10 



ALABAMA. 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



and at the base were wanting to render the 

 memorial complete. 



Miscellaneous. An improvement in the treat- 

 ment of the State convicts was made this year 

 by the passage of an act establishing a reform- 

 atory system for them, but the practice of 

 hiring them out still leaves much room for 

 improvement, especially in the case of county 

 convicts. Of these the State Inspector says : 

 " They are scattered over the State in such a 

 way as to make it almost impossible to prop- 

 erly inspect them and ascertain their real con- 

 dition. It seems probable that this state of 

 affairs is going to become worse, as new con- 

 tracts are being made by many of the coun- 

 ties, and some of these are in exceedingly in- 

 accessible localities." 



Early in the year ex-State Treasurer Vincent, 

 who, in 1883, embezzled $225,000 of the State 

 funds, was brought back, tried, convicted, and 

 sentenced. 



The burning of the building occupied by the 

 State Agricultural and Mechanical College, 

 on June 24, caused a loss of $100,000 to the 

 State, and the destruction of valuable cabinets 

 and apparatus. 



Development. The following statement shows 

 the increase of assessments and taxes on rail- 

 roads in the State for this year, as compared 

 with last, also the increase of mileage : 



Total value for 1887 $27,939,771 23 



Total value for 1886 23,688,431 01 



Increased assessment $4,251.340 25 



Tax on $27,939,771.26 at 55 cents on $100. . . . 

 Tax on $23,638,431.01 at 60 cents on the $100. 



Increase of taxes. 



71 

 142,180 58 



$11.538 16 



Miles reported in 1886 ....................... 2,068 94 



MiJes reported in 1887 ....................... 2,135 82 



The towns and cities of the mineral belt 

 have advanced rapidly, while the agricultural 

 districts remain stationary. In Jefferson Coun- 

 ty, which contains the city of Birmingham, the 

 valuations were fixed by the assessors for this 

 year at $30,000,000, an increase of $17,500,- 

 000, or more than 100 per cent, over 1886. 

 The iron industry has grown so rapidly that the 

 pig-iron production of the State has increased 

 from 130,000 tons in 1880 to nearly 400,000 

 tons in 1887. The production of cotton during 

 this time shows comparatively little change. 

 The movements of the population, and the 

 change at work upon them, are noteworthy. 

 "Already many of the planters of the Black 

 Belt have taken all the money they have here- 

 tofore invested in cotton- raising and have in- 

 vested it in real estate and industries in Bir- 

 mingham. The chief danger in the impending 

 change is in the fact that the lands are falling 

 into the hands of men who will be inclined to 

 consolidate it in large holdings, and that the 

 poor man will not get a chance for a small 

 farm. All the mineral lands are now owned 

 by corporations, and wherever there is a sign 

 of speculative value land companies have been 

 formed." 



ANGLICAN CHPRCHES. The " Year-Book " of 

 the Church of England for 1887, being the 

 fifth number of that publication, embodies in- 

 formation furnished by 11.500 of the nearly 

 14,000 clergymen of the Church. In 80 per 

 cent, of the parishes, 1,182,000 communicants 

 were returned on Easter of 1885. The church- 

 es provided 3,000,665 free and 1,000,497 paid 

 sittings. The amount of voluntary offerings 

 during the year was given as 5,000,000 : in 

 addition to which, 1,000,000 were raised in 

 the educational department, 16,000 for theo- 

 logical schools, and 10,000 for public schools. 



Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The 

 report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 

 gives the following summary of the work ac- 

 complished by the commissioners in the aug- 

 mentation and endowment of benefices during 

 a period of forty-six years, from 1840 (when 

 the common fund was first created), to the 

 31st of October, 1886 : number of benefices en- 

 dowed, 5,400 ; amount of grants made in the 

 augmentation and endowment of these bene- 

 fices, about 754,000 per annum in perpetuity, 

 or in capital value about 22,624,000. The 

 benefactions by private donors, consisting of 

 stock, cash, land, tithes, and other property, 

 received by or conveyed to the commissioners 

 or to the incumbents of benefices, amount to 

 about 4,620,000, and are equivalent to a per- 

 manent increase of the endowments of bene- 

 fices of about 154,000 per annum. There is, 

 moreover, a sum of about 26,000 per annum 

 contributed by benefactors to meet the com- 

 missioners' grants for curates in mining dis- 

 tricts. The total increase in the incomes of 

 benefices from the augmentation and endow- 

 ments made by the commissioners, or through 

 their instrumentality, amounted, therefore, up 

 to the 31st of October, 1886, to about 934,- 

 000 per annum, and may be taken to represent 

 the income which would bo derived from a 

 capital sum of about 28,024,000. 



Convocation of Canterbury. The Convocation 

 of Canterbury met on Feb. 8. The subject 

 of a union of the two convocations was con- 

 sidered in both houses. The lower house 

 having requested the president (archbishop) 

 "to direct the appointment of a committee to 

 consider and report on the relations subsisting 

 between the convocations of Canterbury and 

 York, with a view to their common action," 

 the archbishop said that it was not desirable 

 that there should be a mere fusion or union of 

 the two convocations. Each should preserve 

 its integrity. A conference of the two bodies 

 would be very serviceable ; and in such a case 

 nothing would be gained by the separation of 

 the bishops into one and the presbyters into 

 another conference, but the conference ought 

 to be held in one combined house. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to consider the subject. 

 In response to a request that an effort be made 

 to secure a reduction of the rate of interest on 

 loans by the Queen Anne's Bounty Office, the 

 committee reported its opinion to be that the 



