ALABAMA. 



AMERICA. 



19 



the State has been able to sell her bonds on 

 satisfactory terms; and most of the railroads 

 whose bonds hare been indorsed by the State 

 have failed to pay the interest thereon. In- 

 deed, this failure was regarded as the cause 

 of all the troubles in credit and finance which 

 embarrassed the Treasury. The sale of the 

 Alabama & Chattanooga road, as authorized by 

 the previous Legislature, had not been made, 

 .in 1 that work had passed into the hands of a 

 receiver. AH the railroads entitled to the 

 benefit of the act for the substitution of State 

 bonds to the amount of $4,000 per mile in lieu 

 of State indorsement of their bonds, gave no- 

 tice, during the year, of their intention to ac- 

 cept of the provisions of the law, except the 

 East Alabama & Cincinnati road. The Selma 

 & Gulf Railroad, which was advertised to be 

 sold under a mortgage to the State for $40,000, 

 did not obtain a purchaser, but went into the 

 li-mds of receivers appointed by the Court of 

 Chancery. The effort was then made to sub- 

 ject it to a lien of certificates to be issued and 

 disbursed by the receivers, which would be 

 paramount to the lien of the first-mortgage 

 bonds of the State. It was apprehended that 

 the success of this effort would result in a de- 

 struction, partial or total, of the first-mort- 

 gage lien of the State on railroads without any 

 compensating benefit to either the State or the 

 roads. 



The system of common-school education 

 adopted by the State has been in operation 

 long enough for a test. It appears to bo too 

 expensive for the benefits received. This is 

 ascribed to the sparseness of the population, 

 to the absorption of the revenues of some of 

 the higher schools by a useless multiplication 

 of unnecessary professorships and salaried offi- 

 cers, and the complication of the machinery. 



The statistics of the penitentiary show an 

 increased number of convicts as compared 

 with former years. The agricultural branch 

 of industry connected with the institution is 

 expected soon to be remunerative. Mean- 

 while, the convicts within the walls are en- 

 1 in manufacturing, under contract, arti- 

 vhich command a ready sale wherever 

 needed. 



The general elections in the State are bien- 

 nial, anil none were held during the year. 



A colored Labor State Convention was held 

 at Montgomery on November 18th. 



The Committee on the Condition of the Col- 

 or -1 People reported that tho colored people 

 of the State were deprived of the free enjoy- 

 iiK-nt of all their rights as citizens, and recom- 

 mended the passage of Mr. Sumner's Civil 

 Rights Bill by Congress, and a similar bill by 

 the Alabama Legislature. 



Tlie Committee on Local Organizations, in 

 obeTienoe to a resolution of instructions, re- 

 port-d a plan of organization for labor coun- 

 cils for (vich county. The plan provided for 

 tli.- flection of an agent for the State at large, 

 and one for each congressional district, and 



for the appointment of an agent for each connty 

 by the president of the convention, to organ- 

 ize councils in each connty. 



The report of the committee was adopted. 



The Committee on Memorials reported a me- 

 morial to the President of the United States, 

 setting forth the destitute condition of the 

 laboring people of Alabama, owing to the fail- 

 ure of the cotton-crop, and asking the Presi- 

 dent, as the head of the Government, to sup- 

 ply them with bread and meat, which memo- 

 rial was adopted. 



The following is an extract from the report : 



Therefore your committee do urge upon the dele- 

 gates to this convention the adoption of the memo- 

 rial herewith presented. Your committee would re- 

 spectfully intorm the convention that, without the 

 adoption of the memorial, many of us, in all por- 

 tions of the State, will be left in a starving con- 

 dition, which will necessarily compel many ot us to 

 emigrate to other States, which would leave many 

 of our friends in the hands and control of their polit- 

 ical enemies, for the reason of their inability to emi- 

 grate from county to county, much less from State to 

 State. Knowing the members of this convention to 

 be the people's representatives from all parts of the 

 State, knowing the wishes of the people, your com- 

 mittee hope the following memorial will be unani- 

 mously adopted by this convention, and properly 

 signea and forwarded to the Executive Department 

 at Washington. 



The Committee on Homesteads reported res- 

 olutions recommending that the Labor Union 

 of Alabama petition the General Assembly to 

 pass a law exempting all homesteads within 

 the State from taxation, provided that the 

 principal crops grown thereon consist of corn, 

 peas, and potatoes, aud in lieu thereof that the 

 taxes be increased on all lands within the State 

 held by monopolists and speculators. 



The report and resolutions were adopted. 



The Committee on Labor and Wages made 

 a report recommending: 1. That the system 

 of working for a share of the crop raised be 

 dispensed with so far as the same is practica- 

 ble; 2. That the interests of the laboring mass- 

 es will be best subserved by their working for 

 a fixed amount of wages per annum, payable 

 monthly in money; 8. A uniform system of 

 written contracts, equally reciprocal toward 

 employer and employ6 ; 4. That wages should 

 be secured by a lien upon real or personal estate 

 of the employer, as the laborer is not respon- 

 sible for any failure of crops ; and, 5. That sep- 

 arate contracts be made by each laborer, and 

 that the " squad " system be abolished ; and 

 that, wherever it is possible, laborers should 

 purchase small tracts of land on long time, se- 

 curing the same by mortgage. 



After considerable discussion, the report of 

 the committee was adopted. 



AMERICA. In the States of North Amer- 

 ica the year 1873 was one of peaceful pros- 

 perity. Except a contest with a small band 

 of Modoc Indians, no hostile acts were com- 

 mitted in the United States. The relations of 

 that country with Spain were somewhat dis- 

 turbed in consequence of the capture by the 



