The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-10-16

| the gentleman here described removed
| 1t and erected on the spot new and
handsome structure of the ecclesiastical
architecture, announcing 1t to be me-
mortal of her late husband.
The Pitts family of Uniontown, lineal
descendants of John Davidson, possess
the sturdy ancient qualities of the blood
and since the old plantation time have
| become among the influential men of
Alabama.
JAMES LEWIS PRICE.
| A type of the Canebrake planter settler
par excellence, was this young Virginian
He came with the prestige of high lin
cage and university culture, with for
tune and ambition and native capacity
His person was commanding and his
manners gracious
Mr. Price came to the settlement about
Uniontown in 1884. from Richmond, Va,
where he was born and reared. He was
descended from that branch of the Lewis
family which was connected with Cen
eral Washington and his kinsfolk.
The young man. after graduating at the
| University of Virginia, read law, but
when he came with his slaves to the
Canebrake and purchased a large body
of land there the practice of his profess
sion was neglected. In Perry and Dali
| las counties he purchased lands, but
| chose Tor MS residence the Splenulu eS-
| tate on the northern borders of Union
town. There he built the imposing home,
"Westwood" at the head of the main
street and yet on the border of his plan
tation.
Soon he married Miss Louisa Adele
| Shearer, daughter of Gen. Schuyler
Shearer of Albany, N. Y, a lineal de-
scendant OF the notable Schuyler and
Van Ransaleer families of that state.
T,i, ff1ro h. at,nJ fata
In their tastes and habits, never sought
political honors. I well remember how
he rode his fine horse from plantation
home to home, spending the night here,
dining there the next day, soliciting sub
scriptons to the projected Alabama and
Mississippi Rivers railroad. He called
public meetings and addressed them at
length on his theme. He lived to witness
the success of his labors He was for
years president of the railroad directory.
| Although never soldier, Mr.. Price
was an ardent supporter of the Confed-
eracy. Among other evidences of his
zeal he canvassed the central counties
for subscriptions to the Confederate cot
ton Joan, as it was called. The govern
ment paid its bonds for the cotton, which
remained on the plantation. This cotton,
stored in the several states, was used In
London and Paris with perfect success as
the hypothesis of enormous loans nego-
tiated there for the Confederate govern
ment. The cotton bonds, as they were
called. were sold at a premium in those
markets and when a call for $15,00o,0O0
was made $75O0o.00o was bid for.
The history of this cotton finally is no
small value. In the summer and fall of
| 1865, following the fall of the Confed-
eracy. the United States treasury de-
partment sent its agents, generally un-
der direction of the freedmans bureau,
at the several towns to collect and ship
/ 1t to Mobile on government account. Was
not the act an acknowledgment of the
validity of the Confederate government?
| The rebellion was over; perfect peace
| reigned; the citizens of 1850 who voted
| for or against Lincoln were restored cit
| liens of 1865; no process of law now con-
demned them. If the government of the
Confederate States was invalid, as to the
authority of the United States, that gov
eminent must have had no valid claim
upon cotton or any kind of property In
the hands of citizens of the United States
in the summer and fall of 1865. But a
| saturnalia of theft and rascality pre-
| vailed in the removal of the cotton. The
United States treasury never received
more than a small fractional part of the
| proceeds of the sale of 1t. For example,
planter had under shelter at his gin
house $50 bales, 80 bales of which he had
subscribed to the loan for which Mr..
Price was agent. Several months after
all Confederate soldiers had returned to
| their homes, pledged by their paroles to
| live peaceably at horne, the fSeedmans
bureau at Denppolis not onf removed
and finally disposed of the Confederate
| government 80 bales, but under vain
protest of the owner carried off and dis
posed of the 100 bales remaining, worth
then $4,000 gold. Another case. A plant
| err had subscribed 300 bales to the Con-
federate loan, 500 pounds to the bale
being assumed The United States agent
| had $50 of these bales repacked into 300
packages of $50 pounds and disposed of
the remaining half as his fancy dictated.
Yet another case. A third planter sub
scribed 200 bales to the Confederate loan,
storing the whole on the land. There 1t
remained when the Confederacy fell.
Several months after that event light
ming struck the shelter over 1t and the
entire bulk, tied with hemp rope, was
instantly consumed. The bright moon
light that followed the afternoon rain
storm exposed several wagons. driven to
| the spot of embers in disappointment.
| The ruthless seizure of this private
property In time of profound peace, was
not the only unwarranted sacrifice of the
rights of cotton planters that followed
the war. During the progress of the
war the Congress at washington placed
| a tax on cotton of several cents the
pound When the war closed this tax
was cents The Scent tax applied to
the cotton found then on the plantations
and tho crops of 1865 and 1865. The CROP
of 1857 was taxed only 2k cents. The tax
was then removed. 1t is supposed on
good grounds that the cotton producers
of 1s65-66-67. in Alabama were thus un-
justly taxed the aggregate sum of $15,
~ hot ha
without interest and disbursed in the
state, 1t would still be unequal to the
amount Of the theft of the staple itself
by government agents In 1865