Alabama

ALABAMA, called the "Cotton State" because of its chief agricultural product, a southern state of the U.S.A., is situated between 84° 51' and 31' W. and about 3o° 13' and 35° N., and is bounded N. by Tennessee, E. by Georgia, S. by Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, and W. by Mississippi. Its total area is 51,998 sq. m., of which 719 are water surface.

Physical Features.

NorthernAlabama is dominated by the Cumberland plateau, a diversified region varying from 400 to in height and cut into blocks by the tributaries of the Tennessee river, which flows from east to west. In the north-east section of this region are precipitous mountains, while gentle rolling lowlands predominate in the west along the river. In the southern portion Little mountain, extending 8om. east and west between two valleys, rises roof t. above them. To the south east of the Cumberland plateau the Appalachian ("Coosa") valley region, occupying about 8,000sq.m. and running north east and south-west forms the southern extremity of the Appa lachian mountain system. Raccoon and Lookout are the most prominent flat-topped mountains in this limestone formation, be ing about I,800f t. high at the Georgia border and lower to the south. South-east of the Appalachian valley region the gently undulating Piedmont plateau enters Alabama for a short dis tance. The remainder of the state is occupied by the coastal plain, which is crossed in the north by foot-hills and gradually slopes down to sea level in the south, with all rivers flowing south-west. Its rivers are the Tombigbee in the west, the Ala bama in the central west, and in the east the Chattahoochee, which forms almost half of the Georgia boundary. The Tombigbee and the Alabama unite in the south west ; their waters then part to flow into Mobile bay as the Mo bile and Tensas rivers. The val leys of the coastal plain are broad and in most cases rise in three successive terraces above the streams. The harbour of Mobile was formed by the drowning of the lower part of the valleys of the Alabama and the Tombigbee rivers.

Climate and Soil.

Alabamahas a temperate, uniform cli mate. The annual mean for the state is for the winter 46° and for the summer 70°. In the summer the temperature is kept moder ate by the elevation in the northern districts and by winds from the Gulf of Mexico in the southern part. In the winter, on the average, 35 days are below the freezing point, and snow falls only once or twice a year. Rainfall is evenly distributed through out the state, the average being rather high, 52in. Heavy fogs are rare, hail-storms few and innocuous, thunder-storms numer ous in summer. The prevailing winds are from the south.

There are four different belts of soil. In the timber belt, along the coast, the soil is sandy and poor but responds to fertilization. North of this lies the black belt ("black prairie," "cotton belt"), which is 13,000sq.m. in extent and has black soil that is rich in limestone and marl formations, without sand or loam, and is es pecially adapted to the production of cotton. Between the cotton belt and the Tennessee valley lies the mineral belt, the soils of which are of varied fertility. North of the mineral belt is the cereal belt in the Tennessee valley, containing red clays and dark loams. North of the valley the soils are not so fertile.

Government.

