The railroads as well as the taxpayers suffered from this pernicious lobbying, for the companies were loaded with debts and rarely profited by the loans.

Valuation of railroad property rapidly decreased.
The roads of Alabama which were valued in 1871 at $26,000,000 had decreased in 1875 to $9,500,000.
The foundation of radical power in the South lay in the alienation of the races which had been accomplished between 1865 and 1868.

To maintain this unhappy distrust, the radical leaders found an effective means in the Negro militia.

Under the constitution of every reconstructed state, a Negro constabulary was possible, but only in South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi were the authorities willing to risk the dangers of arming the blacks.

No governor dared permit the Southern whites to organize as militia.