The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-19
LAFAYETTE VERY
 PROUD OF RECORD Two Supreme Court Justices and One Congressman IS VERY SUBSTANTIAL CITY One of the Most impressive Things About the Place Is the Inde-
 pendent Spirit of the
 People.
IS VERY SUBSTANTIAL CITY
BY FRANK V. EVANS.


 bama town of less than 2OOO inhabitants should furnish this great state with two judges of the supreme court and one mem- Der of congress all at the same time is as truly wonderful as Is the fact that the little city of Selma furnishes Alabama l with her two distinguished United States senators. From a geographical standpoint or in point of population, this seems un- natural, yet one cannot call it unfair. The quality" idea seems to prevail and I doubt not the entire state is today re- joieing that Judge Dowdell and Judge Denson, both of Lafayette, have been honored by election to the supreme bench and that J. Tom Hefin has been sent as congressman from the Fifth district All three of these have their homes in La Fayette and each one Is proud of the fact. Lafayette has much improved the past few years. The splendid new court house in the center of the square, which was completed in 1900, is quite an ornament to the town. and its erection proved an i'm petus to general advancement. New brick buildings have taken the places so long occupied by small wooden structures. Some of these new ones are quite impos- ing and have a substantial look about them. The fact is they were much need ed to handle the business of the town, which is increasing from year to year. There is a population here now of about 1900 people. There are about thirty mer cantile houses, and these all seem to be enjoying good trade, even at this sea- son of the year,
 Receives Much Produce.
 Lafayette generally receives from 15,OO) to 10000 bales of cotton per annum, be- sides large amount of general country produce. This is almost exclusively an agricultural market town, the only man. ufacturing concerns here being a large cotton seed oil mill and Touring mills. though there is opportunity here for more enterprises along this line.
 Mayor Walter G. Davis, the incum- bent, Is serving his fifth term as mayor,
 which evidences the fact that he is giving the people live, progressive and satisfactory administration. The city owes no debt, except a limited amount for her electric light plant. The city
 tax rate is 11 of 1 per cent. which is quite sufficient for public needs.
 The city owns its electric light plant
 and furnishes light at actual cost to | the people. perhaps the lowest rate of | any town in the state, and by the way,
 nearly every house. business and resi-
 dence, in the town is lighted by cleo l tricity.
 An impressive feature of Lafayette Is l the independent spirit of her people. Most of them own their homes and many
 of them their own business houses. The city owns, as stated above, it's light plant l When the people here felt that the Cen l tral of Georgia railway was expressing them by freight overcharges, they went
 to work and with their own means built and equipped an independent railroad to 1 Opelika, a distance of twenty-two miles, and there met the Western of Alabama railroad.
 The road does almost the entire busi-
 ness (freight and passenger) of LaFay- cite: and is in most successful operation. | Then when the saloons became unsat- | isfaetory to the more moral element here | the city eventually took hold of the H.
 quor business, and in its own name en- l joys a monopoly of that trade in "city
 dispensary," which yields net income
 of about s5OO0 per annum, one-half of
 which sum goes to the public schools the other half to the general fund. l The public school here, known as La-
 Fayette college, but now a regularly graded city school with the higher power, is said to be in very prosperous con- | | J. T. Neff and full corps. It has an en- rollment of about 250 pupils, and the in- cidental fee is merely nominal the pri- mary and grammar grades being almost | entirely free.
 Three churches-Baptist. Methodist and | Presbyterian-grace the city, and La Fayette has always borne the reputation of being highly moral and religious | town. The homes of the people evidence l ia rCfiOpn1ant nrOSDpritV. | Well-shaded lawns and beautiful bloom l ing and sweet-scented flower gardens charmingly impress the visitor.
 | Is Above the Average. This. chambers county, is above the av- | craze Alabama counties in wealth of soil
 and prominence of citizenship. While
 much of the land is accounted poor 1t all l produces well under proper cultivation. 1 and some of the bottom lands are highly | productive without the use of fertilizers. There is not much merchantable timber | remaining, but enough for home use for | many years to come. The stock law is operated here, and fences abandoned. The | county is well watered, and where atten- l tion is paid to the grasses, they yield | abundantly.
 The planters made large food crops last | year, very little corn or hay is bought, | and 1t is said that one more successful 1 year Will DTlnS lHcIu cHlHely out ol utDl. 1 Fruit, especially apples, peaches, grapes
 and berries all promise an abundant yield 1 at this writing, and the tables here are l already laden with fresh home-raised 1 vegetables The citizenship of the coun- | ty Is about 6 per cent white.
 As elsewhere in East Alabama there 1 Is a scarcity of labor here. The wages | of good farm hands is 5000 per month,
 cabin houses, provisions and fuel, and
 it is a surprise that so many negroes flock to the railroads, the mines, the | furnaces and the cities, where wages are
 all cash. but to be consumed fully in
 the high cost of living. The farm is really the natural element of the south
 ern negro; and is so much more renume-
 rative from the standpoint of health, of l finance, of peace, quiet and general hap
 piness.
 l Lafayette is another of the poultry | markets of the state; and thus this busi-
 ress is annually receiving more attention. | There are several poultry farms near I here and it is said they are quite suc- 1 cessful. Modern methods are employed; incubator, fine broods and much intelli- | gent care.
 | Lafayette is an old town, but progress | is in evidence; and this fact gives 1t an l appearance of liveiness
 |