The form of government in Alabama has been altered five times. The original constitution was set up in 1819 and revised in 1865, 1868, and 1875; the present constitution was framed in 1901 and contains a number of notable provisions. It lengthened the term of executive and legislative officials from two to four years, made that of the judiciary six years, provided for quadrennial sessions of the legislature, and introduced the office of lieutenant-governor. The passage of local or special bills by the legislature was prohibited. A provision, intended to pre vent lobbying, prohibits anyone except legislators and the repre sentatives of the Press to be admitted to the floor of the house except by unanimous vote. No executive official may serve two consecutive terms in office, and the governor cannot be elected or appointed to the United States Senate or to any state office during his term as governor or within one year thereafter. Sheriffs whose prisoners suffer mob violence may be impeached. The constitution eliminated the negro from politics by a suffrage clause which came into effect in 1903. This restricts the right to vote to those who can read and write any article of the constitu tion of the United States, and have worked or been regularly engaged in some lawful employment, business or occupation, trade or calling for the greater part of the 12 months preceding the time they offer to register, unless prevented by physical dis ability from labour or ability to read and write, or who have paid taxes on property assessed at $300; but those who have served in the army or navy of the United States or of the Confederate States in time of war, their lawful descendants in every degree, and persons of good character "who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a republican form of government," are relieved from the operation of this law provided they regis tered prior to Dec. 20, 1902. The second of these exceptions is known as the "grandfather clause." No man may vote in any election who has not by Feb. 1 preceding that election paid all poll-taxes due from him to the state. In 1902, nine-tenths of the negroes in the state were disqualified from voting. The con stitution of 1901 (like that of 1867) and special statutes require separate schools for white and negro children. A "Jim Crow" law was enacted in 1891. Buying, selling, or offering to buy or sell a vote has for penalty disfranchisement, and since 1891 the Aus tralian ballot system has been used (see ELECTORAL SYSTEMS). The governor, auditor, and attorney-general are required to pre pare and present to each legislature a general revenue bill; and the secretary of state and the two last named officers form a board of pardons which makes recommendations to the governor; he, how ever, is not bound by this advice in the exercise of his pardoning power. The constitution of 1901 exempted a homestead of 8o acres of farm land, or of a house and lot not exceeding $2,000 in value, from liability for any debt contracted since July 3o, 1868, except for a mortgage on it to which the wife consented; personal property to the value of $1,000 is exempted. All amendments to the state constitution must be approved by a three-fifths vote of each house of the legislature and then ratified by the people. Under the civil code of 1897 the earnings of a wife are her separate property, and it is provided that "no woman, nor any boy under the age of 12 years, shall be employed to work or labour in or about any mine in this state." By acts of 1915 and 1919 restrictions were placed upon the employment of children. No child under 14 may be employed during school hours; no child under 14 may be employed in gainful occupations except agriculture and domestic service. No child under 16 may be em ployed on or near dangerous machinery; except in agriculture or domestic service, no child under 16 may be employed at night or over eight hours a day or six days a week. A firm that employs a child under 16 must furnish a certificate stating what work the child is to do, a statement from the superintendent of schools to show that the child has completed the fourth grade, and a cer tificate showing that the child is over 14 and in good physical condition. Any person or firm violating these restrictions may be fined $10 to $100 for the first offence and $zoo to $500 for each subsequent offence. Alabama, however, leads all the other states of the Union in the number of children between io and 13 "gainfully occupied." According to the United States census of 1920 there were 47,596 children from Io to 13 employed in the state; by 1930 this figure had diminished to 20,109 or 16.4% of the population between those ages.

Population.

The first census of Alabama was in 1820, when the number of inhabitants was 127,901. The number was 771,623 in 185o; 1,262,505 in 1880; 1,513,401 in 1890; 1,828,697 in 190o; 2,138,093 in 9I o; and 2,348,174 in 1920. The United States cen sus gave 2,646, 248 in 1930. Alabama is noted for its large pro portion of negroes (35.7% in 1930) and its small portion of for eigners (less than i%). In 1930 there were 1,700,775 whites, an increase of 14.8% over 1920, and 944,834 negroes, an increase of 4.6%, which however contrasted with a decrease of o.8% during the previous decade. The negro population is unevenly distributed ; in most of the counties of the black belt the negroes constitute over 75% of the population, whereas in the northern counties they are few in number. Although the proportion of urban popu lation in 1930 was greater than in 1920, almost three-fourths of the population was still rural (1,901,975) and about one-half ALABAMA lived on farms (1,340, 2 7 7) ; the slight growth of the farm popula tion did not keep pace with the general population increase. In church membership, Baptists and Methodists lead. The growth of the chief cities is shown in the following table :— Finance and Taxation.—In 193 i about one-fourth of the State's revenue was derived from a general property tax; other chief sources of income were li cences, a special school tax, a poll-tax, and tonnage taxes on minerals. In that year a constitu tional amendment was ratified authorizing the legislature to levy and collect estate and inheritance taxes, and in 1933 a further amendment gave authority for a State income tax. The framers of BY OF THE U.S. BUREAU OF REEL, the constitution of 1901, thinking MATION to avoid a repetition of the reck- OF A NEGRO FARM TENANT less borrowing of the reconstruc- the breaking up of l plan g tations there has been an anin tion period, prohibited the in- the number of farms operated by crease of the State debt for any Negro cash renters other purposes than the suppression of rebellion or resistance to invasion ; but occasional amendments have provided for the float ing of special loans for certain internal improvements, so that by 1931 the State debt had risen to $82,343,000.

Education.

