The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-21
EIGHT GOVERNORS OF ALABAMA
1874-l9O1
No. 74-R. F. Kolb, Commissioner
Thomas Seay, Governor
1874--l9O1

| In response to the general farmers
movement of the period, the legislature,
chosen with Governor Seay, enacted cer-
tain progressive laws. The Canebrake
Agricultural Experiment station. near
/ Uniontown, Perry county. was estab-
lislloo II order to test the adaptability of
the ttes but peculiar soil of vast area
of tie territory of the state, to a varied
cultiv1 Ton An appropriation was made
| to introduce technical teaching of agri-
culture in the Agricultural and Mechani-
cal college at Auburn. joint memorial
was addressed to Congress, praying for
the restitution of the illegally collected
federal tax ON Alabama grown cotton 20
years before. supposed to be to the
amount of s15,o0o0oo. A joint resolution
prayed Congress to encourage by practl-
cal aid worlds exposition of the prod
ucts of southern freedmen's labor.
Late in the first term of Governor Seay
| the active sympathy of the farmers of
Alabama with the general farmers move
ment of the union, fell under the direc-
tion of Capt. r. r. Kolb of Barbour
| county.
| Commissioner of Agriculture E. C. Belts
died In the latter half of the first Seay
term An ardent rivalry for the appoint
ment pressed the governor. Eleven ap-
plicants appeared. among the number
|
! Judge Thornton of Talladega. The ex-
ecutive. with II names of the worthy me-
of the state before him, fell finally upon
Captain Kolb for the office.
Kolb was born in the big brick house
of his grandfather. Gen. Reuben C.
! Shorter, on the banks of the river at
Eufaula. In word, he was born with
silver spoon in his mouth. After grad
uating at the University of North Caro-
lima, he came back home, took possess
sion of plantation and negroes by in
| heritance and took his seat in the state
! democratic convention of historic fame In
1860 the youngest delegate ON the floor
| The Confederacy promptly mustered him
into its army as captain OF kolb's field
| battery. A better record in front of the
enemy, no battery may claim than this
young Alabama captains.
| Hoods army or the small fragment
that remained, was strung along through
| the roads between Mississippi and North
! Carolina. Kolb's battery had reached as
far on the march northward as Augusta,
Ga. There he his men, guns. ammuni-
/ ton and horses were surrendered on the
terms made by Gen. j. E. Johnston with
Sherman at Greensboro, N. c., April 70.
1865
The commissioner had engaged in cot
| ton planting on q large scale immedi-
ately after the war. He conducted three
| plantations and made 1t a rule to ride to
each every day. The circuit thus ridden
was q miles. He, with partner. car
ried on a large general store in Eufaula
at the same time. Pugh and Baker the
| leading law firm, sent to the Kolb store
| for a gallon jub of whisky, like they
| had used before" the negro messenger
| said. The order was promptly filled. The
! filled jug at once came back. Mr.. Pugh
did not want that quality. He wanted
tlo 1,.. l,,d nrAnd dp1 a
negro boy said. Captain Kolb took the
full jug behind the counter, changed the
| stopper for one of different shape. Mr..
Pugh drank his whisky, the same he had
rejected and became great man, never
suspectng his Judgment on liquor.
The Gould panic of 1878 permanently
demoralized the cotton market Captain
Kolb put $50 acres in watermelons for
/ the Interstate trade He SO perfected q
melon for shipment and the market that
| il became known as the 'I<olb Gem, the
favorite with growers and consumers.
The farmers movement. following APP
! pomattox, became a political enterprise
in the nature of things. The things
| that dominated the government at WASH
! ington were oppressive to the producers,
| on the ground floor of society
| In the cotton states we had the abnor-
NAL presence of the republican party.
| Gould's panic of 1873 was overwhelming
1 disast to all industry in both sec
tions. In the same year by trick OF
| Gen. p. F. Butler, member from Massa-
| chusetts, the Congress, unconsciously, by
an act to regulate the mints dropped the
silver dollar from the national coinage,
thus In effect demonitizing the peoples
money metal. At that time silver COM
manded a premium over gold. Four years
| later, political depravity reached it's
limit In the seizure of the presidency by
| the machinery OF the republican party.
and the seating of the defeated candi-
date, r. B. Hayes, In the office.
These are examples of corruption in
civil life and In practical government.
These are examples in civil life and In
| practical government which excited uni
versa1 unrest
| We have traced the origin of the power
full National Grange of Patrons of Hus-
| bandrv, In 1866 4 movement that really
grew out OF the thought Of President An
/ drew Johnson, seeking to rescue himself
| from the tolls of his revolutionary polit-
! zeal affinities, We have seen the farm
! ers' alliance of single county OF Tex
as the farmers wheel of Arkansas, and
| the farmers union of Louisiana. Be-
sides these, In the cotton states, there
were independent farmers organizations
Of various proportions In the northwest.