ALABAMA. 



19 



guard in times of peace, and its only defense in times 

 of trouble. But I am asked, ll>w will you contest the 

 election if the ballot is not numbered? Nothing om 

 be easier. When the votes are counted over and turn 

 out ten more than the number on the poll-list, dis- 

 card ton votes first taken from the box, and the bal- 

 ance take as good. This rule is adopted by several 

 of the States. 



The following resolution relative to changing 

 the manner of choosing Presidential Electors 

 was adopted in the Senate : 



Whereas, Interference by officers of the United 

 States in popular elections is .justly regarded by the 

 people of this State as an evil of great magnitude ; and 



Whereas. The manifest purpose of such interference, 

 in part at least, is to influence and control the action 

 of the State in selecting Electors for President and 

 Vice- President of the United States : therefore 



Itesolced, That the Committee on Foreign Relations 

 be instructed to inquire into the expediency of provid- 

 ing by law for the selection of President and Vice- 

 President by the General Assembly until the acts of 

 Congress authorizing interference by Federal authority 

 are rescinded. 



The division of the State into judicial dis- 

 tricts was accomplished by making the Con- 

 gressional districts constitute the circuits, ex- 

 cept as to the following counties: Kandolph, 

 instead of being in the seventh, is put into the 

 fifth ; Clay, instead of being in the fifth, is put 

 into the seventh ; Marion and Winston, instead 

 of being in the sixth, are put into the eighth. 



The act to organize and regulate the system 

 of public instruction sets apart for the support 

 of the schools and appropriates the following 

 sums, which thus compose the school revenue : 

 The annual interest at 6 per cent, upon all sums 

 of money which have heretofore been received 

 or which may hereafter be received by the 

 State as the proceeds of sales of lands granted 

 or intrusted by the United States to the State, 

 or to the several townships thereof, for school 

 purposes ; the annual interest at 4 per cent, 

 on that part of the surplus revenue of the 

 United States deposited with the State under 

 the act of Congress approved June 23, 1836 ; 

 all the annual rents, incomes, profits, or in- 

 terests arising from the proceeds of sales of 

 all such lands as may hereafter be given 

 by the United States, or by the State, or by 

 individuals, for the support of the public 

 schools; all such sums as may accrue to the 

 State as escheats, which are to be applied to 

 the support of the public schools during the 

 scholastic year next succeeding their receipt 

 in the State Treasury ; also all rents, incomes, 

 and profits received into the State Treasury 

 during the scholastic year, from all lands re- 

 maining unsold, which have heretofore been 

 donated by the Congress of the United States 

 for the support of the public schools ; all 

 licenses which are by law required to be paid 

 into the school fund of any county, the same 

 to be expended for the benefit of the public 

 schools in such county, and all such license-tax 

 shall be promptly paid by the probate judge, 

 or such person collecting such tax, to the 

 County Superintendent of Education ; also the 



further sum of $130,000 from any money in 

 the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The 

 poll-tax of each county shall be retained in the 

 county for the schools thereof. Such poll-tax 

 is fixed at $1.50 on each male inhabitant over 

 twenty-one and less than forty-five years of 

 age. In 1877-'78 it amounted to $109,762. 



The public school officers are a State Su- 

 perintendent of Education, a county and one 

 township superintendent. 



The following three sections of this act re- 

 late to the schools and the children : 



SEC. 48. Be it further enacted. That every town- 

 ship and fraction of a township which is divided by a 

 State or county line, or any other insuperable barrier, 

 such as rivers, creeks, or mountains, and every incor- 

 porated city or town having three thousand inhabit- 

 ants, shall constitute separate school districts, and 

 each shall be under the township superintendent of 

 public Bchools, as to all matters connected with public 

 schools. Each township or other school district, in 

 its corporate capacity as created by law, may hold real 

 and personal property ; and the business of such cor- 

 porations, in relation to public schools and school 

 tandsj shall be managed by the township or district 

 superintendents. * 



SEC. 49. Be it further enacted, That every child 

 between the ages of seven and twenty -one years shall 

 be entitled to admission into, and instructed in any 

 public school of its own race or color in the township 

 in which he or she resides, or to any public school of 

 its own race or color, in the State of Alabama, as here- 

 in provided. 



SEC. 50. Be it farther enacted, That the scholastic 

 year shall begin on the first day of October of each 

 year, and end on the thirtieth day of September of the 

 following year. Twenty days shall constitute a school 

 month. A school day shall comprise not less than 

 six hours. 



According to the report of the Superinten- 

 dent of Education, the number of school dis- 

 tricts in the State in the year 1877-'78 was 

 1,700 ; number of schools taught, white 2,696, 

 colored 1,404; number of teachers employed, 

 white 2,722, colored 1,423 ; grades of schools 

 taught, primary 1,590, intermediate 1,370, 

 grammar 973, high 167; school population, 

 white 214,279, colored 155,168 ; number en- 

 rolled in schools, white 86,485, colored 54,745 ; 

 average attendance in schools, white 61,584, 

 colored 40,092. 



There is a normal school at Florence, upon 

 the most approved plan, for the education of 

 white teachers, male and female. Another, at 

 Marion, is for the education of colored teachers ; 

 and a university, connected therewith, for the 

 education of colored students in the higher de- 

 partments of learning. Another is located at 

 Huntsville in the northern part of the State for 

 the professional education of colored teachers, 

 controlled by a board of three commissioners. 

 Pupils are admitted free of charge, but must 

 bind themselves to teach two years in the pub- 

 lic schools of the State. This institution is in 

 successful operation. 



In the University of Alabama for the year 

 1878 there were 38 degrees conferred. The 

 number of students was 178. At the Agricul- 

 tural and Mechanical College for the same year 

 there were 238 students. The number of stu- 



