s 



ALABAMA. 



years previous to 1 880, in the counties of Mo- 

 bile and Baldwin, and more recently on the 

 lands of the pine belt contiguous to the Mobile 

 and Ohio Railroad. An equal area will be 

 subjected to the same devastation within the 

 next five or six years. 



The belt of long-leaf pine traversing the 

 center of Alabama from its eastern limits to 

 near its western borders, extends over 550 or 

 600 square miles. By numerous measurements 

 it was ascertained to average fully 5,000 feet 

 to the acre. The amount of timber standing 

 has been estimated at 1,750,000,000 feet, board 

 measure. 



The lumber business is most actively carried 

 on along the North and South division of the 

 Louisville and Nashville Railroad in Chilton 

 and Autauga counties. Eighteen million feet, 

 board measure, were shipped in 1880 from the 

 mills of one company to Northern markets; 

 and 50,000,000 feet can be taken as the an- 

 nual average product of the mills along the 

 above-named railroad line. To these must be 

 added the 24,000,000 feet produced by the mills 

 along the Selma, Rome, and Dalton Railroad, 

 bringing the annual products of this interior 

 timber belt to 92,000,000 feet. In view of these 

 facts, and the estimated amount of timber 

 standing, its timber supplies will be exhausted 

 in less than a quarter of a century from 1880. 

 The less extensive pine-forests in the interior 

 of Alabama, fronting Coosa river, and the de- 

 tached patch in Walker county, bear a timber 

 growth equal to any in the State, which lias 

 been estimated to add another 1,080,000,000 

 feet to its timber wealth. 



Cotton-Factories. On June 1, 1880, Alabama 

 had 55,072 spindles and 1,060 looms in opera- 

 tion ; on Jan. 1, 1884, 82,057 spindles and 1,614 

 looms. 



Education. The latest report of the Superin- 

 tendent of Education covers the year ending 

 Sept. 30, 1883. The amount of the public 

 school fund for the year was $418,006.22, of 

 which $136,733.12 consisted of the poll-tax col- 

 lected and retained in the counties, $130,000 

 was the annual legislative appropriation, and 

 the balance consisted of the income of invest- 

 ments and unexpended balances. Of the total, 

 $263,652.47 was apportioned to cities and coun- 

 ties. The expenditures during the year were 

 as follow : 



Amount paid to teachers of white schools $252,739 58 



Amount paid to touchers of colored schools 167,397 97 



Amount of salaries of county and city superin- 

 tendents : 12,223 8T 



Amount paid to normal schools 15,5oo 00 



Amount of contingent expenses 631 18 



Total $448,497 50 



The foregoing statement of expenditures in- 

 cludes $31,671.66, derived from local sources 

 in Mobile county and city. 



SUMMARY OF STATISTICS. 



Number of children enumerated, white 225,048 



Number of children enumerated, colored 178.858 



Total 408,901 



Number of pupils enrolled in white schools 120,098 



Number of pupils enrolled in colored schools ....... 80,420 



Total... "200,518 



Average daily attendance in white schools . . 

 Average daily attendance in colored schools 



73,878 

 53,143 



Total 127,016 



Total number of teachers employed 4,717 



Average monthly pay of teachers in white schools. . . $22 70 

 Average monthly pay of teachers in colored schools.. 22 10 



Average duration of white schools, in days 



Average duration of colored schools, in days 69 '8 



Amount expended in 1SS3 $448,497 50 



Amount expended in 18S2 403,601 98 



Increase $44,695 52 



Number of pupils enrolled in schools,! 883 200,513 



Number of pupils enrolled in schools, 1882 . 1 77,428 



Increase . 



23,085 



The public schools of the cities of Birming- 

 ham, Eufaula, Huntsville, Montgomery, and 

 Selma are mainly supported by local appropri- 

 ations. The normal schools are at Florence, 

 Marion, Huntsville, and Tuskegee. The Legis- 

 lature at its late session established two addi- 

 tional ones for the education of white teachers, 

 with an annual appropriation to each of $2,500. 

 One of these is to be at Jacksonville, the other 

 at Livingston. The Legislature, at its late ses- 

 sion, having increased the annual appropriation 

 for the support of the public schools $100,000, 

 the total fund for the year 1863-'84 is estimated 

 at $510,000. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met in Montgomery on the 4th of June, and 

 nominated the following ticket : 



For Governor, Edward A. O'Neal ; for Secretary of 

 State, Ellis Phelan ; State Treasurer. Fred H. Smith ; 

 Auditor, M. C. Burke ; Attorney-General, Thomas 

 N. McClellan ; Superintendent of Education, Solo- 

 mon Palmer. 



The platform adopted contained the follow- 

 ing: 



Ten years ago, "with a tax rate of 7i mills, there was 

 produced only "about $800,000 of revenue, and the ex- 

 penses of government were about $1,500,000; while 

 now, with a rate of 6i mills, we have raised and 

 expended for the past year about $1,100,000, and 

 the result is that notwithstanding the large amount 

 lost by the late State Treasurer's default, there is now 

 in the Treasury a larger amount, over and above lia- 

 bilities, than at any previous time in the State's his- 

 tory. 



The management of the State convicts, a most trou- 

 blesome and difficult matter theoretically and practi- 

 cally, though new and imperfect in some respects, is 

 approaching a solution in a manner consonant with 

 the humane ideas of the age ; at the same time that 

 justice is done to the guilty, the State's financial in- 

 terest guarded, and the health and comfort of convicts 

 being now carefully protected. 



The Republican State Convention was held 

 in Montgomery on the 15th of April. Dele- 

 gates to the Republican National Convention 

 to be held in Chicago were chosen, and presi- 

 dential electors were nominated. The plat- 

 form contained the following: 



We demand in the interest of home labor and the 

 development of the vast wealth of Alabama in iron- 

 ore, coal, and other minerals, as well as for the en- 

 couragement of all our now growing and progressive 

 industries, and to afford the farmer a market at his 



