 As a Republican in a largely Democratic state, Aldrich served for less than a year before being defeated by Underwood in the 1896 election.He returned to the coal business as president of the Cahaba Southern Mining Company, which operated mines at Hargrove in Bibb County.In 1899 be became a vice-president of the Birmingham Machinery and Foundry Company and, two years later, was named the acting president of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company.