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to common carriers. It was enacted that railroads should provide separate accommodations for whites and blacks, either by partitions in carriages or by separate carriages. The question of aiding disabled Confederates and the widows of Confederates was settled for the time by devoting to this object the proceeds of a special tax of one-half of one mill on every dollar's worth of taxable property. Within a year, nearly 5,000 applicants received aid from this source. An appropriation was also made to complete the Confederate monument on the Capitol grounds. The number of justices of the Supreme Court was increased to five, as in earlier years, and to the new place thus created Richard W. Walker was appointed by the governor.

The question of Alabama's representation at the World's Fair to be held in Chicago in 1893, in commemoration of the discovery of America, also came before this legislature, but no appropriation was made. A principal reason given by the opponents of the bill was the threat of Congress to pass an act, commonly called the "Force Bill," to take from the States in certain cases the control of elections to Congress. It was held that this measure was aimed especially at the South. However, after the legislature adjourned, the "Force Bill" was beaten in Congress, and a convention of citizens met at Montgomery and took action to make sure of an exhibit of Alabama's resources at Chicago.

Except for political contests, this and the following year in Alabama were not particularly eventful. The dredging of Mobile harbor was a welcome aid in the development of the growing lumber industry of the southern counties, and tended to restore to Mobile some of its old-time prosperity and importance. A freshet wrought considerable damage in the regions watered by the Tombigbee and Noxubee rivers, and the governor issued a proclamation calling for aid to the sufferers, which was generously rendered. A convention of colored people, which met at Tuskegee in 1892, was nota

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ble for the expression it gave of good feeling toward the whites. In a printed address, the convention declared: “We believe that we can become prosperous, intelligent, and independent where we are, and we discourage any efforts at wholesale emigration; and, recognizing that our home is to be in the South, we urge that all strive in everything to cultivate the good feeling and friendship of those about us in all that relates to our material elevation." In such movements as this, and in the work of the Tuskegee Institute and the normal school at Huntsville, two wise and faithful servants of their race, Booker T. Washington and William H. Council, have deserved well of Alabama. They have been helped, not only by Northern philanthropists, but by the white people among whom they live, to whom they have been respectful and fair.

Politically, the year 1892 was very important, because it saw the dominant party in the State quite seriously divided for the first time since the Civil War. The issue was between Captain Kolb and his followers, on the one hand, and the more conservative element in the party, led by Governor Jones, on the other. Soon after Governor Jones went into office, Mr. Kolb formally requested, and the Governor ordered, an official examination into the accounts of Captain Kolb as commissioner of agriculture. The examiner reported various irregularities, and the report gave some countenance to the charge that Captain Kolb and his clerks had made the State pay for railroad fares when they rode on passes. The report, however, did not apparently weaken Captain Kolb's hold on his followers, who believed that the charges were brought for political reasons only. The legislature passed a law providing that the office of commissioner of agriculture should be filled by popular election. Captain Kolb's term expired before the regular election of 1892, and Governor Jones appointed Hector D. Lane to the office for the time being. Captain Kolb, claiming that the governor had no

right to make the appointment, refused to give up his place. Suit was brought against him, and the case was decided in his favor in the lower court; but the Supreme Court reversed the decision, and Mr. Lane was installed in the office.

All this increased the bitterness between the two factions, most of the old leaders in the party taking sides against Kolb, and his own followers growing more and more ardent in his support. He announced himself as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, and he and Governor Jones had an exciting canvass. When the convention met, Governor Jones had a majority of delegates with regular credentials, but Kolb and his followers, claiming that Jones's victory in the primaries was due to frauds in various counties, held a separate convention. Kolb was nominated for governor, and other candidates for the other State offices. The Republicans made no nominations. At the election in August, Jones had a majority of about 11,000; but Mr. Kolb claimed that he had carried the State by 40,000 and the election officers had defrauded him. There was great excitement and bitterness of feeling. The "regular" Democrats also elected a majority in the legislature and their candidates for the other State offices. The legislature had failed to pass any law providing for contests of the election of State officers, though Governor Jones had twice recommended passing such a law, and so Mr. Kolb found it impossible to make any contest. His party, by this time calling themselves "Jeffersonian Democrats," named candidates for Congress at the autumn elections, and a list of presidential electors. As the Republicans again refrained from making nominations, and as the newly formed "People's party" endorsed the Jeffersonian ticket, it was the only ticket in opposition to the "regular" Democrats. Alabama was now entitled to nine Congressmen, and nine Democrats were chosen. The electoral vote of the State was cast for Cleveland and Stevenson, the Democratic candidates.

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When Mr. Cleveland came to make up his Cabinet, he chose Congressman Hilary A. Herbert, of the Montgomery district, for the office of Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Herbert had long been at the head of the House Committee on naval affairs, and to him belongs no small

share of credit for the efficiency of our new navy when it was tested a few years later in the Spanish War.

The charge of unfairness against the election officials was no doubt in the minds of the legislators during the session of 1892-3, for one of their principal measures was a new election law. It provided for a modified form of the "Australian" ballot, a ballot printed by the State with the names of the candidates for the several offices in alphabetical

HILARY A. HERBERT.

order. The law further provided that the voter should have the right to mark his ballot secretly, and that aid should be given to voters unable to read.

An industrial school for white girls was established by the legislature at the same session, though the appropriation for it was not to begin until the year 1895. After an exciting competition the school was placed at Montevallo, whose enterprising citizens offered more inducements than any of the other towns which tried to secure it.

An important law relating to convicts was passed at this session. The proper treatment of convicts had been much discussed for some years, many opposing the system by which they were leased out to private employers, who, it was claimed, sometimes treated them cruelly. This new law gave entire control of the convicts to a board of nine persons, with the governor as chairman. The hiring out of convicts was still permitted, but they were to be provided