666 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (ALABAMA.) 



and they were delivered up to J. W. Storey at 

 Greenville, where they were taken to jail. 



Railroads. The report of the Railroad Com- 

 mission for the year ending June 30 shows that 

 the total gross earnings of all railroads in Ala- 

 bama were $21,773,220.26. The operating ex- 

 penses were $16,076,838.08, leaving the net earn- 

 ings $5,696,382.18. 



Figured by the mileage, the average gross earn- 

 ings per mile of Alabama railroads for the same 

 period were $4,353.74.. The operating expenses per 

 mile were $3,198, leaving the net earnings per 

 mile $1,155.74. The total mileage of main-line 

 tracks in Alabama is 4,145.44. In the year 151.77 

 miles of new track were built. 



The assessment of railroad property was in- 

 creased by the State board this year by $2,399,- 

 74.40, the whole amount being $50,577,913.23. 



Insurance. The annual report on insurance 

 by the Secretary of State, cx-officio insurance com- 

 missioner, was published in May. It covers the 

 year 1900, showing that the receipts were $54,- 

 898.31 and the expenditures $2,412.15. 



In 1900 10 fire and marine insurance companies 

 were admitted into the State, and 3 withdrew. 

 Three life insurance companies were admitted to 

 the State and 1 withdrew. 



Banks. The Eufaula National Bank closed its 

 doors Oct. 21. The United States marshal ar- 

 rested the president and the cashier on a charge 

 of illegally using the bank's funds. 



This failure followed not long after that of 

 the Shelby County Bank, at Montevallo, for which 

 the cashier was arrested charged with embezzling 

 $10,000. 



Products and Resources. The output of coal 

 in 1900 is given as 8,500,000 tons; in 1890 it was 

 3,572,983 tons; in 1880 only 323,972 tons. 



Official figures on the iron trade of Alabama 

 and Tennessee for the calendar year 1900 show 

 total shipments of pig iron amounting to 1,327,741 

 tons, of which the Birmingham district furnished 

 817,972 tons. 



Figures of the production for the first eight 

 months of 1901 are compiled from reports of the 

 Southern Iron Committee. The shipments of pig 

 iron from Alabama and Tennessee during the 

 months named amounted to 985,404 tons, against 

 835,949 tons for the same period in 1900. The 

 steel shipments amounted to 38,632 tons for the 

 first eight months of the year. 



In a report of the geologist I. W. Otley on the 

 oil-fields in the Russellville and Riverton valley 

 section of north Alabama, he says : " This field 

 is an extension of the great Appalachian oil-belt 

 from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The develop- 

 ments of this section of Alabama will undoubt- 

 edly prove a very rich field in both illuminating 

 and lubricating oils. The essential geological fea- 

 tures in much of this territory are so pointed that 

 the question of securing oil in paying quantities 

 is only secondary. The structural arrangement 

 is such that the pools are necessarily broad, and 

 when the catastrophes have been sufficient, but 

 not too violent, deep pools may be anticipated." 



The director of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey submitted a sketch of the resources of the 

 Coosa valley, which was to be used in support of 

 an amendment to the river and harbor bill making 

 appropriation for improvement of the Coosa river. 

 He found that there were numerous gold-bearing 

 veins, which, although the ore is generally low- 

 grade, contain a very large amount of the metal 

 and can be worked at a profit wherever trans- 

 portation facilities are favorable ; and that galena 

 or lead ore occurs at numerous localities in the 

 Coosa valley. 



Other minerals occurring in the valley are mar- 

 ble, limestone, dolomite, clays, barite, yellow 

 ocher, silica, graphite, mica, and feldspar. 



A census bulletin gives the cotton-crop of the 

 State as 1,103,690 bales; gross weight, 539,259,644 

 pounds. Mr. Hester's report in September gave 

 the consumption in cotton-mills of the State as 

 164,357 bales. The estimated cotton acreage for 

 1901 was 3,449,751. 



Labor. From an abstract of a report on Child 

 Labor in Alabama, by Irene M. Ashby, is taken 

 the following : " She estimates that between 800 

 arid 900 children under twelve are working for 

 wages, with perhaps half as many helping their 

 brothers and sisters without pay. She finds that 

 these children are employed on an average sixty- 

 six hours a week, and that there is no law against 

 night work." 



Lawlessness.^ Lynchings of negroes have 

 been reported as having taken place this year 

 at or near Wilsonville, Georgiana, Athens, Tal- 

 lassee, Leeds, Enterprise, and Chestnut Grove. 

 The crimes charged were: 1, arson; 1, murder; 

 3, assaults upon white women; and 2, injuring 

 white men. One was burned, 1 shot, and the 

 others hanged. On Aug. 28 one of the men who 

 confessed to having taken part in the lynching of 

 Robert White, a negro who had wounded a white 

 man with whom he had quarreled, was convicted 

 of murder and sentenced to imprisonment for life. 



At Ashville, Aug. 22, a negro named Brown 

 was tried for assaulting a white woman, con- 

 victed, and sentenced to death. A mob collected 

 and attempted to take the prisoner from the sher- 

 iff, after the trial, when a battle ensued between 

 the mob and the officers, in which several were 

 wounded, two, it was thought, fatally. These 

 two were leaders of the mob. The Governor or- 

 dered troops to Ashville, but the order was coun- 

 termanded when it was learned that the prisoner 

 had been taken to Birmingham. The sheriff was 

 afterward tried for firing into the mob. Gov. 

 Jelks said in answer to criticism of his action 

 in sending a company of militia to prote^* the 

 sheriff during this trial : " It was represented to 

 me by the best men in the county that North was 

 in danger. I could not have forgiven myself had 

 I left him to suffer for an official act which, so 

 far as I know, has had the approval of the entire 

 county. The sheriffs of the State may understand 

 that in all lawful discharges of their duty I will 

 protect them in so far as my office allows." 



One of the first official utterances of the late 

 Gov. Samford was a letter addressed to the pre- 

 siding judge of the Fourth Circuit in regard to a 

 lynching in Perry County, calling upon him to 

 take steps to punish the lynchers. A similar let- 

 ter was sent to the presiding judge of the Twelfth 

 Circuit, in reference to a lynching in Henry Coun- 

 ty. Both occurred in December, 1900. 



Movement for Annexation. For some time 

 the citizens of western Florida have been discuss- 

 ing the question of the annexation of that section 

 to Alabama. At a meeting held at Pensacola in 

 January resolutions were passed declaring such" 

 annexation to be for the interest of west Florida, 

 and providing for a committee to present the 

 subject to the legislatures of the two States. The 

 counties involved are Escambia, Santa Rosa, 

 Walton, Holmes, Washington, Jackson, and Cal- 

 houn, with a total population of 94,377. 



The action of the Legislature on this question 

 will be found below. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature con- 

 vened Nov. 13, 1900, and was finally adjourned 

 March 5, 1901. having been in session fifty days. 

 After effecting permanent organization the 