Public education, authorized for Mobile alone in 1826 and inaugurated there in 1852, was extended to the whole State in 1854. Its support was derived from public lands given to the State by the United States in 1819 and from special taxes fixed by each township. This system was demoralized by the Civil War; the one that replaced it in 1868 failed because of the attempt to teach whites and blacks in the same schools and be cause of corruption in the use of school funds. The constitution of 1875 made the support of the schools dependent upon the land grant of 1819, the poll-tax, and State appropriations; it es tablished separate schools for blacks and whites. The constitution of Tool makes obligatory a State tax of from 3o to 65 cents on each ioo dollars' worth of property to be expended on education. The legislature of 1907 voted an increase of $300,00o for the common school fund, granted State aid for the rural schools, and established a system of county high schools. Most of the counties have availed themselves of the privilege of levying a special school tax, granted by constitutional amendment. The expendi ture for education steadily increased until 193o when it amounted to $21,643,000. During the school year 1933-34 anticipated expenditures were $18,672,o27, of which $16,651,629 was for schools for whites and $2,o2o,398 for schools for negroes. Educa tional progress is shown by the decrease in illiteracy from 5o% in 188o to 34% in 190o and to 12.6% in 193o. Of the 251.095 illiterates in 193o, the negroes numbered 188,673; the native whites, ; and the foreign-born whites, The present school code of Alabama was framed in 1919 as a result of the report by the U.S. Bureau of Education at the in vitation of a State educational commission. One of the most important acts provided for a State council to co-ordinate the efforts of the institutions of higher education by assigning to each a special field of activity.

Education is free between the ages of 6 and 20 and compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16. With 827,70o children between five and seventeen years of age in 1934 the State had a public school enrolment of 648,981, of whom 578,998 were in the elementary and 69,983 in the secondary grades. Private and parochial schools enrolled 14,15o. The number of elementary and secondary school teachers was The chief institutions of higher education are the University of Alabama, at University; Alabama polytechnic institute, at Au burn; Alabama college, at Montevallo; Athens college (Metho dist, for women), at Athens; Birmingham-Southern college (Methodist), at Birmingham; Howard college (Baptist), at Bir mingham; Judson college (Baptist, for women), at Marion; Spring Hill college (Roman Catholic, for men), at Mobile; Wom an's college of Alabama (Methodist), at Montgomery; Talladega college (Congregationalist, for negroes) , at Talladega; Tuskegee normal and industrial institute for negroes, at Tuskegee (q.v.) ; agricultural and mechanical institute for negroes, at Normal; and the State normal schools at Daphne, Florence, Jacksonville, Liv ingston, Troy, and for negroes, at Montgomery. St. Bernard col lege and Marion institute are of junior college grade.

Charities and Houses of Correction.

Alabama supports various philanthropic and penal institutions : a home for Con federate veterans, at Mountain Creek; an institution for the white deaf and blind and a school for negro deaf and blind at Talladega; a hospital for insane whites at Tuscaloosa and one for negroes at Mount Vernon; a penitentiary at Wetumpka; a State industrial school for white boys and a State training school for white girls, both near Birmingham; a reform school for ju venile (negro) lawbreakers at Mt. Meigs; and a school for mental defectives at Tuscaloosa. All of these institutions are under the management of trustees, who are appointed by the governor. The convict lease system was abolished by the State legis lature in 1927. Able-bodied convicts are now employed by the State in highway construction—all others are put to work ir, a variety of industries in the State prisons at Wetumpka, Speigner, and Montgomery. In 19o1, a system of peonage that had grown up in the State attracted wide attention, and a Federal grand jury at a single term of court indicted a number of men for hold ing persons as peons. Many similar cases were found later in other southern States, but those in Alabama, being the first dis covered, attracted the most attention. The system came into existence in isolated communities through the connivance of justices of the peace with white farmers. The justices have ju risdiction over petty offences, of which negroes are usually the guilty parties, and the fine imposed would sometimes be paid by a white farmer, who would thus save the accused from imprison ment, but at the same time would require him to sign a contract to repay by his labour the sum advanced. By various devices the labourer would then be kept constantly in debt to his employer and be held in involuntary servitude for an indefinite time. The peons as a rule were negroes, but a few white ones were found; and in several instances negroes were found holding members of their own race in peonage. A law forbidding under severe penalties a labourer from hiring himself to a second employer without giving notice of a prior contract, and an employer from hiring a labourer known by him to be bound by such a contract, had aided in the development of the system, though it had been enacted for a different purpose. The Federal au thorities, as soon as the existence of peonage became known, took active measures to stamp it out, and were supported by the Press and by the leading citizens of the State. Up to 1907 the State licensed the sale of liquor, and liquor licence fees were partly turned over to the public school fund; there was a dispensary system in some counties; and in 1907 one-third of the counties of the State (22 out of 67) were dry. In February of that year the Sherrod anti-shipping act was passed, forbidding the accept ance of liquors for shipment, transportation, or delivery to dry districts; and a special session of the legislature in Nov. 1907 passed a law prohibiting the sale of liquor anywhere within the State. In 1933 a State convention ratified the twenty-first amend ment to the Federal Constitution repealing the eighteenth amendment ; but the attempt to repeal State prohibition in Feb. was defeated on a referendum.

