844 MISSISSIPPI 



the value of products from $57,451,000 (833,718,000 in 1899) to 880,555,000. Of the total, 

 lumber and timber constituted 53.1 % (842,793,000); more than four-fifths of the total cut 

 was yellow pine. In the manufacture of turpentine and rosin ($1,474,600; 37.7% less than 

 in 1904) the state ranked 4th; in the manufacture of cottonseed oil and cake ($15,966,000), 

 3rd. The value of railway car repairs was $3,233,000; cotton goods, $3,102,000, more than 

 twice that of 1899; fertilisers, excluding the by-product ($616,000) of cottonseed oil mills, 

 $2,125,000, more than thrice that of 1899. Meridian, had a product of $4,237,500, princi- 

 pally cottonseed oil and fertilisers; Jackson, 3,113,000; Vicksburg, $2,229,350; Hatties- 

 burg, $1,250,900; Natchez, $1,114,000. 



.Transportation. Railway mileage, January I, 1912, 4,402.08. The Federal govern- 

 ment by acts of 1911 and 1912 has secured a 23-ft. basin and channel at Gulfport. 



Legislation. A special session of the legislature was held in 1911 (from Nov. ist to 

 1 5th) and the regular session in 1912 from January 2nd to March i6th. It submitted 

 to the people, for approval in November 1912, constitutional amendments allowing a 

 verdict in civil suits from nine jurors; and providing for the initiative and referendum. 

 Each of these failed to get the necessary majority of all votes cast at the election, though 

 28,964 votes were cast for and only 14,255 against the former, and 25,153 for and only 

 13,383 against the latter. A bribery immunity act of 1911 was repealed in 1912. For 

 a monument on the capitol grounds to the Mississippi women of the Confederacy $7,500 

 was voted and the cornerstone was laid on June 3, 1912. 



By an act of 1912 cities may adopt the commission form of government (with a charter 

 providing for the recall and initiative) at an election held after a 10% petition therefor. 

 After six years under commission government, any city may vote to abandon its charter. 

 Gulfport had adopted a commission charter on December 12, 1911; in effect January I, 

 1913; and Clarksdale on August 30, 1910. Charleston, Jackson (September 24; in effect 

 January 6, -1913) and Meridian (May 9; in effect January 6, 1913) also adopted it, in 1912. 

 Vicksburg amended its charter (July 1912; in effect, January 14, 1913) so that it has a 

 commission government in all but name. A child labour law applying to factories making 

 cotton, wool or other fabrics, and to canneries and establishments where children are 

 employed indoors at work injurious to health or in operating dangerous machinery, and 

 not applying to fruit canneries, prohibits the employment of any girl under 14 or any boy 

 under 12 and for more than 8 hours a day, or 48 hours a week, or between 7 P.M. and 6 A.M.; 

 or any boy under 16 or any girl under 18. No child under 16 may be employed without 

 the consent of his guardian. Ten hours a day, except in cases of emergency, was made 

 the maximum for employees in manufacturing or repairing establishments. 



Railway corporations were made liable for damage from fire set by sparks from loco- 

 motives, and are permitted to have an insurable interest in property on the route. The state 

 board of health was ordered to establish a bureau of vital statistics, which was in operation 

 in 1912. Tips in hotels, restaurants, dining and other cars are forbidden; the penalty is not 

 to exceed $100, and copies of the act are to be posted in cars and eating places. 



Finance. The state tax for 1912 and 1913 was 6 mills. The proportion for annual 

 interest charges on different state bonds and for the Chickasaw school fund amounted to 

 $119,025, and $610,500 for 1912 and $615,500 for 1913 was appropriated to repay money 

 borrowed for the state by the governor. The special session of 1911 was devoted almost 

 entirely to appropriations. Many privilege taxes were laid: those on sleeping and palace 

 cars and on railways were increased; freight lines and equipment companies were taxed 3% 

 on their gross earnings. An income tax of 5 mills on all incomes (that is, gross profits) in 

 excess of $2,500 a year was levied. New permanent factories of certain classes established 

 before 1918 were exempted from tax for 5 years. The highest contract rate of interest was 

 made 8% instead of 10%. The biennial report of the treasurer for the year ending October 

 I, 1912 shows cash on hand October i, 1911, $572,047. The receipts were $4,179,283; 

 and the expenditures $4,500,331, leaving a balance in the treasury, $250,999. 



Education. A normal school, authorised in 1910, was established in 1911 at Hatties- 

 burg. The legislature in 1912 voted $1,500 a year for each county agricultural high school, 

 or $3,000 for a joint school; the special session of 1911 authorised municipalities to issue 

 bonds for agricultural high schools. Greek letter and other secret societies were abolished 

 and prohibited in 1912 at the University of Mississippi. The governor and the state super- 

 intendent of education were made ex-officio members of the board of trustees of the higher 

 educational institutions of the state (a law of IQIO had forbidden the presence on this board 

 of any state officers or legislators); other members are to be chosen by the governor. The 

 General Education Board (which bad previously given $25,000) in October 1912 gave $100,- 

 ooo to Mississippi College (1826; Baptist) at Clinton. 



In 1910, of the total population 10 years and over, 22.4% was illiterate (32% in 1900); 

 whites 5.3% (8% in 1900); negroes, 35.6 % (49.1% in 1900). For the school year ending 

 in the summer of 1912 the school population was 737,356 (425,967 negroes); length of the 

 average school year, 6 months; the total revenue for schools, about $3,500,000. 



