USA > Alabama > History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II > Part 15
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Internal improvements continued to be one of the most prominent questions before the people, and in 1831 Gov. Andrew B. Moore called the attention of the legislature, in his message of November 22, to the necessity for the adoption of some definite policy regarding work of public improvement if the State was to attain its proper rank among the other States of the Union. "While we feel a degree of becoming pride in the consciousness that the State of Alabama stands pre-eminently distinguished on the map of our country for its commercial advantages," he said, "yet there are works of public improvement, the accomplishment of which is imperiously called for by the growing wants of our flour- ishing country, which would incalculably tend to the promotion of the welfare and prosperity of the State."
Among the improvements thus imperiously called for were the connection of the Tennes- see and Alabama Rivers and the removal of obstructions from, or the construction of a canal around the Muscle Shoals in the Ten- nessee River so as to open to the State the domestic and foreign markets to be reached at Mobile and New Orleans. Three years later Gov. John Gayle included in his mes- sage of November 18, 1834, a detailed dis- cussion of the whole subject, and strongly recommended that measures for accomplish- ing the connection of the isolated sections of the State and the opening of the markets to its people should be undertaken; but he rec- ommended the construction of railroads as the means of bringing about these desirable ends instead of canals, roads, and river im- provements. From this time forward the es- tablishment of a connection by railroad between the agricultural sections of northern and central Alabama and the port of Mobile was continually discussed, and was the object of numerous railroad enterprises, most of which proved abortive. The immediate pas- sage of legislation in aid of a railroad to con- nect the Tennessee Valley with the navigable waters of the Alabama River was also urged by Gov. C. C. Clay in his message of Novem- ber 27, 1835; and he suggested that the best route and the probable expense be ascertained by surveys and estimates to be prepared by "a scientific and practical engineer."
792
HISTORY OF ALABAMA
In 1839 Gov. A. P. Bagby expressed him- self as favoring a policy of internal improve- ments, but as being unwilling to see any ex- pensive system adopted at that time. "It is true," he said, "that I came into office favor- ably and pledged, to some extent, to this sub- ject; but I am too deeply impressed with a sense of the embarrassment of the present period, to think of embarking in any business enterprise calculated to add to the other pecuniary difficulties either of the State or people." The pecuniary embarrassments re- ferred to consisted of the failure of the State bank about two years before, which had de- stroyed the State's only source of revenue and inflicted serious financial loss on most of the well-to-do people. For many years, the profit of the State bank had been sufficient to defray all the expense of the State government; and taxation had, therefore, been wholly dis- pensed with. Upon the failure of the bank it was necessary to reestablish a system of taxation; and this, added to the financial loss sustained by large numbers of people, emphasized the desirability of the utmost economy in public as well as in private busi- ness affairs. Because of these things, inter- nal improvements made little progress during the next decade.
Winston's Vetoes .- One of the most promi- nent, if not the most prominent, issues in the election of State officers in 1853 was the ques- tion of public aid. Opinion on the subject was nearly equally divided. The opposition to the policy was led by John A. Winston, who was elected upon what was virtuall ยท an anti- railroad platform. The governor had no con- fidence in the ability of State officers to con- duct successfully the affairs of business enter- prises. In his first message to the legislature he stated that the propriety of the State's lending its credit or subscribing money to aid in the construction of railroads appeared by the results of the election not to have received the approbation of the people or of the repre- sentatives.
During his second term the governor de- clined to approve more than 30 bills, most of which carried appropriations or loans for rail- roads. Many of them were later passed by the constitutional majority, but by his con- tinued opposition he earned the sobriquet of "the veto governor." Despite Gov. Winston's earnest and continued opposition, and not- withstanding the fact that both he and the legislature had been elected upon an opposi- tion platform, before the expiration of his term the State had been launched on a policy of State-subsidized railroads.
Most of the appropriations were, however, made from the two and three per cent funds. In 1854 a joint committee from the two houses of the legislature reported that the amount standing to the credit of these funds was $858,498, all of which was distributed as loans to various railroad companies, viz: North-East South-West Railroad Co., $218,135; Wills Valley Railroad Co., $75,- 000; Selma & Gulf Railroad Co., $40,000; Cahaba, Marion, & Greensboro Railroad Co.,
$25,000; Opelika & Oxford Railroad Co., $50,000; Montgomery & Eufaula Railroad Co., $30,000; Tennessee & Coosa Railroad Co., $195,363; Alabama & Tennessee Rivers Railroad Co., $225,000. All of these loans were secured by the hypothecation of railroad bonds, and were to draw interest at the rate of 6 per cent. Seven years later, by a special act, all these loans were recalled from the foregoing companies and the entire amount appropriated to the South & North Alabama Railroad Co.
