MISSISSIPPI. 



529 



Railroad Company, against John M. Stone, 

 William Me Willie, and W. B. Augustus, who 

 had been appointed commissioners, seeking to 

 enjoin them from performing any of the duties 

 imposed by the act. 



The prayer of the bill is that an injunction 

 " may be forthwith issued, directed to the de- 

 fendants, and commanding that they absolute- 

 ly abstain from all acts of interference with 

 the management of your orator's business in 

 operating the Chicago, St. Louis, and New 

 Orleans Railroad; that they particularly ab- 

 stain from revising or establishing or promul- 

 gating any tariff of rates for that road, or your 

 orators operating the same." 



Judge Hill granted the preliminary injunc- 

 tion, holding the act unconstitutional, because 

 (1) it violates the charter contract between the 

 State and the Chicago, St. Louis, and New 

 Orleans Railroad Company; and (2) because 

 it is a regulation of commerce. 



This suit and several others instituted against 

 the commission await the final determination 

 of the United States or State Supreme Court. 



Appropriations* The following are among the 

 appropriations of the session : 



For the support of the Agricultural and Mechanical 



College for 1884 ................................ $32,50 



And for 1 885 ..................................... 32,500 



And the further sum of $10,000 to repair the damage 



caused to the buildings of the college by the cy- 



clone of March 11, 1884. 

 For support of Alcorn University, including the in- 



terest on the agricultural land-scrip bonds, for!8S4. 11,000 

 And for 1885 ..................................... 11,000 



For improvement of buildings, including the purchase 



of such furniture and other equipments for said Al- 



corn University as may be deemed necessary by 



the Board of Trustees . . ........................ 11,000 



For the support of the Lunatic Asylum for 1884 .... 67,5JO 



And for 1885 ..................................... 67,500 



For heating-apparatus and for other purposes for the 



Lunatic Asylum at Jackson ..................... 10,000 



For the completion and furnishing of the East Mis- 



sissippi Insane Asylum at Meridian ........... 56,000 



For the support of the East Mississippi Insane Asy- 



lum at Meridian, for 1884 ....................... 20.000 



And for 18S5 ..................................... 30,000 



For the support of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum for 



1884... ............................ ....... 15,800 



And for 188o ..................................... 15,800 



For salaries of Railroad Commissioners and expenses 



of said commission, pay of clerk, etc., for 18*4 .... 12,500 

 And for 18S5 ..................................... 



For the support of the Asylum for the Blind for 18S4 10,000 

 And for 1885 .................................... 10,000 



For interest on the Chickasaw school fund for 1884 

 and!885 ...................................... 130,000 



The State tax for each of the years, 1884 and 

 1885, was fixed at two and a half mills on the 

 dollar. Except in a few counties, the annual 

 county tax, including the State tax, can not 

 exceed $12.50 on each $1,000. 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met in Jackson, on the 22d of April, and chose 

 delegates to the National Convention of the 

 party. ^The resolutions declared (1) in favor 

 of Mississippi river improvement, (2) a pro- 

 tective tariff, (3) the Blair bill, (4) that the 

 convention has no first choice for President, 

 (5) that the delegates from States having no 

 apparent prospect of casting their votes for 

 Republican candidates should yield their pref- 

 erences, (6) approving the administration of 

 President Arthur. 



VOL. xxiv. 34 A 



The Democratic State Convention met for a 

 similar purpose, in the same city, on the llth 

 of June. The vote for Presidential Electors on 

 the 4th of November was officially declared as 

 follows: Democratic, 76,510 ; Republican, 43,- 

 509. Seven Democratic Congressmen were 

 declared elected. 



Statistics. According to the Auditor's report 

 for 1883, the total acreage of taxable realty in 

 Mississippi is 29,335,586; valuation thereof, 

 $87,596,173; State tax thereon, $218,990.43. 

 From which it would appear that the average 

 valuation of realty in Mississippi is only a frac- 

 tion over three dollars an acre. 



The disbursements by Auditor's warrants for 

 1883, under forty different headings, amounted 

 to $745,266.24. 



The total privilege taxes collected by the 

 Auditor of Public Accounts, for the year 1883, 

 was $108,181.83. Warren county was the 

 largest contributor, $8,913.50; Quitman the 

 smallest, $9.50. 



The total amount paid into the State Treas- 

 ury in 1883, on account of licenses to retail 

 liquors, is $168,780.22. Washington county 

 was the largest contributor, $14,200; Warren 

 the next, $11.431.67; Hinds next, $9,100. The 

 smallest contributors were Franklin, Pontotoc, 

 Simpson, and Union, $200 each. 



The Commissioner of Immigration and Agri- 

 culture reported, at the beginning of the year, 

 that the aggregate of railroad-track laid in 

 Mississippi, and in running order, was about 

 476 miles, and the total miles that would be 

 completed by July 1, 1884, was 616 miles. 



Education. Under date of Jan. 28, 1884, the 

 State Superintendent of Public Education, re- 

 porting for 1882 and 1883, says: 



Public education is unquestionably growing in the 

 estimation of the people, as evinced in the willingness 

 of the masses to pay the school-tax, the desire to ex- 

 tend the school term beyond the constitutional limit 

 of four months, and the desire to employ competent 

 teachers. To render more effective the workings of 

 the public-school system, I have to suggest, in the 

 first place, an additional increase in the funds for the 

 maintenance of the public schools. And to this end 

 the poll-tax should be increased from one to two dol- 

 lars per capita. Then I would recommend that the 

 restriction upon boards of supervisors to levy as a 

 maximum not more than three mills, be removed, and 

 they be allowed to levy such tax as they may deem 

 proper. Three mills on the dollar should, in my 

 opinion, be the minimum levy. The public schools 

 can not be run successfully for less. 



One of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of 

 our public-school interests is the indifference and in- 

 efficiency of our local trustees. It is a subject of re- 

 gret that men, in many instances, are chosen for these 

 responsible positions who are entirely unfit or un- 

 worthy for the place. To make the office of trustee 

 more desirable, and at the same time exclude incom- 

 petents, I would suggest that they be exempt from 

 road duty; and that none be eligible who can not 

 read and write the English language, as many now 

 occupying the position can not. 



It is with regret that I have to state that Mississippi, 

 in my opinion, is behind most of her sister States in 

 the qualification and efficiency of her public-school 

 teachers. And this I attribute to the absence of schools 

 devoted to the teaching and training of teachers. 

 Mississippi is the only State in the Union where nor- 



