History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 81

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756

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Woodstock Cotton Mills, Anniston; inc. 1900; cap. $190,000; 10,000 ring, 2,520 twister sp .; 40 cards; 193 broad, 64 narrow looms; 3 sewing machines; 3 boilers; 10 to 20 single & ply weaving & knitting yarns, Turkish towels & table damask.

See Child Labor; Cotton; Cotton Statistics, Bureau of.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1832-33, pp. 81-83; 1845- 46, pp. 98-99; Hamilton, Mobile of the five flags (1913), pp. 278 and 368; Hardy, Selma (1879), pp. 120, Tarrant, Daniel Pratt (1904); Betts, Early history of Huntsville (1916), pp. 48-49. Poor's manual of industrials, 1916; Davison, Textile blue book, 1914-1915; "An Alabama cotton factory" in North Alabamian, Tuscum- bia, Apr. 25, 1845; Commissioner of Industrial Resources, Report, 1869, p. 16.

COTTON SEED CRUSHERS' ASSOCIA- TION, THE ALABAMA. An organization composed of individuals or companies dealing in cotton seed and cotton seed products, pledged to operate under official rules that govern transactions in their business. Sub- jects affected by the regulations are cotton seed; cotton seed oil, packages, weights, and grades; tank bottoms; refined oil, packages, weights and grades; soap stock; cotton seed cake, packages and weights; cotton seed meal, packages and weights; cake and meal, chem- ists and analysis, rejections; cold pressed cotton seed; linters, standardized protein and carbohydrate product (from cotton seed) hulls; peanut oil, grades; refined peanut oil, packages and weights, grades, rejections; pea- nut oil soap stock; peanut cake and meal; soya beans; trades by telegraph; time of ship- ment; forwarding of buyers tanks; move- ment in sellers tanks; shippers instructions and shipments; claims; official inspections; adulterations and mis-branding; margins.

REFERENCES .- Official Rules, governing tran- sactions in cotton seed and cotton seed prod- ucts, 1917.

COTTON STATISTICS, BUREAU OF. A State official bureau, established in connection with the department of agriculture and in- dustries, August 13, 1907; abolished Feb- ruary 9, 1915, and its records and papers re- tained as a part of the records of that depart- ment. The purpose in establishing the bureau was to collect, compile and publish "full statistics of cotton ginned and warehoused within the State, and such other cotton sta- tistics as in his discretion may be necessary to show the annual production and distribu- tion of cotton for the State." The principal statistics were to be supplied by the ginners, but the working out of details was left to the director.

The bureau was under the management of

a director, appointed by the governor, at a salary of $1,500. A bond of $5,000 was re- quired. The director was authorized to ap- point local field agents, to assist in collecting data, and to serve without compensation. With the consent and approval of the gov- ernor, he was authorized to "incur all neces- sary expenses including books, postage, sta- tionery, office supplies and clerical assistance," not to exceed $1,500.

The eight years of the existence of the bureau did not appear to justify its con- tinuance. Its facilities for collecting statistics were limited, and it was unable to make pub- lic what it did compile, with sufficient fulness and promptness to serve any very useful pur- pose. It was found also that the work largely duplicated that undertaken with much greater thoroughness by the United States Govern- ment. During the period from 1911 to 1915 practically no attempt was made to carry the work forward.

In order to make its legislative history com- plete, reference should be made to an act of March 5, 1907, by which the bureau was originally established, but with the express provision that the director should serve with- out compensation. Later in the session the act of August 13, 1907, was passed repealing the former. While substantially the same, the latter provided a salary for the director, and at the same time broadened the scope of the statistics required to be collected.

The bureau issued no publications of a formal nature. Its statistics and estimates were published in the State newspapers as given out.

Directors .- Wm. H. Seymour, 1907-1911; Edward M. Ragland, 1911-1915.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1907, pp. 278, 741; Code, 1907, secs. 113-120; General Acts, 1915, p. 76.

