Excerpt from The Alabama Manual and Statistical Register for 1871: Containing Information for Immigrants, Capitalists, Manufactures, Planters, Mechanics, Agricultural Laborers, Merchants and Politicians, With Reference to the Soil, Climate, Population, Topography, Education, Productions, Minerals and General Resources Of The amount of money which the cotton cr0p of Alabama has added to the wealth of the State may be estimated from the fact that up to 1860 she had expended in the purchase of slaves not less than $200, This amount of money spent in half a century upon works of public improvement and in factories would have doubled the present population and wealth of those Northern states which have been free from slave labor. What another system of labor would have done for Alabama is now a mere matter of speculation, but it is no matter of spec alation to see that the cotton planters of Alabama in 1868 - 9 have made more money than they made in any year before the war, and that the surplus, above actual expenses, must hereafter find some other invest ment than slaves. The cotton fields, being the basis of the wealth of the State, present the greatest inducements to the agriculturist. Probably not half of the avail able cotton lands are under cultivation. They can be bought at most rea sonable prices. To industry and enterprise they offer a surety of fortune. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.