

ALABAMA. 



Johnston; Secretary of State, R. P. McDavid; 

 Treasurer, George W. Ellis; Auditor and Comp- 

 troller, Walter S. White; Attorney-General, C. 

 G. Brown; Superintendent of Education, J. W. 

 Abercrombie ; Commissioner of Agriculture, Isaac 

 F. Culver; Adjutant General, W. W. Brandon; 

 Railroad Commissioners, Ross Smith, Harvey E. 

 Jones, succeeded March 1 by A. E. Caffee and O. 

 Kyle; State Geologist, Eugene A. Smith; Pen- 

 sion Examiners, Joseph N. Thompson, E. J. Oden, 

 Joseph R. Horn; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Thomas N. McClellan; Associate Justices, 

 Jonathan Haralson, John K. Tyson, Henry A. 

 Sharpe, and James K. Dowdell; Clerk, Robert 

 F. Ligon, Jr. All the State officers and judges 

 are Democrats. 



Finances. The State Treasurer's report, cov- 

 ering transactions from Oct. 1, 1898, to Oct. 1, 

 1899, shows that there was at the former date 

 $75,243.25 in the treasury; the receipts during 

 the year were $2,172,755.98. The disbursements 

 on warrants for the current year were $2,069,- 

 603.99, and on warrants of previous years $7,- 

 365.17, leaving a balance of $171,030.07. Against 

 this balance are chargeable warrants and other 

 claims amounting to $425,730.03, making a net 

 deficiency of $254,699.96. The balance in the 

 convict fund, deducting the amount of warrants 

 issued and not yet paid, was $42,580.18. The 

 principal sources of income were: State taxes of 

 1898, $1,580,759.76; licenses, $182,045.06; insur- 

 ance department, $46,514.54; on account of con- 

 vict department, $144,855.55; United States 

 Treasury for College of Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical Arts, $25,000; agricultural department, 

 $49,341.68; solicitors' fees, $18,625.58; school 

 indemnity lands, $18,055.75; railroad licenses, 

 $12,379.06; corporations, $11,114.18; express, tele- 

 graph, and sleeping-car companies, $10,784.82. 



The cost of the regular and special sessions of 

 the Legislature was $67,404.05; State salaries 

 amounted to $143,975.35; the railroad commis- 

 sion cost $12,539.66; the agricultural depart- 

 ment, $39,695.66; the convict department, $120,- 

 059.42; pensions, $120,961.24; the interest on the 

 bonded debt amounted to $448,680. 



Education. The school population is given 

 as 634,061, of whom 351,328 are white and 282,733 

 colored. The apportionment of State money 

 gives $1.05 per capita. A new law requiring 

 teachers to take examinations from a State 

 board of examiners is bearing rather hard upon 

 many of the present teaching force. At an ex- 

 amination in September, 67 out of 100 failed to 

 pass at the required standing. 



The Alabama Polytechnic School, at Auburn, 

 had in October 344 students. The fund belong- 

 ing to the institute is made up of the interest 

 on the bonds received from the sale of lands 

 given by the United States Government, which 

 is $20,200 per annum. It also receives a sixth 

 of the net proceeds of the funds arising from the 

 sale of fertilizer tags, which is between $6,500 

 and $8,000 per annum. The Merrill fund is di- 

 vided between the colored industrial school at 

 Huntsville and the institute at Auburn, accord- 

 ing to the ratio of school population. This 

 amounts to about $13,000 for Auburn. 



Charities. The State paid the following 

 amounts during the year ending Sept. 30 for its 

 charitable institutions: Bryce Insane Hospital, 

 $136,318; Institute for the Deaf, $29,416.86; Acad- 

 emy for the Blind, $19,320; School for Negro 

 Deaf Mute and Blind, $11,270. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. The total as- 

 sessed value of railroad property in the State is 

 $47,109,052, an increase, caused by building of 



new roads, of $1,487,105 within a year. The 

 gross earnings for the year ending June 30, 1898, 

 were $15,441,484.57. The operating expenses, 

 which do not include taxes, interest on bonded 

 indebtedness, and current liabilities, accrued and 

 not otherwise provided for, amounted to $11,- 

 108,000.61, being an increase of $1,341,220.08 over 

 the preceding year, which is 71 per cent, of gross 

 earnings, and shows an increase of eight tenths 

 of 1 per cent, in the proportion of operating ex- 

 penses to gross earnings over the previous year. 



The assessed value of telegraph property in 

 1899 was $376,771, divided among seven com- 

 panies. 



National Banks. The report of the Comp- 

 troller of the Currency, published in July, shows 

 that the national banks of the State had in loans 

 and discounts $6,619,477.11; United States bonds 

 to secure circulation, $1,221,000; due from na- 

 tional banks, $1,552,434.95; due from State banks 

 and bankers, $369,721.10; due from reserve 

 agents, $1,400,767.73; lawful money reserved in 

 bank gold coin, $385,991.50; gold certificates, $40,- 

 960. Under liabilities capital stock paid in, $3,- 

 105,000; due to other national banks, $323,011.70; 

 due to State bankers, $192,861.74; individual de- 

 posits, $9,255,253.60; average reserve held, 28.47 

 per cent. 



Industries and Products. The mineral pro- 

 duction in 1898, in short tons, is given approxi- 

 mately as follows by the State Geologist: Coal, 

 6,509,223; coke, 1,390,254; iron ore, 2,202,158; 

 pig iron, 1,026,459; stone for flux, 499,859; baux- 

 ite, 13,848; barrels of lime, 127,588. 



The corn crop was 39,681,000 bushels, a gain 

 of more than 9,000,000 over that of the preced- 

 ing year. 



The internal-revenue receipts for 1898 amount- 

 ed to more than $1,000,000. 



Many new coal mines were opened in 1899, 

 giving a prospect of an output far exceeding that 

 of any previous year. 



Huntsville is to have a new cotton mill of 

 200,000 spindles, built by a Massachusetts com- 

 pany. 



Birmingham enjoved increased prosperity in 

 1898. The Avondale Cotton Mills were com- 

 pleted at a cost of $600,000. The street railway 

 companies expended $324,000 in improvements in 

 the way of new tracks and equipments. The 

 Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company 

 put in a new telephone exchange with under- 

 ground wires at a cost of $100,000. The bank 

 clearings of Birmingham were $23,777,899, an in- 

 crease of $2,870,302 over the preceding year. 



Improvements. A convention to promote 

 the improvement of Coosa river was held at 

 Gadsden, Sept. 26-27. It is desired to obtain an 

 appropriation sufficient to open the river from 

 Gadsden to Mobile. Committees were appointed 

 on mines, forestry, agriculture, and manufactures 

 to tabulate statistics of the products of Coosa 

 valley and present them to the congressional 

 Committee on Rivers and Harbors. 



It is announced that the power of Tallapoosa 

 river is to be used to furnish an electric current 

 to Montgomery, which will light the city and 

 supply power for all the mills and factories with- 

 in its limits. 



Surveys have been made for a canal from 

 Birmingham district to Warrior river. It is pro- 

 posed to use the Valley river as part of the canal, 

 about 40 miles; about 34 locks would be re- 

 quired. The project includes the opening of War- 

 rior river for navigation. 



Public Lands. The sale of certain lands 

 given to an educational institution caused great 