COTTON TAX. A direct tax levied by the United States Government on cotton products by an act of Congress passed in July, 1862. The tax rate levied by the first enactment was one-half cent a pound, but by act of January 30, 1864, it was increased to 2 cents. The rate was again increased, March 3, 1865, to 3 cents a pound, or $15 a bale. A reduction to 212 cents a pound, or $12.50 a bale, to be effective September 1, was made by act of March 2, 1867, and the tax was finally re- pealed in 1868. Cotton was taxable from the time it was baled and the tax was a lien on it from that time until paid. In many cases the tax was collected in other States to which the cotton had been shipped. The total revenue from this tax in the South was $68,072,388.99, and from collections within the borders of Alabama, $10,388,072.10. The latter amount, however, does not repre- sent the aggregate payments of the tax on Alabama cotton, because collections on a considerable quantity of it were made in northern and eastern ports and not included in these figures.

The cotton producers of Alabama felt that the imposition of this tax was unjust and purely vindictive, amounting to confiscation under color of law. They argued that it was

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a measure of revenge, aimed especially at them, since the exports of no other section of the country were so taxed. Their exaspera- tion was aggravated by knowledge of the fact that manufacturers of cotton fabrics and yarn received from the United States Treasury a gratuity of 3 cents a pound for all such products exported, thus proving that the tax was not levied as revenue but as a bonus for the manufacture of cotton goods for exporta- tion. In other words, the tax operated to impoverish the cotton producers of the South and enrich the manufacturers of the North. Gov. Robert M. Patton, in his message of November 12, 1866, to the legislature char- acterized the cotton tax as oppressive and un- just and recommended that a memorial be sent to Congress in favor of its repeal or modification. In his opinion this specific tax was a direct burden upon the labor which produced cotton; "a munificent bounty ruth- lessly wrung from the hard earnings of the toiling freedman, and given to those who are prosperous in business which already yields enormous profits. ", It was the more onerous he thought because the people of the State were not represented in Congress; and therefore, had no voice in its imposition. When it was at last repealed it was done at the behest of the carpetbaggers, scalawags and negroes, and not because of the objec- tions of the substantial citizens of the State who really paid the tax. The tax was most burdensome during the last two years it was in effect because the price of cotton had then greatly declined. The decrease in the net proceeds from a bale of cotton was equivalent to an increase in the amount of the tax, since it was specific, at a certain rate per pound, and not on an ad valorem basis.

An effort to increase the tax rate to 5 cents a pound was made in Congress in 1866. The committee on the revenue reported that such a tax "will not prove detrimental to any national interests." The revenue to be de- rived from this proposed increase was esti- mated at $66,000,000, of which Alabama would pay from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. The eastern manufacturers, testifying as ex- perts before the committee, with one excep- tion favored the increase, stating that on account of the great demand and excessive price of cotton goods, the tax would for the time being fall upon the manufacturers. One manufacturer, and one planter from Georgia, also an expert, opposed the increase. It is not unlikely that the rate would have been raised to 5 cents a pound, despite the dis- astrous effects of the collection of the lower tax, had it not been for the objections of the Republicans in Alabama and of the business men of New York and a few other northern cities. The New York Chamber of Commerce memorialized Congress, May 15, 1866, stating as the belief of its members that if measures were to be adopted affecting the industries of a large section, "these measures should be characterized by a spirit of generosity, which will take the sting from the declaration that 'taxation without representation is tyranny.' It should appear in after years, when pros-

perity in the South takes the place of present adversity, and pleasant relations are again restored in and out of Congress, that in the days of her weakness the North and West did not take undue advantage of the South, dis- criminating against her industries and im- posing burdens too heavy to be borne; but, on the contrary, that a spirit of magnanimity ruled in the councils of the nation, disposing our legislators to deal generously with the people of the South, thus to aid in restoring it from a state of weakness to a condition of strength.

Because of the unconstitutionality of the cotton tax, the southern people were per- suaded that it would eventually be refunded, wholly or in part. For many years after it was repealed, it was generally believed among the farmers that the unjust tax would be refunded, and many of them preserved the tax receipts against the day of reimbursement. The legislature presented a joint memorial to Congress, January 18, 1872, asking the pas- sage of a law refunding to the people of the cotton-growing States the amount of the tax collected on cotton during the years 1865- 1867. A bill was introduced in Congress in December, 1903, to refund the amount of the cotton tax to the Southern States, but it failed of passage.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1871-72, pp. 455-456; Gov. Robert M. Patton, "Message," Nov. 12, 1866 in H. Jour. 1866-7, p. 21; Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905), pp. 303-307; and Documentary history of Reconstruction (1906), vol. 1, pp. 34-35; Ku Klux report (H. Re- port, 22, pt. 9, 42d Cong., 2d sess.), Alabama testimony, vol. 1, pp. 383, 403.

