GEORGIA. 



365 



2,511. Of this number 583 were discharged by 

 expiration of their sentence, 107 died, 72 were 

 pardoned, 13 returned to court for new trial, 40 

 escaped, and 2 were sent to the insane asylum, 

 leaving 1,694 on the rolls on Oct. 1, 1890, of whom 

 1,478 were colored males, 48 colored females, and 

 168 white males. 



The State Railroad. Under the act of Nov. 

 12, 1889, bids for the lease of the Western and 

 Atlantic Railroad were advertised for, to be sub- 

 mitted in writing on or before June 27, 1890. 

 Two bids only were submitted. The bid of the 

 Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, of- 

 fering $35.001 a month for twenty-nine years, was 

 accepted. The State thereby derives a handsome 

 revenue and still retains her ownership of the 

 road. There are unsettled questions between 

 the outgoing lessees and the State, for which the 

 Legislature in December provided a mode of set- 

 tlement. The leased road runs from Atlanta to 

 Chattanooga, Tenn., and the lessees thereby ob- 

 tain a through line from Atlanta to St. Louis. 



Confederate Pensions. The law giving 

 small bounties to Confederate soldiers has been in 

 operation since 1887, during which time the num- 

 ber of beneficiaries under the law has increased 

 from 1,900 to 3,100. ' The total payments to 

 these applicants aggregate about $180,000. Be- 

 sides the large number who are paid, hundreds 

 of applications are rejected after an examination 

 which, as a rule, is more laborious than that be- 

 stowed upon those that are approved. The 

 amendment to the Constitution to pension a cer- 

 tain class of widows of deceased Confederate sol- 

 diers, which was ratified by the people on Oct. 1, 

 1890, will materially increase the labor connected 

 with pension applications. 



County Jails. The last message of the Gov- 

 ernor contains the following comments upon 

 this subject : 



The jails of many of the counties of the State are 

 filthy, unhealthy, insecure, and altogether unfit for 

 the confinement of human beings. The officials of 

 the Penitentiary represent that many of the convicts 

 received by them, who have been* incarcerated in 

 county jails for some time, reach the Penitentiary 

 camps loathsome with filth and disease, covered with 

 vermin, and seriously enfeebled in constitution. The 

 interiors of some of these jails are too disgusting for 

 description. Their inmates are often crowded together 

 in filthy apartments, without regard to sex or color, 

 without sufficient air or light, or water, or food, or 

 clothing, or fire, in utter disregard of all the laws of 

 health. The convicts in our Penitentiary who are 

 condemned criminals are infinitely batter cared for 

 than the inmates of many of our jails, who are inno- 

 cent in contemplation of law until they have been 

 tried and convicted. The Legislature should regu- 

 late the construction of our jails, so that they may 

 have sufficient light and ventilation and warmth and 

 area. _ It should prescribe such rules for the regimen 

 and diet of prisoners, and for their proper classifica- 

 tion and division in dormitories, as are required by 

 good morals, by humanity, and by the laws of scien- 

 tific sanitation. 



Direct Trade Conyention. On Aug. 25 

 Gov. Gordon, at the suggestion of the State Al- 

 liance, issued an invitation to the Governors of 

 the cotton-producing States to meet at Atlanta 

 on Sept. 10, and each Governor appointing six 

 delegates from his State to accompany him, for 

 the purpose of considering the subject of estab- 

 lishing direct trade with Liverpool. This invita- 



tion brought together delegates from Tennessee, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and 

 Florida. There were also present delegates from 

 the State Alliance. The following resolution 

 embodies the result of the meeting : 



That this convention recommend the selection by 

 the Alliance of each Southern State of a delegation of 

 twelve, and by each organized commercial body of 

 each city in the South of one from each of such bodies, 

 to meet in Atlanta on the second Wednesday of Janu- 

 ary, 1891, to perfect the details for the organization of 

 two companies to promote direct trade and to perfect 

 a plan for soliciting subscriptions to the stock of such 

 companies. 



Political. During 1889 the growth of the 

 Farmers' Alliance and the extension of its or- 

 ganization in the State was so rapid that when, 

 early this year, it began to take part in politics, 

 it soon found itself able to dictate terms to the 

 Democratic party. Early in April the State Al- 

 liance announced, through its executive officers, 

 that every candidate for office, in order to receive 

 the Alliance support, must pledge himself to cer- 

 tain principles, the following among others : 



To support and do all in their power to further leg- 

 islation restricting railroads. 



To a revision of the present public-school system, 

 thereby affording more extended facilities for common 

 education.. 



To such changes in the penitentiary system as will 

 ameliorate the condition and treatment of the con- 

 victs, and as soon as possible the system be so changed 

 that all able-bodied male convicts shall be worked on 

 the public highways, and that special provisions be 

 made for workhouses for women and children. 



To a reduction of State and national taxes. Assert- 

 ing that taxes should only ^be levied for revenue, and 

 that to an economical and judicious administration. 



That in the revision of the protective tariff, the 

 burdens now resting on the agricultural and labor- 

 ing classes shall be lessened to the greatest possible 

 extent. 



That our representatives in the national Legisla- 

 ture shall advocate the passage of such laws as will 

 prevent speculation and combines that seek to inter- 

 fere with prices of prime necessities and productions. 



To an abolition of the national banking system, and 

 the substitution of legal Treasury notes in lieu of na- 

 tional bank notes, and in sufficient volume, in con- 

 junction with gold and silver, to do the business of 

 the country on a cash basis. 



That the Sub-Treasury bill of the National Alliance 

 now pending in Congress, or some better system for 

 the relief of the struggling masses, be passed. 



This measuring rod was so rigorously used 

 that scarcely a candidate for any office, State or 

 national, was able to secure a Democratic nomi- 

 nation without putting himself on record in 

 favor of these or similar measures and avowing 

 full sympathy with the Alliance. 



For the Democratic gubernatorial nomination 

 William J. Northen, President of the State Agri- 

 cultural Society, had been an acknowledged as- 

 pirant since early in 1889. No one had appeared 

 openly to oppose his candidacy, when early in June 

 the Alliance adopted him as its candidate. This 

 action practically assured his nomination, and no 

 one afterward entered the contest against him, 

 except Col. Thomas Hardeman, who withdrew 

 late in June without attempting a serious can- 

 vass. At the Democratic State Convention held 

 at Atlanta on Aug. 7, Northen was nominated 

 by acclamation. The ticket was completed by 

 the renomination of Secretary of State Cook, 