During the War railroad building was vir- tually at a standstill. In a few cases the Con- federate Government and the State assisted in the construction of lines which would be of special value in connection with military affairs, but for the most part it was a time of destruction rather than construction. Per- haps the only good derived from the War by railroads in Alabama was the fact that north- ern capitalists then learned of the mineral resources of the State, and shortly after its close began to interest themselves in their development.
State Aid Policy Adopted, 1867 .- The legislature, February 19, 1867, passed the "act to establish a system of internal im- provements in the State of Alabama." This law with subsequent amendments became the basis of a system of appropriating public funds in aid of railroad schemes which was respon- sible for the creation of an enormous public debt and constituted one of the most discredit- able chapters in the history of the State. (See "Railroads" for an analysis of the law and details of its operation.) The requirements of this act appear to have been too stringent to suit the railroad promoters, and it was amended at their request, August 7, 1868, so as to reduce the number of miles of rail- road required to be completed before State endorsement could be obtained. in less than two months another amendatory act was passed increasing the amount of the State's endorsement from $12,000 to $16,000 a mile, and further modifying the requirements of the original act so as to enable Alabama com- panies to get the benefit of the endorsement upon their roads outside as well as inside the State. Many other acts for the benefit of railroad enterprises were passed by subse- quent legislatures. Some of them applied to only one company or corporation. Charges were openly made that some of these laws had been obtained by bribery. Subsequent reports of legislative investigating commit- tees seemed to substantiate these charges in some cases. In addition to financial aid to railroad building rendered by the State, many of the counties, cities and towns assisted by subscriptions to capital stock, the purchase of railroad bonds, and occasionally by gifts or loans, or both. Complete and accurate information with respect to county and town subscriptions to railroads is not ohtainable.
Within two years after the adoption of the first internal improvement act, it had become apparent to the governor that the policy, if continued, would end in bankruptcy for the
793
HISTORY OF ALABAMA
State. The auditor in his report to the gov- ernor, October 1, 1869, also called attention to the risk involved in the existing State-aid policy, and recommended the repeal of the law authorizing endorsement to the amount of $16,000 a mile, or an amendment reducing the amount to $10,000 a mile or less. The legislature disregarded these warnings and passed another endorsement law in 1869, which was virtually a reenactment of the law then in effect. In addition to the endorse- ment law, the same legislature passed an act lending to the Alabama & Chattanooga Rail- road Co. $2,000,000 of State bonds upon the security of the land grants held by the com- pany. The passage of this bill was secured by open bribery of legislators, and it later came to be known as the "Stanton Bill," from the name of the principal promoter of the Alabama & Chattanooga. (For further
. details of acts in aid of particular railroad companies see Railroads, South & North Ala- bama Railroad Co., Alabama Great Southern Railroad Co.)
By 1870 it had become impossible to ascertain with any degree of accuracy what the amount of the State's indebtedness really was. In his message of January 24, 1871, Gov. Lindsay stated that upon his accession to office he had made an effort to ascertain the State's actual and contingent liability, but had been unable to find records showing what companies had received endorsement, or the amount of bonds endorsed, or the date of endorsement. He criticised severely the methods of his predecessor in office in handling the State's finances; but neverthe- less continued to endorse the bonds of vari- ous railroads, keeping little better record of his actions in that respect than Gov. Smith had done. In November, 1874, George S. Houston was elected governor, representing the better element of the State's population. During his administration, a commission was appointed to investigate the deht. The com- mission submitted an exhaustive report with recommendations for effecting some equitable settlement. (See for details of the financial settlement, State Debt.)
It was during Gov. Houston's administra- tion also that the convention met which adopted the constitution of 1875, above re- ferred to, which prohibited the State's partici- pating in any manner in the construction of any sort of internal improvements.
See Canals; Plank Roads; Railroads; Rivers and Harbors; Roads and Highways.