COTTONWOOD. Interior village and post office in the southern part of Houston County, about 6 miles north of the Florida-Alabama line, 15 miles southwest of Gordon, and 16 miles southeast of Dothan. Population: Cottonwood Precinct, 1910-2,231, village proper-352. It was named for the tree most abundant in growth in the vicinity. Farming is the chief industry. .

REFERENCES. - Polk's gazetteer, 1888-9, p. 286; Lippincott's gazetteer, 1913, p. 474.

COUNCIL OF DEFENSE. See Defense, Alabama Council of. See also Defense, Post War Council of.

COUNTIES. Local political subdivisions of the state, of limited and defined powers, and agencies or auxiliaries in the adminis- tration of civil government, under legisla- tive control. They are created by the state as a means of exercising a portion of its political power by local administration, and on which are imposed or conferred a part of the sovereign authority and duty to in- sure domestic tranquillity, and promote the general welfare, within the territorial limits to which they are assigned. Counties are bodies corporate, with power to sue or be sued in any court of record, but while they

Rufus W. Cobb 1878-1882

E. A. O'Neal 1882-1886

Thomas Seay 1886-1890

Thomas G. Jones 1890-1894

William C. Oates 1894-1896

Joseph F. Johnston 1896-1900

William J. Samford 1900

William D. Jelks 1900-1907

Braxton B. Comer 1907-1911

Emmet O'Neal 1911-1915

Charles Henderson 1915-1919

GOVERNORS OF ALABAMA

Thomas E. Kilby 1919-

Vol. 1-27

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are clothed with this power, they are only quasi corporations, that is, an involuntary political or civil division, or governmental agency. The character of powers, conferred on counties, all have reference to and are for the benefit of the people within their boundaries. Although often termed munici- pal corporations, and while they have some of the characteristics of that form of politi- cal organization, they have a totally different and distinct purpose and sphere.

Counties have legislative and administra- tive functions. County affairs are adminis- tered by county officers, which include a pro- bate judge, a sheriff, tax assessor, tax col- lector, superintendent of education, clerk of circuit court, clerk of county court, county treasurer of school funds, registrar in chan- cery, game and fish warden, county survey- ors, registrars, health officers, jury commis- sioners, coroners, and courts of county com- missioners.

The legislative functions are exercised by commissioners courts. This is a court of record established in every county composed of the probate judge as principal judge and four commissioners. The judge and two commissioners, or three commissioners with- out the judge constitute a quorum. They hold regular terms of court in February, April, August and November, and special terms for the performance of special duties. "The court possesses original and unlimited jurisdiction in relation to the establishment, change, or discontinuance of roads, bridges, causeways, ferried and stock law districts within the county, except where otherwise provided by law to be exercised, in conform- ity with the provisions of the Code."-Code, 1907, Secs. 3306 and 3312. In the case of Commissioners Court against Moore, which went up from Coffee County, Brickell, Chief Justice, declared that courts of county com- missioners are entrusted with authority and jurisdiction, judicial, executive, ministerial and legislative. The exercise of its powers in matters of original jurisdiction are legis- lative and judicial; and in the performance of duties the commissioners court, so long as its action is not productive of private in- dividual injury, has a wide discretion, and is guided only by its knowledge of public neces- sity and convenience. No other tribunal can intervene to revise or control its action. Further discriminating in reference to its authority and jurisdiction, Chief Justice Brickell declares "If its action is productive of private injury, or interferes with private property, it is then judicial, and the subject of revision by the tribunals clothed with re- visory power over inferior tribunals. Thus far the statute clothes it with jurisdiction in express terms."

The statute clothes the court with author- ity to perform various acts, and in the exer- cise of these as set forth in Sec. 3313 of the Code, 1907, any of such duties are declared to be executive or ministerial.

