ALABAMA. 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



was out of debt. Disbursements for the mainte- 

 nance of convicts for the two years ending in 1898 

 amounted to $128,288.55, against $173,033.25 for 

 the former biennial period. 



Tin- Alabama Cotton Mill has 3,300 spindles, and 

 was largely built by convict labor; its entire cost 

 was paid for during the two years ending in 1898, 

 excepting $9,801.74, which was paid in the preced- 

 ing biennial period; it began operation in 1897. 

 The entire expense incurred in the operation of the 

 mill, charging il with cotton at the market price, 

 was $42,987.16; the proceeds from the sale of cloth 

 of the crop of 1896 was $27,701.76, and the product 

 of the mill on hand of the crop of 1897 was valued 

 at 98B,10&56, making the output of the mill $52,- 

 804.56; deducting disbursements, $42,987.16, left a 

 net profit of $9,817.16. 



In 1898 then- were on hand 1,763 State and 786 

 county convicts. The inspector said in his report 

 that " a great number of convicts are received into 

 tin- Penitentiary in bad physical condition, due to 

 the terrible condition of our jails and overcrowd- 

 in. ir." 



Coal. The production of coal in 1897 amounted 

 to 5,868,271 tons. The number of men employed 

 was 11,091. The total coke production was 1,395,- 

 252 tons. 



Iron. About 750,000 tons of pig iron were 

 shipped from the Birmingham district during 1897, 

 and 40,924 tons of iron pipe. The pig iron pro- 

 duced in the State amounted to 947,831 tons. The 

 iron shipped does not represent all made and used, 

 a large quantity being consumed at home. Pig- 

 iron snipments from the Birmingham district for 

 the first five months of 1898 were 323,000 tons, an 

 increase of 43,894 tons over the same period of 

 1897. Cast-iron-pipe shipments for the first five 

 months of 1898 were 20,750 tons, an increase of 

 6,511 tons. Export shipments fell off as compared 

 with 1897, on account of the war with Spain. 



Wages. The miners of the State met in conven- 

 tion in May, 1898, and organized themselves into a 

 State district affiliated with the United Mine 

 Workers of America. Statistics compiled by the 

 secretary of the Birmingham Commercial Club show 

 that there was an increase of one third in the num- 

 ber of wage earners in the Birmingham district 

 during 1897; then there were 9,000 names on the 



ey rolls of the industrial companies, and the num- 

 r had reached 12,000. The wages per month in 

 1897 amounted to $480,000, and had risen to $640,- 

 000. In Jefferson County, not including Birming- 

 ham and the immediate suburbs, the wage earners 

 numbered more than 17,000, with about $700,000 

 in pay rolls, distributed as follow: Furnace em- 

 ployees 8,500, wages per month $140,000; coal 

 miners 6,507, wages per month $260,280; iron-ore 

 miners 4,000, wages per month $140,000; coke-oven 

 employees 1,400, wages per month $50,000; em- 

 ployees in foundries, pipe works, etc., 2,000, wages 

 I ><T month $100,000. In city and county there 

 were 29,407 employees, receiving monthly in wages 

 $1,330,280. In 1897 the wage earners in the county 

 numbered 24,000, with monthly wages amounting 

 to $1,110,000, showing an increase in 1898 of 5,000 

 employees and $200,000 per month in wages. 



Gold. There is some gold mining in the count ies 

 of Clay. Cleburne, and Randolph. It is reported 

 that within 18 miles of Anniston "gold is to be 

 found in paying quantities, and hundreds of men 

 are searching for il and finding it." A dispatch to 

 til-- Montgomery "Advertiser" said : "Some rich 

 finds have been made recently in the gold region of 

 Cleburne < 'ouniy. about 20 miles from Anniston. 

 There is no excitement here over the finds, for the 

 people of this section have long known that gold 

 existed in Cleburne. It is only recently, however, 



that any special effort has been made to work the 

 field, and even now it is being done in a compara- 

 tively small way and with inadequate machinery. 

 Hundreds are working small creeks and branches 

 with good results, and many gulches running off 

 the backbone of the ore system are paying hand- 

 some profits." 



Cotton. The acreage given to the cotton crop in 

 1897 was 2,656,333; bales produced, 833,789, or 

 422,731,023 pounds ; average price per pound, 6.69 

 cents ; total value of crop, $28,280,705. 



Cattle. The breeding of cattle for shipment to 

 the West, there to be fattened, is a new industry in 

 the State. It is estimated that 200,000 head were 

 shipped in 1898. 



Enterprise. An industrial awakening was re- 

 ported from many parts of the State. The Ameri- 

 can Net and Twine Company, of Boston, Mass., 

 established a factory at Anniston in 1897, and were 

 soon working 150 men and making 20,000 pounds 

 of yarn and twine a week, with prospects of pro- 

 ducing 50,000 pounds a week. The Alabama Steel 

 and Wire Company was incorporated in 1898, with 

 capital stock of $2,000,000. The mill, which was 

 planned to be in operation by June, 1899, is to have 

 a capacity of 600 tons a day, with arrangement to 

 increase the capacity to 900 tons in twenty-four 

 hours. The output is to be sold to foreign markets 

 exclusively. The Avondale Cotton Mills, a $1,000,- 

 000 plant on the outskirts of Birmingham, was 

 ready to commence operations. A number of 

 Birmingham foundries were running day and night 

 on orders for machinery for Louisiana sugar refin- 

 eries. During the year new dwelling and business 

 houses were erected in Birmingham to the value of 

 about $200,000. Birmingham bank clearings for 

 the first six months of 1898 were $11,837,631.44, 

 against $9,648,315.12 for the same period in 1897, 

 an increase of $2,280,315.72. The product of brick 

 in the East Birmingham yards was 10,500,000. 



Good Roads. A State roads convention was 

 held at Anniston and a permanent organization was 

 reached. 



Negro Fanners. The colored farmers of the 

 capital county of the State met in convention to 

 discuss the interests of their industry, and the fol- 

 lowing resolutions were adopted : 



" Whereas, We feel that the great curse of the 

 negro farmer of the South is the continuous prac- 

 tice of wholesale mortgaging of growing crops and 

 the excessive rates of interest on the money and 

 goods received as a result of such mortgages ; be it 

 resolved, 



" That it is the sense of this meeting to discour- 

 age the practice of mortgaging and as far as 

 practicable advise the discontinuance of the same. 



" That we advise our fellow-farmers to give more 

 thought, time, and labor to raising of such products 

 as will be of immediate use and benefit to their 

 homes. 



" That it shall be our future purpose to encourage 

 our brother in black to practice economy, and 

 thereby be enabled to purchase his own farm, throw 

 off the shackles of mortgages, and sleep under his 

 own vine and fig tree." 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. Statistical. The 

 fiftieth report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 

 gives their total income as about 1,335,000. Its 

 sources are, approximately : Rents of lands (mainly 

 agricultural) and premises, 240,000; rents of 

 houses, property, etc., in London and suburbs, 

 115,000; tithe and corn rent charges, 233,000; 

 ground rents (mainly in London), 348,000 ; mining 

 royalties, etc., 341,000 ; other receipts, 58,000. In 

 another year, after putting 85,000 to their reserve 

 fund, as they did in 1897, the commissioners propose 

 to use 150,000 for the augmentation of endowments 



