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ALABAMA
1890 to 4,090,409; in 1895 to 5,693,775; and in 1899 to 7,500,000 estimated. Prof. M‘Galley has reached the conclusion that the three coal-fields (Warrior, Cahaba, and Coosa), combined, probably contain an aggregate of at least 42,100,000,000 tons. Tests made by the United States navy have established the superior quality of certain seams of this coal for steam purposes, while the coke tonnage of the Pratt and Blue Creek seams of the Warrior field (1,609,839 tons in 1898) is second only to the famous Connellsville district of Pennsylvania. The pig-iron production, which during the year 1870 amounted only to 7060 tons, had risen in 1875 to 22,418 ; in 1880 to 68,925; in 1885 to 203,069; in 1890 to 816,911 ; in 1895 to 854,667; and in 1899 to 1,083,905. The supply of iron ore (red and brown) is practicably inexhaustible. That used in the Birmingham district is principally of the red fossiliferous kind derived from Bed Mountain, the vein running about 20 feet thick at the outcrop, and extending under cover at an angle of from 15 to 20 degrees from the horizontal to an unknown depth. Birmingham, Ala., is now the third largest point of export of pig-iron in the world,—Middlesbrough in England being the first, and Glasgow in Scotland the second. Within the eighteen months ending 1st January 1898 there were exported from Birmingham 297,000 tons of pig-iron to all parts of the world. During the year 1899 the production of steel began in the Birmingham district, one plant producing 9670 tons and another 2263. To render the waterways available for commerce, the Federal Government has spent millions of dollars. The Mobile river, with its branches, resembles a gigantic tree rising from tidal limits in one of the best harbours on the Gulf of Mexico, and spreading northward, eastward, and westward into Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia. The total of mileage of rivers in use to-day, either for commercial purposes or in the process of improvement by the Federal Government, is 2214 miles. On either side the mineral region is pierced by the Warrior and Coosa rivers, destined soon to be the great highways through which the coal and iron products are to be brought in barges to tidal limits for shipment through the port of Mobile. The deepening of Mobile harbour in the south, the construction of the Muscle Shoals Canal on the Tennessee river in the north, and the improvement of the interior rivers have involved an expenditure upon the part of the Federal Government of about twelve millions of dollars, nearly all of which has been appropriated since 1870. The most important part of the work now in progress is the improvement of the Warrior river, the early completion of which has been assured by the action of Congress placing it under the contract system directed by the secretary of war. In order, however, to give an outlet for coal and iron by water from the heart of the best mineral region, it is necessary to cut a canal about 64 miles long from Birmingham to the Warrior, via Bessemer. After a careful survey Major Bossell, the Government engineer-incharge, declared that “the project is both feasible and advisable.” A waterway will thus be opened through which coal and iron, mined within 300 miles of tidal limits, can be floated to the sea. Experts estimate that a ton of pig-iron can be loaded at Birmingham and landed at Mobile at 49 cents, a rate 55 cents lower than any yet in existence. The cost of steam coal at Mobile is now about $2.80 a long ton, the cost of railway transportation being about $1.25. After the canal and Warrior route has been made available, a scrupulous estimate places the cost of such coal at Mobile at $1.50. The railway system of the State has also been steadily developing. The 1602 miles of railway in operation in 1871 had increased to 3560 miles at the close of 1898.
Mobile is the only seaport of the State. The bay is about 32 miles long, with an average width of 16 miles. The United States Government has dredged a channel, now 23 feet deep, from the docks to deep water. At the mouth of the bay there is a deep water cup, with a depth of from 30 to 60 feet, and an area of 5 or 6 square miles. The bar separating this deep water from the water of the gulf has a depth of 23-1/2 feet, which has been increasing by natural processes since the earliest Government records. Estimates by Government engineers have settled the fact that a channel across this bar can be cut to a depth of 30 feet, with a width of 300 feet, by the excavation of 220,000 cubic yards of material at a cost insignificant when compared with the value of the improvement. If that work is completed, Mobile Bay may be entered at any time by vessels drawing 28 feet— something that can be said of few land-locked harbours. During the year ending 30th June 1870, 105 vessels of 70,249 tons entered, and 129 vessels of 81,276 tons cleared, in the foreign trade. During the year ending 30th June 1900, 755 vessels of 549,198 tons entered, and 717 vessels of 505,273 tons cleared. For the year ending 30th June 1901 the total imports were $3,008,449, and the total exports, $11,837,105. The thirteen mills manufacturing cotton goods in 1870 have been increased to fifty-two, with 813,939 spindles and 18,590 looms, the total capital invested amounting to $16,278,780. The annual output of the cotton oil mills of the State is 139,500 tons, valued at $2,929,500. The lumber and .shingle mills, numbering about 1000, represent an invested capital of $18,700,000, the average output per day for each mill being 15,000 feet. The annual product of rosin and naval stores is valued at $1,150,000. The number of national banks in operation, 31st October 1900, was 30, with paid-up capital of $3,555,000, and outstanding circulation of $1,968,665. The state banks numbered in the same year 62, with a capital and surplus of $3,292,874 ; the private banks 26, with a capital and surplus of $1,021,078 ; and the loan and trust companies 9, with capital and surplus of $869,723. In 1890 Alabama had 6013 church edifices, and church property valued at $6,768,477. There were 559,171 communicants or members, of whom 258,405 were Baptists, 242,624 Methodists, 21,502 Presbyterian, and 13,230 Roman Catholics. The law establishing a public school system was enacted in 1854, but it was twenty years after that date before the period of substantial, permanent growth began. The school term ranges from four to nine months, and tuition is free. Separate schools are provided for children of African descent. The funds for maintaining the public schools are derived from a direct appropriation from the state treasury, a special state school tax, a poll tax, interest on the sixteenth section fund, and municipal appropriations. In 1855 they amounted to $237,515.39. In 1900 the appropriations for common school education amounted to $1,100,000.00. The school age is from seven to twenty-one years. In 1855 the enumeration showed a Avhite school population of 145,588. In 1899 the number was 633,546—white, 350,667; coloured 282,879. The State is thoroughly committed to the policy of universal education at governmental expense, and is making rapid progress in that direction. Besides the public schools, Alabama has a number of private and denominational institutions of learning of high grade. All the leading denominations are well represented in this number. The amount expended on private and denominational education annually approximates $300,000. The special question with which Alabama, in common with her
