GEORGIA. 



321 



859.19. The products of the farm were valued at 

 $10,495, showing a small profit. 



The commission has examined 251 applications 

 for pardons, out of which they recommended par- 

 dons in 46 felony cases not capital and 20 in 

 misdemeanors. Commutations were recommended 

 in 4 cases of felony not capital, 17 in misdemean- 

 ors, and 2 in capital cases. 



Since the passage of the law allowing juries 

 and judges to reduce certain felonies to misde- 

 meanors there has been an increase in the num- 

 ber of convictions for misdemeanors and a cor- 

 responding reduction in the number of convicts 

 sent to the Penitentiary. 



At the time of the report there were in the 

 chain gangs 37 boys under sixteen and 117 women, 

 1 of each being white, besides 132 white men and 

 2,135 colored men. Of the 2,201 remaining in the 

 Penitentiary at the end of the year, 1,080 were 

 w T holly illiterate, 250 could read only, and 871 

 could read and write. 



It was decided in September that the new 

 Southern Federal Prison, shall be built just out- 

 side the limits of Atlanta. The city paid $25,000 

 and the Southern Railway $35,000 for the site 

 a tract of 300 acres. The buildings are expected 

 to cost about $2,000,000, and to be finished in 

 1902. 



Railroads. The total mileage of railroads in 

 the State Oct. 1, 1899, was 5,531.86, an increase 

 in the year of 56.60. The total gross earnings 

 for the year ending June 30 were $21,087,310.36; 

 the operating expenses, $14,790,718.85; the total 

 net earnings, $6,296,591.51; the percentage of op- 

 erating expenses to gross earnings, 70.14. There 

 are 51 companies or systems operating in the 

 State. Five of these operate 55.8 per cent, of the 

 total mileage, and earned 69.9 of the total gross 

 earnings. Only 6 companies reported deficits. 

 The net earnings this year were $744,285.50 more 

 than in 1898. 



Banks. By a comparison of the Bank Exam- 

 iner's report for 1898 and that of 1899, it is found 

 that the number of State banks has increased 

 from 119 to 139; the total resources from $33,- 

 012,557.58 to $37,577,933.70; the cash on hand 

 from $2,584,004.93 to $2,841,083.76; the deposits 

 from $18,097,635.67 to $21,150,309.15. 



Loan Associations. A decision was rendered 

 in the Superior Court at Savannah, March 30, 

 in the case of the Georgia State Building and Loan 

 Association against the city of Savannah. The 

 city assessed the association $250,000 on its prop- 

 erty, including the money that has been loaned 

 to shareholders. The association refused to pay 

 the taxes, claiming an exemption under the State 

 law exempting building and loan associations 

 from taxation on capital that is loaned to share- 

 holders. When its property was levied on it 

 sought an injunction in the Superior Court. 

 Judge Falligant heard the argument and handed 

 down a decision holding that the law exempting 

 such associations from taxation on the capital 

 loaned the shareholders was unconstitutional. 



Products. The cotton crop for the year is un- 

 usually small, being estimated at not more than 

 8,900,000 bales for the entire cotton belt; that of 

 Georgia at about 1,000,000 bales. The acreage 

 in Georgia was 3,288,000. The State Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture advises the farmers to re- 

 duce the acreage of cotton and raise more of 

 such other crops as the land will grow. He says: 

 " For thirty-three years we have relied on cotton 

 alone with which to purchase everything else. 

 During that time we have made not less than 

 20,000.000 bales, worth at a moderate estimate 

 fully $800,000,000. What has become of this vast 

 VOL. xxxix. 21 A 



amount of money, which if kept at home would 

 have made us one of the richest States in the 

 Union? It has all gone to pay the farmers and 

 manufacturers of the North and East for sup- 

 plies of various kinds, every item of which we 

 could and should have produced within our own 

 borders. Suppose we had made only 10,000,000 

 bales in the past thirty-three years, and in addi- 

 tion had produced all the supplies that we have 

 bought from other States, is it not self-evident 

 that we would be better off by $400,000,000 than 

 we are at present? The entire property of the 

 State, cities included, is now but a little over 

 $400,000,000, and the farmers of Georgia ought to 

 have been richer by this vast amount had they 

 not been deluded by the all-cotton fallacy." 



The wheat crop estimate is 2,607,360 bushels. 

 The acreage devoted to corn was 24 per cent, 

 larger than that of 1898. The quantity of fer- 

 tilizers sold in the State was 20.6 per cent, less 

 than in the previous year. 



An effort is making to revive the sugar indus- 

 try to increase the acreage and establish sugar 

 plants. Heretofore the cane grown in the State 

 has been almost exclusively made into sirup, a 

 product much less valuable*. 



Speaking of the beautiful green marble, or 

 rather serpentine, quarried in Georgia, a Maine 

 newspaper says : " The quarry is now over 60 

 feet deep, and the deeper it gets the better is the 

 marble. When the first company organized to 

 work the marble quarry they attempted to get 

 out the stone by blasting with dynamite, which 

 shattered the stone and greatly wasted it. Short- 

 ly afterward the company went into the hands 

 of a receiver. Last spring a Chicago stock com- 

 pany was organized and went to work with 

 channeling machines. .During the summer the 

 ragged hole left by the former dynamite method 

 of working has been shaped out, the walls squared, 

 the floor leveled, and now blocks of stone of regu- 

 lar sizes, weighing 8 and 10 tons, are taken out." 



Labor. The operatives in three cotton mills 

 in Augusta struck in November in consequence 

 of a reduction in wages. The owners explained 

 that the reduction was necessary on account of 

 the competition of mills in the Carolinas, and 

 they offered to make a schedule giving 6 per cent, 

 more than was given in those mills. The pro- 

 posal was not accepted, the men declaring that 

 as wood and rents were higher in Augusta the 

 comparison was not fair. The mills were closed 

 Nov. 30. About 3,000 operatives were involved. 



Georgia Monument. A monument to the 

 soldiers of the State who took part in the battle 

 of Chickamauga was unveiled on the battle 

 ground, May 4, with appropriate ceremonies. 

 The Legislature of 1897 appropriated $25,000 for 

 this object. 



The Ruskin Colony. This co-operative col- 

 ony was established in 1895 on a tract of 1,800 

 acres in Middle Tennessee. In September, 1899, 

 it was removed to Duke, Ware County, Ga. 

 About 250 persons comprise the colony. It is 

 organized as a stock company. The entrance fee 

 is $500 for each family, and before a family can ; 

 enter the colony it has to be passed on by a vote - 

 of all persons in the body. It seems that the 

 trouble arose over the dissatisfaction of a few 

 who wanted to draw out and take out their stock. 

 In the course of the trouble the colony was 

 thrown into the courts by the dissenters, and the 

 result was that it went into the hands of a re- 

 ceiver. Those who still have faith in the prin- 

 ciples on which the colony is founded thought 

 best to sell their interest in the property in Ten- 

 nessee and remove to Georgia. 