The county is the administrative unit in the business of the courts for purposes of taxation, as an area for the record of papers

effecting land titles, administrations, wills, guardianships, and for the administration of the business of schools. The county is also the administrative unit for the care and sup- port of the poor.

The power and authority of all county of- ficers, like that of the members of courts of county commissioners, is derived from stat- ute.

New Counties .- Authority is conferred upon the legislature, by a two-thirds vote of each house, to "arrange and designate bound- aries for the several counties of this State, which boundaries shall not be altered except by like vote; but no new county shall be formed hereafter of less extent than 600 square miles, and no existing county shall be reduced to less than 600 square miles; and no new county shall be formed unless it shall contain a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle it to one Representative under the ratio of legislation existing at the time of its formation, and leave the county or counties from which it is taken with the required number of inhabitants to entitle such county or counties, each, to separate representation." -Constitution, 1901, Sec. 39. However, the same section contains a proviso that out of the Counties of Henry, Dale and Geneva a new county of less than 600 square miles may be formed, and with the further pro- vision that such formation may leave these three counties with less than 500 square miles each.

"No county line can be altered or changed, or in the event of the creation of new coun- ties, can be established, so as to run within seven miles of the county court house of any old county."-Sec. 40.

"No court house or county site shall be re- moved except by a majority vote of the qual- ified electors of said county, voting at an election held for such purpose, and when an election has once heen held no other election shall be held for such purpose until the ex- piration of four years."-Ibid, Sec. 41. The same section contains an exception in refer- ence to the removal of the county site of Shelby County .- See Acts, 1903, p. 117.

Quarter Sections .- Congress at its session in 1824 passed an act granting to the several counties of each state and territory having public lands, the right of pre-emption to a quarter section of land "entrusted for said counties or parishes respectively, for the es- tablishment of the seat of justice therein, upon condition, that the proceeds of the sale of each of said quarter sections should be appropriated for the purpose of erecting pub- lic buildings in the county or parish for its location, after deducting therefrom the amount originally paid for the same and upon further condition that the seat of jus- tice for said counties or parishes respectively, should be fixed previously to a sale of ad- joining land within the county or parish for which the same is located."

The legislature on December 24, 1824, passed an act (Acts, 1824-5, p. 64-5), provid- ing that the judges of county courts and com- missioners of revenue and roads of the several

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counties, entitled to the benefit of the act of Congress, should be appointed commissioners by the respective counties for locating a quar- ter section of land, and for disposing of the same in such manner and upon such terms as they may deem expedient for carrying into effect the purpose of the grant.

The act, however, was expressly prohib- ited from applying to Shelby, Bibb, Tusca- loosa, Pickens, Jefferson, Blount, Morgan, St. Clair, Jackson and Greene Counties.

An appropriation was made to authorize the judges and commissioners to draw upon the county treasury such sum or sums of money as was necessary to pay for the quar- ter section of land.

Limitations Under the Constitution .- Un- der the constitution there are certain limita- tions imposed upon counties:

(1) The legislature is prohibited from en- acting any law not applicable to all counties in the State alike, regulating costs and charges of courts, or fees, commissions or allowances of public officers .- Sec. 96.

(2) The real or personal property of coun- ties is exempt from taxation .- Sec. 91.

(3) Counties are prohibited from lending their credit, or to grant public money or thing of value in aid of, or to any individual, association, or corporation whatsoever, or to become a stockholder in any such corporation, association, or company, by issuing bonds or otherwise .- Sec. 94. This section undoubt- edly reflects the remembrance of the stormy period of reconstruction, in which the credit of the state and counties was loaned in an almost unlimited way to individual and cor- porate enterprises, including railroads, etc.

(4) Neither is a county allowed to become a stockholder in any bank, and its credit cannot be given or lent to any banking com- pany, association or corporation .- Sec. 253.

(5) In order to protect the credit of coun- ties they cannot incur an indebtedness "in- cluding their present indebtedness, greater than three and one-half per centum of the assessed value of the property therein; pro- vided, this limitation shall not affect any ex- isting indebtedness in excess of such three and one-half per centum, which has already been created or authorized by existing law to be created; provided, that any county which has already incurred a debt exceeding three and one-half per centum of the assessed value of property therein, shall be authorized to incur an indebtedness of one and a half per centum of the assessed value of such property in addition to the debt already ex- isting." The section just quoted declares that nothing stated "shall prevent any county from issuing bonds, or other obligations, to fund or refund any indebtedness now exist- ing or authorized by existing laws to be cre- ated."-Sec. 224.