Agriculture.

The majority of the people of Alabama depend upon agriculture for a living; but in the last 20 years according to the returns of the census, this agricultural preponderance in the State has diminished from 64.7% in 1910 to 56.9% in 1920 and 5o•6% in 193o. For a time the ratio fell as low as 47.3%, when in 1925 the actual number of the farm population was 169, 453 less than in 1920. The number of farms in the State decreased from 262,901 in 1910 to 256,099 in 1920 and 237,631 in 1925, but rose to 257,395 in 193o and 273,455 in The value of all crops, which was $56,872,994 in 1879, amounted to in after which date it fell off steadily and stood only at $106,100,00o in 1935. Approximately 35% of the farms are managed by their owners, 39% by cash renters, and 25% by share-crop tenants. Cotton has regularly been the chief agricul tural product, though in some years the value of the corn (maize) crop has exceeded it. During the period 1911-15 the average annual cotton yield was 1,463,000 bales. From 1915 to 1925 it was far below the million level but jumped for the period 1926-30 to 1,319,000. In 1935 the crop was 1,059,00o bales, with a value of about $56,233,000. In the same year the corn harvest totalled with a value of The peanut crop of 314,300,000lb. was valued at $8,800,000 ; the sweet potato crop, 6,9oo,000bu., at $4,83o,000; the hay crop, 423,000 tons, at $4,794,000; the white potato crop, 3,23o,000bu., at $2,261,000.

Minerals.

The chief feature of the industrial life of Alabama since 1880 has been the exploitation of her iron and coal re sources. Bituminous coal, first mined near Tuscaloosa about 1827, was produced intensively after 1881; the output grew from tons in 1840 and 13,200 short tons in 1870 to 420,00o tons in 1881 and 1,568,000 tons in 1883. In 1923, according to the bureau of mines, the output reached 20,457,649 short tons, with a value of $51,624,000, but declined steadily until in 1932 the figures were respectively tons and $12,138,000. Most of this came from Jefferson, Walker and Bibb counties though coal \underlies about 4o% of the northern half of the State. It is esti mated that the total available coal resources of Alabama amount to 66,711,378,260 short tons, enough to last 7,500 years at the present rate of extraction. The iron ore, which is primarily red haematite, is found chiefly in the region of which Birmingham is the centre. In 1905, Alabama produced 3,782,831 tons of iron ore; in 1923 there were shipped from mines 6,922,663 long tons, valued at $15,540,198. Only 1,375,00o tons were mined in 1932, but by 1935 production had risen to 3,240,000 tons. In Alabama stood third among the States of the Union in the pro duction of iron ore. Gold, silver, lead, copper,. tin, graphite and bauxite are also produced. In 1934, Alabama produced minerals to the value of $29,827,000, ranking loth among the States, and producing 0.91% of the product of the whole Union. Coal, iron ore, cement and clay products were the chief mineral products of the State.

Manufactures.