REFERENCES .- Toulmin, Digest, 1823; Aikin, Digest, 1833; Clay, Digest, 1843; Code, 1852, 1867, 1876, 1886, 1896 and 1907; Acts, passim, for full text of laws. For the early history of the internal improvement policy, see Governors' Messages; Oct. 26, 1819 (S. Jour., 1819-20, pp. 7-17); Nov. 13, 1821 (S. Jour., 1821, pp. 27-34) ; Nov. 22, 1831 (S. Jour., 1830, pp. 7-16) ; Nov. 18. 1834 (H. Jour., 1834, pp. 8-12); Nov. 27, 1835 (H. Jour., 1835, pp. 49-58) ; Dec. 2, 1839 (H. Jour., 1839, pp. 8-22). The principal general authorities are W. E. Martin, "Internal im- provements in Alabama," in Johns Hopkins
University, Studies in historical and political science (1902); Fleming, Civil War and Re- construction in Alabama (1905), pp. 583-605; Herbert, ed., Why the Solid South? (1890), pp. 29-69; Clark, "Railroads and navigation," in Memorial record of Alabama (1893), vol. 1, pp. 318-328; Garrett, Public men in Alabama (1872), passim.
INTERNAL REVENUE. Internal revenue or excise duties date from the act of Con- gress, July 1, 1862. This was confessedly a war measure; and subsequently was amended several times, as the exigencies of the Federal Treasury demanded. These laws imposed taxes on luxuries, such as spirits, beers, to- bacco, and other articles of domestic manu- facture and consumption. They were justified because of the failure of customs duties, or taxes on imports, to meet the financial needs of the Government. Alabama did not come under the provisions of the revenue laws until the close of the War in 1865, except as re- spects such cotton as may have been carried through the military lines. After 1865 many of the specific taxes were reduced or repealed, and by act of July 14, 1870, a general revi- sion was made, so that the present system may be said to be based upon that act.
Under the present system, internal revenue taxes are imposed on distilled spirits, de- natured alcohol, industrial (farm) distilleries, distilleries, brandy used in fortifying wines, fermented liquors, tobacco, oleomargarine, adulterated butter, renovated butter, and in- comes (q. v.).
During the fiscal year 1916, internal revenue collections in Alabama aggregated $667,840.10, being derived from the follow- ing sources: oleomargarine, $2,590.84; cor- poration income tax, $201,568.82; individual income tax, $109,983.51; perfumery, cos- metics, etc., $1,320.78; documentary stamps, etc., $173,967.92; penalties, etc., $1,453.19; distilled spirits, $68,078.11; tobacco, $43,- 202.39; fermented liquors, $1,722.22; spe- cial taxes not elsewhere enumerated, $59,- 468.86; miscellaneous, $4,483.46.
The aggregate internal revenue collections in Alabama, exclusive of income taxes which are shown in the article on Income Tax in Alabama, for each of the fiscal years, 1866 to 1916, is shown in the following table:
1866
$ 4,099,366.46
1867
3,715,093.46
1868
4,099,780.49
1869
391,223.30
1870
410,416.10
1871
285,508.83
1872
202,360.73
1873
143,050.60
1874
135,792.61
1875
115,689.37
1876
109,340.97
1877
108,010.00
1878
137,969.57
1879
122,234.38
1880
135,890.38
1881
130,651.39
1882
140,532.92
1883
108,673.85
794
HISTORY OF ALABAMA
1884
85,398.33
1885
73,315.34
1886
81,038.08
1887
78,542.76
1888
79,617.65
1889
92,762.36
1890
118,800.50
1891
93,835.50
1892
106,771.14
1893
107,147.14
1894
112,768.14
1895
88,611.05
1896
136,317.30
1897
158,999.06
1898
201,260.77
1899
508,296.92
1900
539,015.22
1901
573,254.71
1902
402,515.47
1903
323,135.62
1904
338,539.49
1905
325,291.21
1906
440,795.90
1907
456,783.24
1908
307,309.87
1909
133,832.20
1910
147,065.69
1911
254,200.50
1912
265,759.77
1913
361,463.81
1914
244,811.67
1915
399,456.85
1916
356,287.77
Total $22,584,586.44
Collectors .- The list which follows con- tains the names of all collectors, with terms of service, where offices were located in Alabama, August 14, 1865 to June 30, 1916:
1st Collection District, Mobile: F. W. Kel- logg, 1865-1868; M. S. Foote, 1868-1869; John F. Foster, 1869-1873; L. H. Mayer, 1873-1880; Albion L. Morgan, 1880-1883.
2d Collection District, Montgomery:
James Berney, 1865-1867; Charles B. Andrews, 1867-1868; George W. Colby, 1868- 1869; C. A. Colby, Acting, March 4, 1869- May 18, 1869; Francis Widmer, 1869-1873; Jos. S. Farden, Acting, Sept. 24, 1873-Nov. 30, 1873; Prelate D. Barker, 1873-1877; Daniel D. Booth, 1877-1878; James T. Rapier, 1878-1883; F. H. Shouse, Acting, June 1, 1883-Aug. 14, 1883.
