposals were issued 



