310 



GEORGIA. 



GEORGIA, a Southern State, one of the orig- 

 inal thirteen, ratified the Constitution Jan. 2, 1788 ; 

 area, 59,475 square miles. The population in 

 1890 was 1,837,353, of whom 858,996 were col- 

 ored. Capital, Atlanta. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, William J. 

 Northen ; Secretary of State, Philip Cook, who 

 died May 21, and was succeeded by A. D. Can- 

 dler ; Comptroller-General, William A. Wright ; 

 Treasurer, Robert U. Hardeman ; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral. Joseph M. Terrell ; Adjutant-General, J. 

 Mclntosh Kell ; Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 Robert T. Nesbitt ; State School Commissioner, 

 S. D. Brad well all Democrats ; Railroad Com- 

 missioners, Allen -Fort, L. N. Trammell, and 

 Virgil Powers ; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court. Logan E. Bleckley, who resigned Oct. 13, 

 and was succeeded by Thomas J. Simmons; As- 

 sociate Justices, Thomas J. Simmons and Samuel 

 Lumpkin. Spencer Atkinson was chosen to suc- 

 ceed Judge Simmons as Associate Justice. 



The Treasury. The effect of the law in re- 

 gard to banks which was passed by the last Gen- 

 eral Assembly has been to return to the treasury 

 a large amount of money. The old law govern- 

 ing the bonds of the State depository banks re- 

 quired that the bank should give a bond of $50,- 

 000, and the tax collector should deposit in the 

 bank as much of the State's money as he thought 

 best. But the new law requires the depository 

 bank to give bond for the full amount of money 

 belonging to the State that it desires to handle. 

 The result was that the banks began sending 

 back to the treasury all the money in excess of 

 the bonds they had "given. About '$350,000 was 

 thus returned. 



Valuations. The Comptroller's reports show 

 the total assessed value of taxable property in 

 the State in 1893 to have been $452,644,753. In 

 1879 it was $234,959,548. The value of taxable 

 property held by negroes in the State in 1893 

 was $14,960,675, against $5,182,398 in 1879. By 

 the census figures of 1890 the assessed value of 

 all taxable property in the State was $415,339,- 

 384, and the value of farm lands $152,006,230. 

 The number of farms was 171,071, and the num- 

 ber of acres improved, 9,582,866 ; the value of 

 farm products, $83,371,482. 



Education. The old State House at Mil- 

 ledgeville, which has been used as the quarters 

 of the Middle Georgia Mechanical and Agricul- 

 tural College, was partly destroyed by fire Jan. 1. 

 It was built in 1803-'04, and has been/used as a col- 

 lege since 1888. Steps were taken by the town 

 toward rebuilding by an issue of bonds, but later 

 it was announced that the insurance companies, 

 against which policies amounting to $20,000 were 

 held, were willing to replace the building. This 

 was preferred, since, if the money had been paid, 

 it would have gone into the State treasury, and 

 could only have been used for rebuilding after ail 

 act of the Legislature. The City Council prom- 

 ised an appropriation, and a fund raised by the 

 ex-cadet association increased the means at 

 hand, and the rebuilding was begun in January. 



Recent laws passed for the regulation of 

 schools authorize the county boards to draw $2 

 a day for all time actually spent in business 

 connected with the schools, and require quar- 

 terly payments to teachers. All moneys belong- 



ing to the school fund must be paid into the 

 State treasury. The school fund is made up of 

 one half the rental of the Western and Atlantic 

 Railroad, certain specific taxes and dividends, 

 tax on polls, and such direct appropriations 

 arising from property taxation as the Legisla- 

 ture may see proper to make. 



The teachers of the State have been building 

 a summer home at Cumberland. The Cumber- 

 land Island Company offered, for a site of 8 

 acres, low hotel and boat rates and other ad- 

 vantages. The summer sessions of the Teachers' 

 Association will be held there, the building in- 

 cluding a large auditorium. 



The State Industrial College, at Savannah, for 

 education of colored youth, had this year more 

 than 100 students. 



Prisons. The State convict camp at Chatta- 

 hoochee river reported 284 men and boys at the 

 beginning of the year, about 100 having been re- 

 moved to the southern part of the State. Dur- 

 ing 1893 there was an average of 350 convicts, 

 and 7 deaths occurred. 



Charities. The appropriation of $100,000 

 made by the General Assembly of 1893 for a new 

 building at the State Lunatic Asylum was 

 greatly needed, as the institution was badly over- 

 crowded, the patients numbering about 1,600. 

 The trustees decided to spend about $75,000 in 

 erecting a new building for white inmates, and 

 several thousands in enlarging the present build- 

 ing occupied by colored patients. These addi- 

 tions will provide accommodation for about 750 

 more persons. 



The Sons of Confederate Veterans formed an 

 organization in May, intending to organize camps 

 in every county in the State and to take steps for 

 assuming charge of the Confederate Veterans' 

 Home in Atlanta, and preventing the sale of it 

 until they can secure money enough to open and 

 operate it. 



The " Red Men " of the State are raising funds 

 to build an orphanage on the land given for the 

 purpose by Mr. W. Austell, consisting of five 

 acres within the corporate limits of Austell. He 

 also gave 10,000 brick to go into the buildings, 

 and $2,500 in money. The only condition at- 

 tached to these donations was that the home 

 should cost not less than $15,000. 



Manufactures. A report of new industries 

 established in the South during the third quarter 

 of the year gives the whole number as 520, of 

 which Georgia has 55, standing second in order. 

 Two new phosphate companies have been or- 

 ganized in* the State, and 9 new cotton mills 

 have been started, besides flour mills, electric- 

 light plants, water-works companies, foundries. 

 and others. Atlanta has about 800 manufactur- 

 ing enterprises, with an aggregate capital of 

 about $20,000,000. 



Minerals. The amount of coal produced in 

 the State in 1893 was 372,740 short tons, valued 

 at $365,972. 



It is believed that only a beginning has been 

 made so far in gold mining in the State. 



A Georgia exhibit car was taken from the 

 Augusta exposition through the State, and after 

 ward to other States. The minerals found in the 

 State were represented by specimens placed in 

 cabinets made of the native woods. 



Among the other minerals were ores of tin, 