3d Collection District, Athens, 1865-1867, Huntsville, 1868-1877: J. T. Tanner, 1865- 1867; James E. Russell, Acting, March 4, 1867-March 31, 1867; Robert Johnson, 1867-1869; Ephraim Latham, 1869-1877.
Alabama Collection District, Montgomery, 1883-1893, Birmingham, 1893 -: Arthur Bingham, 1883-1884; Julien H. Bingham, Acting, July 8, 1884-Aug. 31, 1884 and 1897-1902; Prelate D. Barker, 1884-1885; Edmond W. Booker, 1885-1889 ;. Robert A. Moseley, Jr., 1889-1893; Rudolphus O. Ran- dall, 1893-1897; Joseph O. Thompson, 1902- 1912; William E. Hooper, Acting, July 26, 1912-Aug. 15, 1912; Sim T. Wright, 1912- 1914; Jobn D. McNeel, 1914 -.
REFERENCES .- Com. of Int. Rev., Annual re- ports, various years; U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 12, pp. 432-489; Mclaughlin and Hart, Cyclopedia of American Government (1914), vol. 3, pp. 212-215.
INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL COR- PORATION. An industrial corporation, in- corporated June 14, 1909, in New York; capital stock: authorized-$18,000,000 cumu- lative preferred, $18,000,000 common, total, $36,000,000, outstanding, $13,055,500 pre- ferred, $7,303,500 common, total $20,359,- 000; shares, $100; both classes of stock listed on New York Stock Exchange; funded debt, $11,578,600; property in Alabama- fertilizer plant of 69,000 tons annual capacity at Montgomery, and one of 18,000 tons at Florence; manufactures and deals in fertiliz- ers, cotton oil, and implements of agricul- ture, and mines pbospbate rock, potash and other minerals; offices: New York.
REFERENCES .- Poor's manual of industrials, 1916, pp. 627-632; International Agricultural Corp., 7th annual report, 1916.
IPISOGA. An Upper Creek town in Talla- poosa County, upon a stream of the same name, but now known as Sandy Creek. This creek flows into the Tallapoosa from the east and opposite the historic town of Okfuski on the right bank of the Tallapoosa River. It was one of the seven villages thrown off from Okfuski. In 1799 there were "forty settlers in the village, who have fenced their fields this season, for the benefit of their stock, and they have all of them cattle, hogs and horses."
Hawkins spells the town Epesaugee.
REFERENCES,-Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), vol. 1, p. 399; Handbook of American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 615; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), p. 47.
IRON AND STEEL. Alabama ranks third among the States in the production of iron ore, and fourth in the production of pig iron. Practically all the ore mined in Alabama is smelted in the State. Large quantities of it also are manufactured in the mills and fac- tories of the State and marketed as finished products. In the order of their economic im- portance, the iron ores are red ore or hema- tite, brown ore or limonite, and gray ore. The black band and clay iron stone occur in a number of localities, but only the red ore and the brown ore have been extensively mined.
Red Ore .- Hematite, or red ore, is found in commercially important quantities in the upper Silurian alone, though small deposits are found in several other geological forma- tions. It is known as the Red Mountain, or Clinton, ore, and is the most important in the State because of its great quantity, acces- sibility, and proximity to supplies of fuel and fluxing materials. The Red Mountain ridges occur normally on each side of the anticlinal valleys which separate the coal fields, and are
795
HISTORY OF ALABAMA
distinguished as east Red Mountain and west Red Mountain. In places the red ore ridges are lacking on one side of the valleys, usually the western side, being cut out by faults, while on the other hand a ridge may be duplicated on one side by the same cause. It is usually the case that the ore beds show the highest angle of dip at the outcrop, the dip decreasing rapidly as the bed is penetrated. The iron is found mainly in the central part of the formation, in from one to five seams or beds, which vary in thickness from a few inches to 30 feet. These ore seams, though very persistent along the outcrop-about 50 miles in Alabama-are not uniform, being too thin in places or too lean for profitable working.
