UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (GEORGIA.) 



file in the Treasurer's office shows that the farm- 

 ers are the heaviest class of depositors. The fol- 

 lowing is an itemized statement of the condition 

 of the banking institutions of the State in n)02: 

 The resources were: Loans, $36,687,500.63; over- 

 drafts, $217,176.01; bonds and stocks, $2,377,381; 

 real estate, furniture, and fixtures, $1,857,341.30; 

 due from banks and bankers, $4,945,350.71; cash 

 on hand, $2,823,757.86; other items, $82,569.13; 

 total, $48,991,076.64. The liabilities were: Capi- 

 tal paid in, $9,712,787; surplus and net profits, 

 $4,289,094.49; due banks and bankers, $2,086,- 

 864.27; due unpaid dividends, $14,991; due de- 

 positors, $27,767,347.52; rediscounts, $1,336,958; 

 bills payable, $3,726,402; other items, $56,632.36; 

 total, $48.991,076.64. 



Education. The State School Commissioner in 

 his annual report issued in September, 1902, gives 

 the total enrolment in the public schools of the 

 State at 502,887. The State fund for school pur- 

 poses was $1,538,955.17, an increase of $33,828.17 

 over 1901. The total enrolment in the common 

 schools was 439,645, and that of the local schools 

 was 63,242. This was a total increase of 10,370 for 

 the common schools and 8,132 for the local schools. 

 The average attendance in the common schools 

 was 265,388, and the expenditure per capita of en- 

 rolment in those schools was $3.42, an increase of 

 36 cents over 1901. The cost per capita in the lo- 

 cal school system was $11.33, a decrease of 31 

 cents compared with 1901. 



The amount of the school fund received by 

 common schools was $1,265,824.40, an increase of 

 $12,268.29 over 1901, while the amount of State 

 funds received by local systems was $239,117.46, 

 an increase of $40,152.73 over 1901. The amount 

 raised by local taxation for school purposes was 

 $139,433.89. In 1902 334 new schoolhouses were 

 built in the State at a cost of $246,380. Nearly 

 all these are in country districts, and most of the 

 money for the schoolhouses was raised by the 

 people of the community in which the houses w r ere 

 located. 



The number of children in Georgia of school age 

 according to the last census was 660,870. There 

 are 7,700 schools in the common-school system, 

 an increase pf 658 in one year, and 368 in the lo- 

 cal-school system, an increase of 60. The num- 

 ber of teachers in the common-school system is 

 9,180, and those of the local-school system num- 

 ber 1,339. The average yearly salary paid to 

 teachers in the common-school system is $129.35. 

 Of every 100 children of school age in Georgia, 45 

 are black and 55 are white, and the blacks now 

 get only about 20 per cent, of the school fund. 



It is the general belief that the greatest stum- 

 bling-block in the way of the negro's education 

 in the State is the lack of negro teachers capable 

 of doing justice to other members of their race. 

 More than $5,000 is distributed to negro schools 

 from the Slater educational fund, while the Pea- 

 body fund gives $6,000 to white schools and $1,500 

 to negro schools in the State. The amount in- 

 vested by philanthropic people of the North in 

 institutions for the higher education of the Geor- 

 gia negro is estimated to be more than $2,000,000. 

 All the schools of like character for whites in the 

 State are not worth anywhere near that sum. 



Manufactures. In 1902 there was a great in- 

 crease of manufacturing industries in the State. 

 New cotton-manufacturing plants were estab- 

 lished, and the aggregate value of these was $23,- 

 494,371, against $18,994,964 in 1901. A cement 

 plant was established at Hartwell, and more 

 than $1,000,000 was expended on it. At Columbus 

 several cotton factories were built, to be operated 

 by power supplied by Chattahoochee river, while 



an electric lighting and power plant, upon 

 which about $1,800,000 was expended, was estab- 

 lished on the same river near Atlanta. 



The war in China seriously interfered with the 

 cotton factories of the State, which, up to that 

 period, had been sending large quantities of cotton 

 goods to the markets of the East. Since the trade 

 has been resumed much new machinery has been 

 installed, so that the cotton factories of the State 

 are now able to turn out a fine grade of goods. 

 With the markets of the East closed, Georgia 

 goods were forced into competition with the cotton 

 goods of the New England States and suffered by 

 the comparison. 



In some of the principal cities of Georgia com- 

 panies have been organized for the manufacture 

 of almost all kinds of goods. Large furniture fac- 

 tories are in operation in different sections, and 

 the goods are being sent to the Northern and 

 Western markets. 



Agriculture. The farmers are giving more 

 attention to the cultivation of grain and vegeta- 

 bles, while the orchard interests have grown to 

 a remarkable degree. Many thousands of young 

 peach-trees were set out in 1902. The farmers 

 are planting less cotton, and cultivating those 

 crops for which there is an ever-increasing de- 

 mand. Peaches and other fruits that flourish in 

 the Georgia climate are being grown in large quan- 

 tities on the very fields that, a short while ago, 

 were white with cotton. In Crawford County 

 alone 10,000 young peach-trees were planted in 

 the autumn of 1902, while in Jones County 15,000 

 were set out. Farmers in Habersham and Elbert 

 Counties planted between 20,000 and 25,000 young 

 peach-trees in each of those counties. 



In certain sections of the State large vineyards 

 are in operation, and the making of domestic wines 

 is fast becoming one of the chief paying industries 

 in Georgia. In 1902 the pecan industry took on 

 new life, and thousands of small trees were plant- 

 ed. A silk-growers' association was formed in the 

 autumn of 1902 in Atlanta, composed of members 

 from a great many districts of the State. A silk- 

 mill, with a capital of more than $1,000,000, is in 

 course of erection at Tallulah Falls. 



Only within the past few years have the farm- 

 ers of Georgia turned their attention to the rais- 

 ing of tobacco for the market, and in this they 

 have proved very successful. Heretofore nearly 

 all the large farms had tobacco-crops, but it was 

 raised mainly for local consumption. Truck-farm- 

 ing received a new impetus in 1902, and consid- 

 erable land, especially near the larger cities, was 

 devoted to raising vegetables for the market. 



Pensions. In Georgia there are 4 classes of 

 pensioners, as follow: Indigent Confederate sol- 

 diers, widows of Confederate soldiers, disabled and 

 diseased Confederate soldiers, and indigent widows 

 of Confederate soldiers. The number of pensions 

 paid, of all classes, in 1902 was 13,975, an increase 

 of 2,387 over 1901. The amount of money paid 

 out to pensioners was $822.695, an increase of 

 $127,310. The State began to pay pensions in 

 1889, and the first rolls contained the names of 

 2,994 who received, in the aggregate, $158,790. 

 The first pensions paid were to <li<;il>lcd and dis- 

 eased soldiers, and it was not until 1893 that pen- 

 sions were allowed to widows of soldiers. In 

 1896 indigent soldiers were added to the rolls, 

 and in 1902 pensions were paid to indigent widows 

 of soldiers. Since the pension system was estab- 

 lished in Georgia the State has paid to pension- 

 ers $6,753,820. In his annual report, dated Oct. 

 2, 1902, the Commissioner of Pensions said : " The 

 pension system established by this State will soon 

 be costing the people $1,000,000 annually; and 



