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UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. (ALABAMA.) 



Thomas M. Owen; Agent for the Sale of Swamp 

 Lands, W. M. Byrd; Chief Mine Inspector, J. de B. 

 Hooper; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 Thomas N. McClellan; Associate Justices, Jona- 

 than Haralson, John K. Tyson, Henry A. Sharpe, 

 James R. Dowdell; Clerk, Robert F. Ligon, Jr. 

 All are Democrats. 



By the terms of the new Constitution, which 

 now goes into effect, the term of State officers is 

 four years; and the Legislature will meet once in 

 four years, on the second Tuesday in January ; it 

 will meet in 1903. 



Finances. The balance on hand in the treas- 

 ury Oct. 1, 1901, was $501,359.34. The receipts 

 to the close of business July 28 were $2,809,260.71 ; 

 the disbursements, $2,407,448.04. 



The revenue collected by the Tax Commissioner 

 in 1901 from escaped taxes, taxes from underval- 

 uations, and delinquent licenses, amounted to 

 $156,873.69. 



The valuation of the State for 1902 amounts 

 in round numbers to $294,000,000, an increase of 

 about $9,000,000. The taxable property in 1901 

 amounted to $284,622,937. 



The bonded debt, according to the report for 

 1901, is $9,357,600; the interest on it is $448,680. 



Poll-Taxes. The law requires a poll-tax of 

 $1.50 to be paid before Feb. 1. No provision is 

 made for collecting it if delinquent; the penalty 

 is the loss of the delinquent's vote. It is estimated 

 that 90 per cent, of the negroes of voting age 

 under forty-five have been disqualified by failure 

 to pay the $1.50 poll-tax this year. The reduc- 

 tion of the white vote has also been great. The 

 total number of white males in Alabama of voting 

 age is 232,294, and of these 139,000 are subject to 

 poll-tax. Not less than 42,000 of them failed to 

 pay the tax, and consequently are not qualified 

 to vote. Persons who failed to pay the $1.50 poll- 

 tax this year may reinstate themselves as electors 

 next year by paying $3, and the next year by 

 paying $4.50, and so on. 



Education. In the Annual Cyclopaedia for 

 1901 were given the figures of literacy of the vo- 

 ters of the State. Further census bulletins give the 

 whole number of illiterates in the State as 443,- 

 590; and the percentage of persons between the 

 ages of ten and fourteen who were able to read and 

 write in 1900 as 71.11. This is an advance on the 

 percentage for 1890, which was 64.50; but only 

 two States South Carolina and Louisiana stand 

 lower. These figures afford a measure of the effi- 

 ciency of the public schools. The enrolment in 

 the schools in 1901 was 344,426; the average at- 

 tendance was 158,976. The amount expended 

 from the general school fund gave $1.42 per cap- 

 ita on the basis of the whole number of children 

 of school age, and $2.76 per capita for those ac- 

 tually enrolled. This does not include the poll- 

 tax or the funds appropriated by municipalities. 

 In a table showing the average monthly wages 

 paid to teachers in the various States, Alabama 

 is credited with $32.04 to male teachers 3 

 States standing lower; and $25.35 to female teach- 

 ers, North and South Carolina alone showing a 

 lower average. 



The fifteenth annual commencement of the Troy 

 Normal College took place in May with a gradua- 

 ting class of 12. 



The enrolment at the Alabama Polytechnic In- 

 stitute, at Auburn, Oct. 18, was 400, the largest 

 number ever in attendance at one time. 



In April the Medical College at Alabama gradu- 

 ated a class of 13 in medicine and 7 in pharmacy. 



The Southwest Alabama Agricultural School, at 

 Evergreen, began its fall term in September with 

 "9 teachers and 113 pupils. 



The following paragraphs are from the report 

 of the principal of the Tuskegee Normal and In- 

 dustrial Institute, Booker T. Washington: 



" The number of students enrolled during the 

 year covered by the report was 1,384, and the av- 

 erage attendance has been 1,218. These students 

 have come from 30 States and Territories, and 

 from 5 foreign countries. No one has been admit- 

 ted under fourteen years of age; 1,337 of the 

 whole number have boarded and slept on the 

 grounds. The number which I have given does 

 not include the pupils in ' the Children's House,' 

 which is a primary school for the children in the 

 neighborhood, and at the same time serves as a 

 model and training schoo. for normal students. 

 Neither does it include the 121 students in the 

 night-school in town, nor the 18 students in the 

 afternoon cooking-school in the town of Tuskegee ; 

 nor the thousands of colored men and women who 

 are being reached and helped through the Tuske- 

 gee Negro Conferences. In all the departments, 

 religious, academic, and industrial, 112 officers 

 and instructors and assistants of various kinds 

 have been employed. 



" If we add the number of persons in the fami- 

 lies of our instructors to the number of students 

 and teachers, it is safe to say that we have con- 

 stantly upon or near our school-grounds a colon} 

 of 1,500 people. A large proportion of these fam 

 ilies reside in small, neat cottages owned bj 

 themselves or by the school, and the object-lesson 

 they afford is most valuable to the students and 

 to our people in this part of the State. 



" Up to the present time there have grown out 

 of the Tuskegee Institute at least 12 schools of 

 considerable size I mean institutions above the 

 grade of common public schools. One of these, 

 the Snow Hill Industrial Institute, at Snow Hill, 

 Ala., has 300 students, 25 teachers, 14 buildings, 

 and property valued at $3,000. 



" Since my last report there have been received 

 into our treasury from all sources and for all pur- 

 poses $341,401.09. Of this amount $126,864.29 

 have been used for current expenses, $46,788 have 

 been added to the permanent endowment fund, 

 and $150,203.95 for the permanent improvement of 

 the plant. The present indebtedness of the school 

 is $5,887.52. The endowment fund amounts to 

 $299,759.02." 



In regard to the training the report says : " In- 

 dustry after industry has been added, as there 

 was a natural demand for them, until at the pres- 

 ent time the students receive training in 34 in- 

 dustries. You will get some idea of the volume 

 of the industrial work accomplished by the stu- 

 dents when I add that since my last report they 

 have made 2,128,000 bricks alone." 



Soldiers' Home. Land for a home for Confed- 

 erate veterans has been given by J. M. Falkne 

 at Mountain Creek, about 27 miles from Mont- 

 gomery. Lumber and other materials have been 

 given as w r ell as money by various firms and indi- 

 viduals, and some of the smaller buildings are al- 

 ready erected. A plan has been adopted for mark- 

 ing the logs of the headquarters building witli 

 brass plates bearing the names of veterans, for 

 each of whom $10 are paid to the fund for the 

 home. A book of record will be kept, giving 

 biographical sketch of each veteran for whom a 

 memorial log is named. 



Banks. A bulletin issued in September by the 

 Treasury Department, shows that 16 new national 

 banks were established in Alabama in the period 

 between March 14, 1900, and Aug. 31, 1902. Six 

 of these banks have a capital of less than $50,000 

 each, and the other 10 more. The combined o 

 tal is $777,500. 



