The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
TEN YEARS OF ALABAMA
No. 61-Railroads and Railroad Politics
18o51874
tCODtIuuedD

When the legislature passed the state aid to railroads act in 1866 the farmers and the merchants in tho state were making more money than they had ever made. Nevertheless three fourths of the assessable values had been lost by the results of the war to say nothing of the reduction of productive population by the casualties of the military life. Compe- tent state appointed authority made of | fcial report that the value of private property was s725,O00.0 900 in 1861. In 1866 the value had fallen to $1o,Oo000o. (Ala. debt i commission report)
 The increased profits of all industry was due in the latter period to the increased price of cotton, caused by the cotton fam inc following the suspension of produc- ton in the period of war
 Far seeing legislators Of 1866 correctly estimated that cotton was not too high to hold its prevailing price; that the new railroads would open limltless stores of untouched wealth in coal. iron and timber also in fertile cotton lands.
 The state aid to railroads act as orig inally conceived and enacted placed lm- Fitations, restrictions and requirements [ upon the corporation beneficiaries, ample to protect the public benefactor. No sim gle deed of the monstrous usurper of gov ernment in the state stands out more ab- horrent to justice and decency than the perversion of this law.
 The legislature of 1S65-67 that at It's last 1 session enacted the law did not for a moment contemplate that almost before | It's members had reached their homes | nnOn adfOIIrnmapf fine liempmhprpI Com gress would abolish civil government in | the state and practically reduce the peo- pie to the vilest military rule for nearly 10 consecutive years.
 | Both the letter and spirit of this law were ruthlessly and infamously renounced by the authority forced upon the people | and upon whom it fell for execution. Moreover, the legislature of cotton planters and statesmen that passed the law were led to believe 1t was not { hazardous enterprise to promote an in- creased commerce for the port of Mobile. The positive financial increment to gen. eral business, arising from a market for production and q port for export and fm- port, all within the state in easy con tact must be great All railroads then were designed to feed Mobile.
 When the military legislature assembled in July, 1868, among it's early acts was to re-enact the state aid to railroads law passed by the white mans legislature the year before. amending II so as to re- quire the governor to indorse first mort gage railroad bonds to the limit of s12 eco per mile for every five miles of com pieted finished and equipped road. after the first 20 miles of completed, finished and equipped road
 This measure of amendment was not satisfactory 10 the roads. They wanted more state aid. J, c. and D. w. stanton, brothers, had come already from Boston, without means of their own, to under take, under the original state aid act of the white mans legislature, to complete the Northeast and Southwest road, par tially built before the war by a private corporation.
 The elder brother became zealous