562 



MISSISSIPPI. 



races there are the following institutions, 

 most of which are, in whole or in large part, 

 supported by the State : 1. The University of 

 Mississippi at Oxford, in Lafayette County, for 

 white students exclusively. Here tuition is 

 free, except in the law school. The average 

 annual attendance is 250. The State has ap- 

 propriated $64,000 for the support of the uni- 

 versity, repairs, etc., for the years 1882 and 

 1883. The board of trustees, at their meeting 

 in June, took a new departure and threw open 

 the doors of the university to females, in con- 

 cession to the public demand for enlarged edu- 

 cational opportunities for the women of the 

 State. Two restrictions are placed on their 

 admission, namely : first, that they shall not be 

 allowed to board in the campus, except in the 

 families of the professors; and, second, that 

 they may not enter the preparatory depart- 

 ment. 



2. The Agricultural and Mechanical College 

 at Starkville, Oktibbeha County, is also exclu- 

 sively for whites. Here also tuition is free, and 

 many of the students are enabled to pay the 

 greater part of their expenses for board by 

 their earnings on the farm connected with the 

 college, where they are daily instructed in the 

 practical details of agriculture, horticulture, 

 and stock-raising. There were 250 students in 

 attendance during the year. 



3. The Alcorn University, at Oakland, Clai- 

 borne County, is exclusively for colored stu- 

 dents. Tuition is free, and the expenses of the 

 college are almost entirely defrayed by the 

 State. The average attendance is a little over 

 100 students. 



4. The Tougaloo College, at Tougaloo, Hinds 

 County, is exclusively for colored students of 

 both sexes. It was established by some benev- 

 olent individuals at the North, and receives 

 annually $3,000 from the State. Tuition is 

 free, and the average attendance is about 125. 



5. The State Normal School at Holly Springs, 

 Marshall County, is devoted altogether to the 

 education and training of colored teachers to 

 serve in the common schools. The State sus- 

 tains it by an annual appropriation of $3,000. 

 Nine tenths of the taxes levied for the support 

 of the free schools and the endowed colleges 

 are paid by the white tax-payers, and the liber- 

 ality of the last Legislature in its appropriations 

 for educational purposes shows that the taxa- 

 tion is cheerfully borne, and the benefits of dif- 

 fused education are duly appreciated. 



STATE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. The Lu- 

 natic Asylum, near Jackson, is well managed, 

 but has been found quite inadequate to accom- 

 modate the number of the insane for whom ad- 

 mission is sought. At the beginning of the 

 year there were 416 patients in the asylum, or 

 75 more than it can accommodate comfortably. 

 Besides these, it was estimated that there were 

 75 insane people in the county jails, and 150 at 

 their homes, where they can not be treated 

 with any reasonable expectation of improving 

 their condition. The death-rate has been un- 



usually large among the patients, owing in 

 great measure to the crowded state of the in- 

 stitution. The Legislature has employed the 

 only remedy for this by authorizing the build- 

 ing of another asylum in the eastern part of the 

 State, capable of accommodating 300 patients. 



THE INSTITUTION FOE THE EDUCATION or THE 

 BLIND, at Jackson, since the erection of the 

 new building authorized by the Legislature, 

 gives instruction in literature and music, as well 

 as in domestic economy, and certain useful 

 handicrafts, to between 75 and 100 blind chil- 

 dren. The present buildings are well arranged, 

 furnished, drained, and heated, and the com- 

 fort of the inmates well provided for. 



THE STATE DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTION, 

 also at Jackson, is under capable management, 

 but has been inadequate for the number of appli- 

 cants for admission. The pupils are instructed 

 by signs, the manual alphabet, and writing, and 

 the superintendent proposes, when practicable, 

 to teach the male pupils useful trades, such as 

 printing, carpentering, and shoemaking. The 

 Legislature has made provision for the erection 

 of suitable buildings for the colored mutes, 

 which will render the present institution capa- 

 ble of fulfilling the objects for which it was 

 tablished. 



RAILROADS. Several railroad enterpris 

 have been completed, or are in process of coi 

 struction, within the State, which will be 

 incalculable benefit in advancing the materh 

 prosperity of the people, besides expending 

 the State between fifteen and twenty millh 

 dollars in the next two years. The Erli 

 Syndicate, who bought the old Southern Ro* 

 running east and west across the middle 

 the State, and are relaying it with new ste 

 rails, are also building a road from Meridian 

 New Orleans, running 160 miles diagonal 

 across the southern portion of the State, op< 

 ing up the great pine-lands of that secti( 

 The road from Natchez to Jackson has 

 completed. The directors of the Chicago, 

 Louis, and New Orleans Railroad have d< 

 mined to build a road from Jackson to 

 City, and have already begun the work, 

 most important enterprise is that of Mr. R. ^ 

 Wilson, of New York, who is building a rail 

 road from New Orleans to Memphis, running 

 parallel with the Mississippi River, and for up- 

 ward of a hundred miles traversing the most 

 fertile lands on the continent, besides opening 

 up vast forests of cypress, oak, poplar, and 

 walnut timber. The old Memphis and Selina 

 Railroad has been revived and placed under 

 contract, which will traverse diagonally the 

 northern part of the State from northwest to 

 southeast. The old roads have been much im- 

 proved, and the rates of freight and travel re- 

 duced. A bill to create a Board of Railroad 

 Commissioners, similar to that existing in Geor- 

 gia, "to provide for the regulation of railroad 

 companies and persons operating railroads in 

 the State of Mississippi,'' passed in the House 

 of Representatives by a large majority, but 