In construing section 224 the supreme court, in the case of O'Rear v. Sartain, 193 Ala., p. 275, holds that the expression become indebted does not include interest not yet due, but that in calculating the amount of a county indebtedness, the total of the county's

then obligation and the accruing interest thereon only are to be included.

In order that the business interests of the county may be fully conserved the constitu- tion imposes upon the legislature the duty of passing "general laws authorizing the coun- ties, cities, towns, villages, districts, or other political subdivisions of counties to issue bonds, but no bonds shall be issued under authority of a general law unless such issue of bonds be first authorized by a majority vote by ballot of the qualified voters of such county, city, town, village, district, or other political subdivision of a county, voting upon such proposition." The section in question does not apply "to the renewal, refunding or reissue of bonds lawfully issued, nor to the issuance of bonds in cases where the same have been authorized by laws enacted prior to the ratification of this constitution."-Sec. 222.

Another important limitation is found in section 215, not only definite in terms, but which has been held by the supreme court as necessary in a proper interpretation of sec- tion 224, set forth in the preceding para- graph: "No county in this state shall be authorized to levy a greater rate of taxation in any one year on the value of the taxable property therein than one-half of one per cen- tum; provided, that to pay debts existing on the sixth day of December, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, an additional rate of one- fourth of one per centum may be levied and collected which shall be appropriated exclu- sively to the payment of such debts and the interest thereon; provided, further, that to pay any debt or liability now existing against any county, incurred for the erection, con- struction, or maintenance of the necessary public buildings or bridges, or that may here- after be created for the erection of neces- sary public buildings, bridges, or roads, any county may levy and collect such special taxes, not to exceed one-fourth of one per centum, as may have been or may hereafter be authorized by law, which taxes so levied and collected shall be applied exclusively to the purposes for which the same were so levied and collected."

Strangulated Counties .- The term popu- larly used to designate the five counties which found themselves, at the close of the recon- struction period, hopelessly in debt as the result of endorsing the bonds of railroad com- panies, Chambers, Lee, Randolph, Pickens and Tallapoosa. As an accompaniment to the act establishing a system of internal im- provement for the State, another act, Decem- ber 31, 1868, "To authorize the several coun- ties and towns and cities of the State of Ala- bama to subscribe to the capital stock of such railroads throughout the State as they may consider most conducive to their re- spective interest," was passed. Many coun- ties, under authority of this law, endorsed large amounts of the bonds of various railroad companies, some of whose roads were never built nor even begun; and in some cases made special issues of county bonds to he loaned to railroad companies. Records to show the ex-

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act amounts of such endorsements and loans are not available. However, railroad bonds were endorsed by the five counties above referred to, under special enabling acts, to the following amounts: Chambers, $150,000; Lee, $275,000; Pickens, $100,000; Randolph, $100,000; Tallapoosa, $125,000. These amounts probably do not represent the entire obligations of any of the counties on this account. .

When the reconstruction regime was brought to a close in 1874 the necessity for a settlement of the indebtedness of the State upon the basis of some sort of a compromise was apparent to every one, and Gov. Geo. S. Houston recommended in his message of December 7, 1874, the enactment of a law authorizing a commission to arrange such a settlement. It shortly became evident also that something must he done for the relief of certain of the counties and towns which were as deeply involved financially as the State, and with as little or less prospect of extricating themselves. For the purpose of affording such relief, an act was passed, March 6, 1876, "to compromise the debts of any county in this State whose obligations are worth less than par value," which au- thorized the courts or county commissioners to effect such compromises as they could with the creditors of the counties. Another act of the same date referred particularly to Lee and Tallapoosa Counties. Prior to the passage of these acts, steps had been taken by the county treasurer of Randolph County to ad- just certain claims against that county, and an act of March 3, 1876, legalized and rat- ified what he had done.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 81

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 756

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756