The most important development of the Clinton ore in the world is within a distance of 15 or 16 miles along the east Red Moun- tain, between Birmingham and Bessemer. A great deal of the ore has also been mined near Gate City, Village Springs, Attalla, Gadsden, Round Mountain, Gaylesville, Fort Payne, and Valley Head. On Red Mountain considerable mining has been done by simply stripping the overburden from the ore until it became too thick to remove economically; but most of the ore is now obtained from deep mines going down on the slope of the beds. These mines are equipped with im- proved devices for the cheap handling of the ore. The ore of the "Big Seam" improves in quality toward the southwest, the percent- age of lime increasing while that of silica decreases. The percentage of alumina re- mains about constant, but on account of slate partings, more care in mining is necessary. The leached red ore is called soft ore, and the unleached, or limy ore, hard ore, though these terms do not refer to the actual physical hardness, but to the chemical content of the ores. The soft ore is usually hard enough to require blasting and crushing. As a rule it extends down on the dip a distance of 150 to 200 feet from the outcrop, sometimes as far as 300 feet. In places the hard ore begins at the outcrop. The transition from the one variety to the other is most often abrupt, but the line of contact is irregular, the soft extending in points down into the hard ore. Again the soft occasionally includes howlders and pockets of hard ore, and now and then a "horse" of ferruginous sand- stone. Both are quite uniform away from the line of contact. The soft ore is limited in quantity, but the fact is unimportant since it is being less and less used in the furnaces. In composition it is usually a mass of smooth, rounded, and flattened grains of quartz, of the size of bird shot and smaller, coated with hematite and cemented together with the same material.
The so-called hard ore forms by far the greater part of that used in Alabama furnaces, mainly on account of its being to a large extent self-fluxing, due to its content of lime and silica. In the mines it begins at the water-level and retains its uniformity of com-
position and thickness to the bottom of the deepest mine so far sunk, and probably to a much greater depth. In October, 1912, a diamond drill horing in Shades Valley, within a mile of the base of Shades Mountain, was completed, and settled the question whether or not the quantity and the quality of the ore fall off with increasing distance from the out- crop. The top of the ore was reached at a depth of 1,902 feet, and analyses of samples of the drill core proved that the depth of the ore at a distance of 212 miles from the outcrop on Red Mountain, and the thickness and constancy of the seam, are such as to make shaft mining profitable. This demon- stration of the virtually unlimited available supply of ore is of the utmost importance to the future of the iron and steel industry of the State.
Brown Ore .- Limonite, or brown ore, is the second in importance of the iron ores of the State. The old-time Catalan forges, bloom- aries, and charcoal furnaces used this ore exclusively. It was not until 1876 that the practicability and economy of making good iron from the red ores, with coke for fuel, were demonstrated. The famous Shelby iron of the pioneer days of iron making in Ala- hama was made of this ore. The limonites are considered the best of the ores and com- mand the highest prices and a ready sale. They commonly occur in irregular masses of concretionary origin in the residual clays re- sulting from the decomposition of limestones, and consequently the mining is uncertain and expensive. They also occur in regularly stratified seams or beds, but practically all of the brown ore actually mined is that found in the residual clays. It is necessary to wash and screen most of this ore, and this fact, together with the cost of mining, makes it the most expensive of the iron ores. Hence it is seldom used alone, but usually mixed with the red ore in proportions depending on the quality of the iron desired. It is used alone, however, when a particularly tough iron is wanted. In a few places a mangani- ferous limonite occurs, and small quantities of it have been used in the production of spiegeleisen and ferromanganese.
The limonite deposits are numerous and distributed over a wide area. In some, the ore is in nearly solid mass, and in others, much scattered. They occur in nearly all the geological formations of the State, but in most the ore is insufficient or not pure enough to be of commercial value under present con- ditions. The principal deposits are in the Knox dolomite, the Weisner quartzite, the Lauderdale chert of the lower Carboniferous, and the Lafayette. Some extensive beds of inferior ore occur in the Tuscaloosa forma- tion of the Cretaceous, in the upper part of the lower Carboniferous, and in the meta- morphic rocks.
Gray Ore .- Gray ore is found principally in the upper part of the Weisner quartzite formation in Talladega and adjacent counties. It has often been spoken of as "magnetite,"
796
HISTORY OF ALABAMA
but examination shows that it is for the most part a hematite with more or less magnetite intermixed. The workable deposits are mainly restricted to a narrow strip about 2 miles wide and 20 miles long, extending from Talladega southwestward nearly to Syla- cauga. They vary from 3 to 40 feet in thick- ness and extend with remarkable continuity throughout the length of the strike. Experi- ments have shown the gray ore to be excellent for mixing with the hard red ores. It is also the most easily fluxed of the iron ores of the State. The deposits were mentioned by Prof. Tuomey in 1858, but it was not until 1904 that the production of this ore was separately reported. In that year the output was 17,944 tons. The ore works well, and but for the cost, doubtless would be used extensively. Dr. Wm. B. Phillips, an authority on the subject, whose book "Iron making in Ala- bama," has gone through three editions, on page 75, says:
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