ALABAMA. 



in 1891-'92. Exports of staves were 319,262 

 pieces, value $33,673. against 190,000 pieces, 

 value $25,000, in 1892-'93. 



Cotton. The receipts of cotton amounted to 

 215,116 bales, against 182,884 last year, showing 

 an increase of 32,232 bales. 



Fruit. Probably the business which flour- 

 ished most during the year was the fruit busi- 

 ness. There were imported during the fruit sea- 

 son 104,810 pineapples, against 87,399 last season ; 

 613,385 loose oranges, against 163,750 ; 62,718 

 boxes of oranges, against 48,725 ; 819 barrels 

 of oranges, against 160 ; 27,500 lemons, against 

 2,278; 157,175 plantains, against 75,000; 1,530,- 

 344 bunches of bananas, against 365,610; and 

 5,018,150 cocoanuts, against 2,963,415. There are 

 15 iron steamships employed in bringing ba- 

 nanas to Mobile. 



Coal. The receipts of Alabama coal were 

 111,660 tons, against 86,293 tons last season. Of 

 this amount, 23,539 tons were exported. 



Political. This year, like 1892, was one of 

 unusual political excitement in the State. The 

 old contest for supremacy between the Kolb fac- 

 tion of the Democratic party and the regular 

 Democratic organization was prosecuted with in- 

 creased zeal and bitterness. The followers of 

 Mr. Kolb, who styled themselves Jeffersonian 

 Democrats, met in convention at Birmingham 

 on Feb. 8, and nominated a ticket for State of- 

 ficers headed by their leader, Reuben F. Kolb, 

 for Governor, which included the following 

 nominees : J. C. Fonville for Secretary of State, 

 Thomas K. Jones for Treasurer, W. T. B. Lynch 

 for Auditor, Warren S. Reese, Jr., for Attorney- 

 General, J. P. Oliver for Superintendent of Edu- 

 cation, and S. M. Adams for Commissioner of 

 Agriculture. This ticket was adopted by the 

 State Convention of the Populist party, which 

 met at Birmingham at the same time. The plat- 

 form of the Jeffersonian Democrats contained the 

 following declarations : 



We demand a free vote and an honest count. 



We demand the passage of a contest law for State 

 officers. 



We demand the free coinage of gold and silver on 

 the basis of 16 to 1. 



We demand the expansion of the circulating me- 

 dium by corporate enterprises. 



We demand a tariff for revenue, and that the reve- 

 nue necessary to meet the expenses of the Govern- 

 ment be raised so far as possible by a tariff' on impor- 

 tations, and that this tariff be so levied as to protect 

 the laborer in the mines, the mills, the shops, and on 

 the farms and their products, against the labor of 

 foreign countries. 



We demand a national graduated tax on salaries or 

 incomes in excess of reasonable expenditures for the 

 comforts and necessities of life. 



We favor more liberal educational facilities for the 

 masses, and a better and more efficient administration 

 of the school laws. 



We demand that the convicts shall be removed 

 from the mines. 



We demand that the present lien laws be so 

 amended as to give miners the same benefits accorded 

 to_ other laborers, and the enactment of such laws as 

 will secure to them payments of wages in lawful 

 money semimonthly. 



The platform of the Populists ratified the na- 

 tional platform of the party, demanded a free 

 ballot and a fair count, opposed State banks, and 

 embraced the following declarations : 



We denounce the Sayre election law as partisan, 

 and open to the commission of frauds, for wnicli no 

 remedy is provided and no penalty affixed, and we 

 pledge ourselves to repeal or amend it so as to secure 

 fair and honest elections, as soon as we obtain control 

 of the State government. 



We denounce the extravagant methods of the 

 present defacto State administration by which taxes 

 have been increased and large sums of money bor- 

 rowed at high rates of interest to defray expenses of 

 the current year. 



We would discourage the spirit of emigration among 

 the colored people, and encourage them to be honest 

 and industrious, by dealing fairly with them and ac- 

 cording to them their rights under the law. We are 

 in favor, however, of having the General Government 

 set apart sufficient territory to constitute a State, 

 given exclusively to the colored race, to which they 

 may voluntarily go, and in which they alone shall be 

 entitled to suffrage and citizenship. 



The State Convention of the regular Demo- 

 cratic party met at Montgomery on May 22. 

 There had been an ante-convention contest for 

 the gubernatorial nomination between William 

 C. Gates and Hon. Joseph F. Johnston, which 

 resulted in the success of the former at the pri- 

 maries. When the convention met, Gates was 

 nominated on the first ballot, receiving 272 votes 

 to 232 for Johnston. The remainder of the ticket 

 was completed as follows : For Secretary of State. 

 James Kirkman Jackson ; for Treasurer, J. Craig 

 Smith ; for Auditor, John Purifoy ; for Attorney- 

 General, William C. Fitts; for Superintendent 

 of Education, John 0. Turner; for Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, Hector D. Lane. 



A platform was adopted which^is noteworthy 

 for its approval of the national Administration. 

 The convention took this action in spite of the 

 well-known hostility of Senator Morgan to the 

 Administration, and in spite of the fact that he 

 had just entered upon a campaign for re-election 

 by severely attacking the President. Other dec- 

 larations of the platform were as follow : 



AVe pledge to the people of Alabama a continuance 

 of the good government of our State affairs inaugu- 

 rated by the election of George S. Houston in 1874. 



The election law enacted at the last session of our 

 General Assembly is in accordance with the princi- 

 ples upon which are based the laws regulating elec- 

 tions in a large majority of the States of this Union, 

 without regard to party, and intend to obtain at the 

 ballot box a full and "free expression of the popular 

 will. We believe in giving it a fair trial, and should 

 it fail to accomplish the end which it was intended to 

 effect, we pledge ourselves to make such changes and 

 alterations therein as may be necessary to effect that 

 end. 



We pledge our party to the maintenance of a sys- 

 tem of free public schools, and to increase the appro- 

 priations for that purpose whenever the financial con- 

 dition of the State will permit. 



On May 31 the Republican State Convention 

 met at Birmingham and adopted the Kolb ticket. 

 All the other political factions in the State were 

 therefore united in opposition to the regular De- 

 mocracy. An exciting campaign followed, in 

 which money from the North was sent into the 

 State for the purpose of aiding in the overthrow 

 of Democracy ; but the result was again in favor 

 of the existing regime. At the August election 

 the entire regular ticket was elected, Gates re- 

 ceiving 110,830 votes for Governor and Kolb 

 83,309. Two amendments to the State Con- 

 stitution were submitted to the people at this 

 time, and both were defeated, neither receiving 



