The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-23
STATE NEWS ITEMS.

The Empire Coal and Coke company is erecting 25O coke ovens at Empire, Ala.
 St. Pauls Episcopal church of Selma has called the Rev A. R. Mitchell of Greenville, S. c. MT. Mitchell has not yet decided whether or not he would ac- cept.
 Anniston Hot Blast: Twenty-Five ex- pert machinists and boiler makers have begun overhauling and repairing the machinery of the furnaces belonging to the Sheffield Coal and Iron company.
 A representative from the office of the United States supervising architect is in tion to public buildings there, and says the work will be begun within three months.
 Opelika Post OpelilSa's electric light plant is now an assured success. Every preliminary has been complied with and the only hitch is with the Western Rail- way of Alabama regarding some flaw in the titles to the property which the Alabama Electric Light company now holds.
 The Greenville Advocate says: The place for the negro is in the south. If he can't win here he can't win anywhere. The south denies the negro the privilege to stop at first-class hotel where white people stop, but does not deny him the opportunity to make the money with which he can build first-class hotel of his own and for his own people.
 Montgomery Advertiser: It was learn ed authoritatively yesterday that Gov ernor Jelks will not appoint members of the Alabama Railroad commission until after February 15. The terms of Judge A. E. Caffee of Birmingham and Col w. c. Tunstall of Greensboro, members of the commission, will expire in March and there are numerous applicants for the places
 The Montgomery Journal says: Hon. J. Thomas Hefin, the newly-elected secre- tary of state, took charge of his office yesterday morning. The first official act of his administration was to affix his name to the certificate of State Superin- tendent Isaac w. Hill. The next was to affix his signature to charter creating the Peoples Bank and Trust company of Attalla.
 The Jasper Mountain Eagle says: The legislature should do something for the Bows Reformatory school at East Lake, even if it is necessary to curtail some of the other appropriations. The school now has all it can accommodate and there is no place to send youthful yiolators of the law except to place them among hardened criminals. where they are schooled in crime beyond all hope of re- demption.
 The Mobile Daily Register says: R. T. Avon Burke and his assistants were at work all day Tuesday on their soil sur- vey of Mobile county. This work was pro- posed some time ago and was suggested to the Commercial club by John Craft and J. Bestor Robertson. The club approved of the plan and the two gentlemen were designated as representatives from the Mobile Commercial club and went to Washington. where they succeeded in getting the government to order a corps of men who had been working in Perry county to come to Mobile and spend the month of January. This time was ex- tended to about four months. The object Is to have established here permanent agricultural station. where agricultural experiments with the soil can be made. The chemical analysis of the soil and the physical examination will be made at Washington. but this will not serve as will actual experiments. and 1t is hoped that when the final report is made that the permanent station will be located here, the main object being to determine the real value of the pinywoods land. The black belt has been analysed. but noth- ing has been done for the pinywoods soil