The growth of manufactures in Alabama has been as remarkable as the revelation of mineral wealth. In 188o, the capital invested in manufactures was $9,668,008, little more than that in 1860; by 1890, it had increased to $46,122,571; in 1900, it amounted to $70,370,081; in 1919 to $455,592,733. On account of the proximity of coal, iron and limestone, the manu factures of iron and steel, prior to the depression, were the most extensive. The first blast furnace in Alabama was set up in 1818; from then until the Civil War numerous Catalan forges were in operation. In 1876, the first pig iron with coke for fuel was produced. In 1895, it was demonstrated that Alabama pig iron could be sent to Liverpool and sold cheaper than the English product, and Birmingham (Alabama) came consequently to rank next to Middlesbrough and Glasgow among the world centres of the pig iron trade. The pig iron produced in the state in 1860 was valued at $64,59o; in 1900 at $13,487,769; in 1923 at $63,561,614; and in 1933 at $10,o47,165. Manufacture of steel and steel products began in 1888, but was not successful until the Duplex process was used. On account of the irregular quantities of iron and phosphorus present in Alabama ores, this special process, representing a combination of the Bessemer and open hearth process, must be used. In 1923 Alabama ranked seventh among the States in steel production, with an output worth $75, 042,823; but the census of manufactures in 1933 failed to list her as one of the chief steel-producing commonwealths. To meet the demand from the iron and steel industries coke production rose to a value of $44,577,384 in 1923 and was $7,091,000 in The greater part of the pig iron produced in the State and not used in the manufacture of steel is made into cast-iron pipe, chiefly in the Birmingham district, the value of its production being $40,142,807 in 1923 and $7,913,000 in 1933, or nearly two-fifths the entire output of the United States. Since 1910 there has been a remarkable development of the cement industry, due to the presence of practically inexhaustible deposits of lime stone in the heart of rich coal fields, side by side with extensive areas of shale and clay in a territory served by adequate hydro electric power. In 1924 the output was 5,542,687 barrels, valued at in 1933 it was about 2 million barrels with a value of $2,645,000.

Lumber and naval stores are produced in great quantities. In 1923, the product of sawed lumber was valued at $52,792,121, of which yellow pine represented $46,289,7o6, oak $1,474,347, and poplar $1,307,823. The total value of lumber cut in 1933 was $14,222,244. Seventy-six turpentine and rosin factories were active in with an output worth $1,661,682 as against 131 factories in 1923 and a product of $2,8o9,815.

The manufacture of cotton goods has also developed rapidly. As late as 189o, there were only 13 cotton mills in Alabama, one more than the number in 1850; in 5900, there were 31, with an annual product valued at $8,153,136, an increase of 272.2% over the product ($2,190,771) of 5890; by 1923, there were 61 estab lishments, employing 20,785 people, with products valued at $86,384,725; and in 1933 there were 75 establishments with 28, 762 workers and products worth In the 3o years from 1899 to 5929, the value of Alabama's manufactured products rose from to This was the peak of the State's manufacturing production, which by had declined to $253,211,000.

The use of hydro-electric power for the manufacturing estab lishments has recently been increased. Two great dams across the Coosa river and the U.S. Government dam at Muscle Shoals (q.v.) on the Tennessee river are already completed; others are under construction.

Transportation.

Alabama rivers are navigable for a total distance of 2,000 miles, but obstructions often prevent the forma tion of a continuous route. The U.S. Government has spent millions of dollars on the elimination of these impediments, as well as on the improvement of Mobile harbour. National, state and city funds have been used to improve the facilities of the port of Mobile. During the closing months of 1920, the first vessel of a fleet of government-owned and operated self-propelling barges made its way down the Mississippi river to New Orleans and into the gulf, then to Mobile and up the rivers to Birming ham and Cordova in the heart of the Warrior coal fields.

An amendment to the State Constitution having authorized the use of the credit of the State for the construction of a great sys tem of docks at Mobile, an act of the legislature at its session of 1923-24 authorized the issue of $10,000,000 of bonds for that purpose and a commission was put in charge of the work. The commission thereupon acquired for the State approximately 400 acres of land, with a water frontage of two miles on the northern outskirts of the city.

As the streams in the mineral region are not navigable, the rail ways are the carriers of its products. Here all the large systems of the Southern States find an entrance—the Mobile and Ohio, the Southern (Queen and Crescent route), the Louisville and Nash ville, and the San Francisco system, affording communication with the Mississippi and the west, and the Southern, the Seaboard air line, the Atlantic coast line, and the Central of Georgia form ing connections with Northern and Atlantic States. The total mileage of railway in the State in 1934 was 5,169.

On December 31, 1934 the primary system of rural state high ways in Alabama totalled 6,253 miles, of which 3,948 miles were surfaced and 2,305 were earth road. Motor vehicles registered during the year ending September numbered 242,676 as compared with 277,146 in 1930.