MISSISSIPPI. 



491 



1, when Chief-Justice Cooper having sent in his 

 resignation, to take effect at that tiuu Justice 

 Chief Justice, according to tin- State 

 law): Thomas H. Stockdale was appointed to serve 

 until the end of Justice Cooper's term. May. isi7. 

 and S. II. Terral to succeed him for the following 

 term. All the State oilicers are Democrats. 



Education. The Legislature appropriated $10.- 

 000 for repairs at the State University, and passed 

 an act for the sale or lease of lands selected under 

 the grant l>y Congress of 23.040 acres for the uni- 

 versity in 1894; also one authorizing the tru- 

 to add a school of medicine to the university. 



For replacing burned buildings at Alcorn Educa- 

 tion and Mechanical College the Legislature gave 

 $7,000, and $6,505 for other expenses for two \ 

 This school receives annually $6,814.50, interest on 

 a fund given by the Government. The school has 

 223 boys, colored. Of these. 36 are learning print- 

 ing, 47 farming. 54 carpentry, 40 blacksmithing, 

 and 46 shoemaking. 



The Normal School at Holley Springs received an 

 appropriation of $ 4.000 for the next biennial period. 



Tuition in the Industrial Institute and College 

 is made free for five years to girls residing in the 

 State, with the exception of music, for which charge 

 is made. The Legislature appropriated $40,980 for 

 salaries for the biennial period, and $12,068 for im- 

 provements. 



The Legislature of 1896 created a State board of 

 examiners to examine applicants for licenses to 

 teach and for the office of county superintendent. 



The Agricultural and Mechanical Colh _ 

 from the Legislature $45.000 for support and $5,000 

 for repairs, on condition that the officers and em- 

 ployees shall receive as compensation from the 

 State 10 per cent, less than the amount paid them 

 by the State for 1893. A class of 15 was graduated 

 in June. 



Charities. The appropriation for two years' 

 support of the State Lunatic Asylum was $195.000, 

 and an additional $8,000 was given to build a hos- 

 pital on the grounds. 



The East Mississippi Asylum received $75,200 

 for support and $6,000 for repairs. 



For the maintenance of the Charity Hospital at 

 Yickslmrg $24.000 was given for the two years, on 

 condition that the city or county or both give, in 

 addition, one third of that amount. To the Natch- 

 ez Hospital $17.500 was appropriated, provided the 

 city and county give $3.333 a year, and that no per- 

 son shall be admitted who is able to pay a reason- 

 able charge. 



The Institute for the Blind has an appropriation 

 of $18.514 for 1896 and 1897, 



The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb receives 

 for two years about $50.0oO. The Legislature au- 

 thorized the trustees to sell the lands and buildings 

 occupied by the colored department, which are dan- 

 gerously near railroad tracks, and to provide others 

 more suitable. 



Militia. The National Guard of Mississippi is 

 composed of 3 regiments, consisting of artillery, 

 cavalry, and infantry, and numbering 1.800 men 

 the limit by law. A ten-days' encampment was 

 held at Jackson in August. 'The Legislature ap- 

 propriated $4,000 for the militia, on condition that 

 $2,000 should be reserved for use only in the sup- 

 pression of riots. 



The Penitentiary. There were on the rolls in 

 October 937 convicts. S77 of whom are able-bodied 

 and are employed on the farms. The Board of 

 Control has the management of 18.0iMl acres. - 

 of which is the property of the State, and 10.000 

 leased lands in the great Yazoo-Mississippi delta 

 and specially adapted to the production of cotton. 

 Only 11,850 acres are cultivated; th rest is timber 



lands and pasture. In the cultivation of the 1- 

 land the State furnishes the labor in exchan. 

 the use of the land and tin- teams, and receives half 

 the proceeds. The net earnings of the prison for 

 1896 were $55.419. The value of the property, in- 

 cluding the farms, is estimated at $327.2'i6. 



Railroads. By the opening of the- Gulf and 

 Ship Island Railroad from Gulfport. on the sea. to 

 JIattiesburg. about 70 miles northward, \\here con- 

 nection is made with the New Orleans and North- 

 eastern, travelers from any part of the State can 

 reach the Gulf coast direct without going outside 

 Mississippi territory. 



Water Ways. Congress appropriated the fol- 

 lowing sums to be spent on the waters of the State : 

 Pearl river, below Jackson, $10,000 : Ya/oo river, 

 $20.000: mouth of Yazoo and- harbor at Vicksburg, 

 contracts authorized, $860,000: harbors of Yidalia 

 and Yicksburg. $40,000. Besides this, it was pro- 

 vided that $50.000 may be expended on the Tom- 

 bigbee from Demopolis. Ala., to Columbus. M 



"Products. The total cotton crop of the State 

 for 1895-'96 in commercial bales was estimated at 

 1,013,358. The acreage was 2.487.119. 



The cash valuation of the lumber exports from 

 Mississippi ports in May alone was $270.000. The 

 standing timber in the State is estimated at 75.000,- 

 000.000 feet. 



There are 29.958.400 acres in the State, and only 

 6.849.390 acres of this land are under cultivation. 



The average size of farms decreased from 370 

 acres in i860" to 193 in 1870, to 156 in 1880. and to 

 122 in 1890. 



The Poll Tax. It has been held that poll taxes 

 could not be collected by seizure and sale of prop- 

 erty exempt from taxation. A bill was passed by 

 the' Legislature to compel the payment of the tax. 

 but by some delay it failed to reach the President 

 of the' Senate in time to receive his signature legal- 

 ly. In May the Attorney-General was appealed to 

 for an official opinion as to exemption, and replied 

 that nothing is exempt from seizure for the poll 

 tax except the .clothes on a person's back. A test 

 case was brought before the courts : a county sheriff 

 levied on a negro's bed to collect his poll fax, and 

 the decision was that the tax can not be collected 

 by levy and sale of any property that is exempt 

 from taxation. 



Important Suits. A suit involving the titles to 

 363.000 acres in the State was argued before the 

 United States Supreme Court in October. The 

 A as Ford and Levy against the Delta ami Pine 

 Land Company. Ford" and Levy claimed the title 

 under execution sale against the Selma, Marion 

 and Memphis Kailroad Company. They claimed 

 that titles coming from tax sales were invalid be- 

 cause the lands were exempt from taxation by the 

 act incorporating the railroad company. The Delta 

 and Pine Land Company claimed title through the 

 Liquidating Levee Board under a sale of the lands 

 of that board by authority of the decree in the^case 

 of Joshua Green zvs. Hemingway and Gibbs. These 

 liquidating levee tax titles have been fortified by 

 legislation and strengthened by a long line of judi- 

 cial decisions of the Supreme Court of the State, 

 until they are regarded as invulnerable. The de- 

 cision of'the court was in favor of the company. 

 This establishes the titles of many private owners 

 in the delta. 



A suit involving the validity of bonds issued by 

 the Levee Board of the State for improvement of 

 the Mississippi came before the United Stat. 

 preme Court in April. The bonds were made pay- 

 able in gold, and the Supreme Court of the State 

 had decided that they were void because the law- 

 did not authorize the payment of the bonds in any 

 particular kind of money. The opinion of this 



