Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama

by Walter L. Fleming

J. R. Dillon, 1st Agency:	Cotton sales		$57,033.66
	Total proceeds of all sales		129,076.33
	Expenses, total		64,350.01
S. B. Eaton, 1st Agency:	Cotton sold		15,963.01
	Total receipts		27,799.48
	Total expenses		27,799.48
T. C. A. Dexter, 9th Agency:	Cotton sold		39,945.39
	Total receipts		783,152.62
	Expenses		485,137.77
J. M. Tomeny, 9th Agency:	Cotton sold		14,159.51
	Total receipts		208,185.63
	Expenses		208,185.63
Total expenses of every kind amounted to			6,546,000.95
On receipts of			34,396,189.95
Of which cotton sold for			29,518,041.17

[786] Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 56, 40th Cong., 2d Sess.

[787] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 97, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[788] See Ku Klux Rept., pp. 443-446; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 37, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 97, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 113, 41st Cong., 2d Sess.; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 23, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; Department Circular, No. 4, Jan. 9, 1900.

[789] Department Circular, No. 4, Jan. 9, 1900; Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 23, 43d Cong., 2d Sess. There are imperfect records of only two Alabama agencies, which reported a certain number of bales seized. The other agencies did not report their operations in Alabama. The agents not reporting were: J. R. Dillon, H. M. Buckley, S. B. Eaton, E. P. Hotchkiss, L. Ellis, A. D. Banks, James and Ellis Carver, and perhaps others. None of the numerous collecting agents made reports or kept records. In 1876, thirty-three cotton agents were defaulters to the United States, one man owing the United States $337,460.44. Of these, sixteen were not to be found anywhere. Four of the defaulters had operated in Alabama. These men were by their own records defaulters—having failed to turn over to the government the proceeds of sales they had reported. Ho. Mis. Doc., No. 190, 44th Cong., 1st Sess.

[790] In addition to the tax of twenty-five per cent on purchases of cotton levied by a Treasury regulation during the war and in force during 1865. Treasury regulations, May 9, 1865. See also President’s proclamation, in McPherson, “Reconstruction,” p. 9.

[791] Governor Patton, in his message of Nov. 12, 1866, stated that the cotton tax of three cents a pound was oppressive and unjust, a burden on the farmers and on the laborers also; that the tax went into the United States Treasury and then passed into the hands of the manufacturers as a gratuity of three cents per pound; that there was no way of getting the ruinous tax raised or lightened unless by an appeal in the form of a petition; that the people of Alabama had no voice in the government; that this “law paralyzes our energies and represses the development of our resources and is injurious to the whole country.” Governor’s Message, House Journal, 1866-1867, p. 21.

[792] Twenty states and territories are not included in these sums, as no reports were received from them. Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess., and Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 2, 39th Cong., 2d Sess.

[793] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.

[794] Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 47, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 181, 42d Cong., 3d Sess.