528- 



MISSISSIPPI. 



the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Yazoo Mis- 

 sissippi Delta ; authorizing the survey and sale of cer- 

 tain marsh-lands belonging to the State of Mississippi, 

 on the banks of the East and West Pascagoula and 

 Pearl rivers, and other streams ; to secure the faithful 

 collection of delinquent personal taxes ; to require the 

 trustees of certain institutions to whom money is ap- 

 propriated to make biennial reports to the Legislature 

 of the manner in which said money is expended ; to 

 provide for the appointment of guardians of habitual 

 drunkards, and for their confinement in the Lunatic 

 Asylum; to create the Exposition Bureau and to 

 make an appropriation therefor (New Orleans Exposi- 

 tion) ; to regulate the sale of swamp-lands ; to protect 

 the Pascagoula and Dog rivers and^ the harbor of Pas- 

 cagoula Bay ; to prevent the sale or exhibition of ob- 

 scene and immoral literature, pictures, models, casts, 

 etc. ; to change the twenty-ninth senatorial district 

 into two senatorial districts. 



The principal provisions of an act for the 

 better protection of contracts between land- 

 lord and tenant, employer and employe, seem 

 worthy of quotation, to wit : 



Any person who decoys, entices, or persuades any 

 apprentice, child, or servant to leave the service or 

 employment of his or her parent, guardian, or em- 

 ployer, must on conviction be fined not less than ten 

 nor more than fifty dollars. 



Any person who knowingly interferes with, hires, 

 employs, entices, or induces to leave the service or 

 employment of another, any tenant, laborer, or em- 

 ploye", who has stipulated or contracted in writing, or 

 in the presence of two or more credible witnesses not 

 members of family of either contracting party, to serve 

 for any given number of days, weeks, months, or for 

 one year, before the expiration of the term stipulated 

 or contracted for, such contract being in force and 

 binding upon the parties, shall be deemed guilty of a 

 misdemeanor, and on conviction must be fined in such 

 sum not less than twenty-five nor more than one hun- 

 dred dollars, as the court or jury trying the same may 

 assess, and in no case less thar. double the amount the 

 injury sustained by the party whom such laborer, em- 

 ploye, or tenant was induced to leave. 



When any laborer, tenant, apprentice, or employe, 

 having stipulated or contracted as provided in the 

 preceding sections, is afterward found in the service 

 or employment of another before the termination of 

 such contract, that fact shall be held prima facie evi- 

 dence that such person is guilty of a violation of those 

 sections if he fails and refuses to forthwith discharge 

 such apprentice, laborer, tenant, or employe" after be- 

 ing notified and informed of such former contract and 

 employment. 



If any employer having contracted in writing with 

 any employe to furnish him lands or supplies for him- 

 self and family, shall knowingly, willfully, designedly, 

 or with intent to defraud such employe" discharge such 

 employ^ without good and sufficient cause, or refuse 

 to furnish him according to contract or to carry out 

 his contract, he shall be liable to said employe" in such 

 reasonable damages as he may sustain in" any court 

 having jurisdiction. 



"When at any time any employe* or tenant shall leave 

 his other employer or landlord before the expiration 

 of contract without just cause, said employe" or tenant 

 shall forfeit all wages on crops due or belonging to 

 him or her; and furthermore said employer shall 

 have a lien on all wages or crops of said employe" or 

 tenant earned or grown by him or her during the time 

 of original contract until all indebtedness justly due 

 for advances of either supplies or money made under 

 contract aforesaid are paid, and this lien shall be prior 

 to all other liens except public dues : Provided, That 

 where the employ^ or tenant has created equities with 

 the consent of the landlord or employer to any per- 

 son for supplies to raise said crop, they shall not 

 be forfeited by any abandonment of the tenant or 

 employe". 



An act was passed making it a misdemeanor 

 for any legislative, executive, judicial, or min- 

 isterial officer in the State, or for any person 

 holding an office or place of honor, profit, or 

 trust under the laws of the State, to travel 

 upon any railroad in the State without paying 

 absolutely, and without any guise, trick, sub- 

 terfuge, or evasion whatsoever, the same fare 

 required of passengers generally. 



By another act, "an Industrial Institute and 

 College is established, for the education of 

 white girls in the arts and sciences, which 

 shall be known as the Mississippi Industrial 

 Institute and College for the Education of 

 White Girls of the State of Mississippi in the 

 Arts and Sciences, at which such girls may 

 acquire a thorough normal-school education, 

 together with a knowledge of kindergarten 

 instruction, also a knowledge of telegraphy, 

 stenography, and photography ; also a knowl- 

 edge of drawing, painting, designing, and en- 

 graving in their industrial application; also 

 a knowledge of fancy, practical, and general 

 needle-work; and, also, a knowledge of book- 

 keeping." The sum of $20,000 was appropri- 

 ated for 1884, and the like sum for 1885. 



Railroad Supervision. The subject of railroad 

 supervision was brought up at the beginning 

 of the session, and a bill was early passed 

 through both houses, which, however, en- 

 countered the Governor's veto. It was then 

 modified to meet the Governor's objections, 

 and became a law under the title of " An act 

 to provide for the regulation of freight and 

 passenger rates on railroads in this State, and 

 to create a commission to supervise the same." 

 It enacts 



That the track of every railroad in this State is a 

 public highway over which all persons have equal 

 rights of transportation for passengers and freights 

 on the payment of iust compensation to the owner of 

 the railroad for such transportation ; and any person 

 or corporation engaged in transporting passengers or 

 freights over any railroad in this State, who shall ex- 

 act, receive or demand more than the rate specified in 

 any bill of lading issued by such person or corpora- 

 tion, or who for his or its advantage, or for the ad- 

 vantage of any connecting line, or for any person or 

 locality, shall make any discrimination in transpor- 

 tation against any individual, locality, or corporation, 

 shall be guilty of extortion. 



Persons and corporations committing such 

 extortion are declared guilty of a misdemean- 

 or, and may be required to pay double darn- 

 ages at the suit of an aggrieved party. A Bail- 

 road Commission of three members is consti- 

 tuted, to be appointed by the Governor with 

 the consent of the Senate for two years, and 

 to serve at a salary of $2,500 per annum. The 

 commissioners are given large powers of super- 

 vision over the railroads of the State, including 

 the regulation and fixing of charges for trans- 

 portation. 



Soon after the adjournment of the Legisla- 

 ture, steps were taken to test the constitution- 

 ality of the act. A bill was filed in the Circuit 

 Court of the United States for the Southern 

 District of Mississippi, by the Illinois Central 





