Mobile Register
June 30, 1861
Page 2
The
Cotton Loan
Messrs. R. H.
Smith and C. J. McRae, Representatives in Confederate States Congress, returned
to this city yesterday from a laborious canvass of the 9th
Congressional District in behalf of the cotton loan. We are happy to state that their patriotic
and unpaid labors have been eminently successful. They represent the existence of the most
ardent spirit of loyal devotion to the great cause among the people in the
interior. The subscription in the district
will reach the amount of 23,000, perhaps 30,000 bales. Should the other districts do as well, Alabama will have
contributed to the loan the handsome sum of $7,500,000. Our representatives met with many
distinguished instances of patriotic devotion.
One of them deserves to be chronicled, and a monument erected to his
public spirit, in the admiration of his fellow citizens. His name and his deeds are recorded in the
following letter from the Hon. F. S. Lyon, of Marengo, addressed to Messrs.
Smith and McRae:
Demopolis,
June 23, 1861
Hon.
R. H. Smith and C. J. McRae:
GENTLEMEN—I
am requested by my friend and neighbor, Mr. Alfred Hatch, to ask you to cause
to be entered on the list of subscribers to the Confederate loan in Mobile
county, fifty bags of cotton for his grandchildren, residing in Mobile—to be
delivered to Mr. J. A. Wemyss. He will in due time furnish their names.
Mr.
Hatch, when the first loan was offered, subscribed in cash about $10,000 and
liberally lent more to others to subscribe.
When the books were opened in this county for subscriptions in cotton,
he put down 250 bags. In Greene he has
subscribed 50 bags for certain grandchildren in that county, and now he adds 50
bags to the list in your county.
When
volunteer companies were being raised in this county, and in Greene, he almost
literally carried his purse in his hand.
No matter where he happened to be found, he was ready at all times to
contribute most liberally to the equipment of volunteers and to the support of
the families of those who might need aid.
Such
a man is of course known and appreciated at home, and ought to be known
everywhere.
Very
truly yours, F. S. LYON
P.
S. The report of the Commissioners for this county to the Secretary of the
Treasury up to the 17th inst. showed a subscription to that date in
cotton bags amounting to 6,444 bags. We
are still making further progress, and hope to reach in this county 10,000
bags.
Another
instance was found in the person of Mr. P. Molette,
Esq., of Dallas
county. He had previously taken $10,000
in the State loan, $10,000 in the first Confederate loan, and he now subscribes
$10,000 more to the cotton loan, payable in cash.
With
such examples before them from the people of the interior, who are safe and
remote from immediate visitations of the enemy, will the taxpayers of Mobile
refuse to submit to the 20 cents per hundred dollars tax proposed to support
the city and defend their homes against a probable invasion?
