The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-12
TEN YEARS OF ALABAMA
No. 17-Administration of Governor Patton
18651874

The phenomena of moral courage aDf
intellectual enterprise found in the peo'
pie of Alabama make up the record OF
facts which We are to unfold
The Congress. restricted to a section
of territory, and confined practically &c
one political party. busted itself with
tho revengeful work of destroying the
states OF the other section-to the work
of annihilating the form of government
and Of converting the union into mill
tary domain.
Some insight into the public mind OF
this state will be found in the regular
message of Governor Patton TO the legis-
lature upon the assembling of that body
on November II, 1866 The governor evi-
IDENTIFY intended by his utterance to con-
trast civil conditions as they really We're
with the boisterous defamation which foI
II consecutive months last past had free
rein In both houses of Congress. The
| message said:
"Our own state has enjoyed the bless
| ing OF uninterrupted tranquility" In an
| other paragraph the message made ia
vorable reference to the attitude of the
| races toward each other, saying: 1.-THE
freedmen should be assured of our firm
purpose to give them all their legal
rights. We should advise them to let
politics alone; and they should be espe-
cially taught the utter absurdity of ex-
pecting or aspiring to a condition of So
clal equality with the white race
The laws passed by the sectional Con-
gress were intended to reverse the views
of the governor of Alabama, They were
| framed to force politics upon the freed
men, who did not need or crave the
possession, and TO force miscegenation
without the slightest demonstration of
the appearance of such an instinct in
either race.
In the same message the governor in
formed the legislature that he had re-
ceived from the Secretary of State of
the United States a document purport-
ing to be a fourteenth article of amend
ment of the federal constitution. He sub
mitted TO the body learned and exhaus-
tive analysis of this document, section
by section. He held the article to be
irreconcileable with the American plan
of government. In effect. he declared it
would IL adopted reverse the fundamental
theories of the constitution itself. The
message closed the discussion with the
grave words of counsel and warning: 81
am decidedly of the opinion that this
amendment should not be ratified"
Bold words these Alabama stood on her
good behavior She had no senators In
Congress, no representatives, her gov
ernor virtually passed through files of
the garrison of Montgomery to his daily
duties His daily duties In minute detail
were liable to be vised and repudiatet
by the major general of the United States
army commanding the post
The Legislature forgot these things. It
"set the house in order not to die but to
live" The representatives of Kentucky
and of Maryland were also barred from
their seats In Congress. For FIVE years
every civil function of every northern
state had been liable to military subordi-
nation by order of the Secretary of War
at Washington. Federal troops had car
ricd elections. habeas corpus had been
suppressed.
The legislature sought to relieve the
famine of currency. Counties and cities
were aufnO11Zeu 10 issue paper, lot Spc-
eiflc purposes, that might pay debts. For
example, Barbour county was empowered
to build bridges. repair buildings and pay
other necessary expenses by the issue
of certificates of indebtedness, county
treasury notes on bonds In sums or
amounts of one, two, three, five, ten and
twenty dollars. Montgomery county was
authorized 10y statute TO ISSUE 10000 IN
treasury notes and Chambers county half
1. IL sc 10
ture created THE Bos~i Of River and
Harbor Improvement for Mobile. At that
time Mobile still held monopoly of the
cotton trade. as before the war. Rail- Dad
connection to the north had not been
operated. The board consisted of the
president of the court of county commits
sioners the mayor. the president of the
Bank of Mobile, the president of the
Chamber of Comerce and one citizen of
the county OF Mobile chosen by the gov
ernor five members in all. Next the city
government of Mobile was empowered
ITO issue bonds to the amount of sl,000.-
000' to be subject to the use of the hoard
of "River and Harhor Improvement"
| ON February 10. 1867. this legislature
! composed OF white men entirely. the
standard of membership equal to any
that at any previous time had convened
| in law making, enacted t.e historic act
| ito establish a system tsic) of internal
I Improvement in the state of Alabama. "
The motive was plain. Property in labor
having fallen from the assets of the reo-
/ pie substitute became necessary 70
industry The legislature sought TO APP
preciate the market value of the asri-
cultural lands and to open the land
! locked mineral wealth. The idea was by
no means new. to bring state aid TO rail
roads The policy had been favorite
! with MANY leading men of both political
parties before the war. 1t was an idea
/ whose genesis lay in the steadily de-
ereasing net profits OF slave labor. Ne
/ groes had become too high on the mar
! Set to be paid for by cotton, that Mas
I too low Some other investment of money
was needed / remember the publishe'
appeal of the president OF the Alabama
and Mississippi railroad 10 the planters
10 invest in the stock of that road. He,
Dr. G. G. Griffith of Demopolis, was ,.nl-
self among the wealthy planters Of ths
state. HIS appeal now assured the plant
crs that he did not make per cent from
his plantation While the railroad was
raying ltnore,
The aclt OF February 10, 1865. provided
.Whenester. any railroad company now
incorpors hted or that may hereafter be
incorporsatrd by the general assembly oil
the state Of, 9oama. shalrhave finished
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