MISSISSIPPI. 



603 



demand the $413,084.66 which was appor- 

 tioned to the State by the act of Aug. 5, 1801, 

 levying a direct tax of $20,000,000. This mat- 

 ter is now to be pressed before Congress. The 

 sum of $53,771.23 is due on other accounts, 

 but payment is refused. The State has re- 

 cently secured patents for about 200,000 acres 

 of swamp lands, and indemnity scrip for $47,- 

 888.73, at a cost of $11,410.25. The scrip has 

 been sold at $1 an acre. 



In 1884 and 1885, 1,025,585 acres were pur- 

 chased and redeemed through the Auditor's 

 office, leaving 966,226 acres still held for taxes. 



Education. In many of the counties there 

 are more schools than are necessary to carry 

 out that clause of the Constitution requiring 

 that adequate school facilities shall be furnished 

 to all the educable youth of the State. The 

 attendance of 1884 was largely in excess of that 

 of any previous year ; especially is this increase 

 marked among the colored people. 



The University of Mississippi has been well 

 attended during the past two years, and has 

 graduated a larger number than usual. The 

 university is in great need of an adequate equip- 

 ment for the observatory. 



The Agricultural and Mechanical College re- 

 ceived and expended from all sources, in 1884 

 and 1885, $89,708.41, of which $75,000 was 

 from the State Treasury. The attendance the 

 current year is 369, which is 78 more than in 

 the last term of the previous year. 



The Industrial Institute and College for the 

 Education of White Girls in the Arts and Sci- 

 ences has been located at Columbus. That 

 city offered 22 acres of land within its corpo- 

 rate limits, with one commodious brick build- 

 ing, and a large and well-designed wooden build- 

 ing and other improvements thereon, and $50,- 

 000 in n on- interest-bearing bonds of the city. 

 The institute was opened on Oct. 22, and 307 

 pupils were enrolled, and others were turned 

 away for lack of dormitory accommodations. 



The Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical 

 College receives an annual appropriation from 

 the State of $11,000. It has a farm, and an 

 attendance of 145 students. The Tongaloo 

 University for Colored Youth had an attend- 

 ance during the year of 219. During the past 

 two years an industrial department has been 

 added, in which blacksrnithing, wagon-making, 

 carpentry, and tinsmithing are taught. The 

 American Missionary Society has about $60,- 

 000 invested in the institution, and assumes 

 its maintenance, but the State aids it with an 

 annual appropriation of $3,000. The Normal 

 School, at Holly Springs, has had an average at- 

 tendance during the past two years of 140. 



State Institutions. The Penitentiary had 812 

 convicts, of whom 708 were colored, 103 white, 

 and one Indian, an increase of 41 in two years. 

 During the past four years $58,121.52 has been 

 paid into the treasury by the present lessees. 

 The Insane Asylum, at Jackson, has 417 pa- 

 tients. The products of the farm are increas- 

 ing, and now amount to $15,347.62. The 



East Mississippi Insane Asylum was opened 

 on Jan. 12, 1885, and has received 273 pa- 

 tients, has discharged 34, while 21 have died, 

 and five have escaped. There are at present 

 213 inmates. The Deaf and Dumb Institute 

 is in a flourishing condition. The Institution 

 for the Blind has about 30 inmates. 



Railroads. The Railroad Commissioners, ap- 

 pointed in pursuance of the act of March 11, 

 1884, were enjoined shortly after their organi- 

 zation from proceeding to enforce the statute, 

 and from interfering in any manner with the 

 business and operations of the railroad compa- 

 nies. The suits in the State courts were de- 

 cided adversely to the commission, and they 

 appealed to the Supreme Court of the State. 

 This court held that the State had the power 

 originally to prescribe for a railroad company, 

 created by it, the rates of compensation, and 

 that any exercise of this power, which does 

 not hinder or burden interstate commerce or 

 obstruct its freedom by discriminating against 

 persons and property of other States, is not 

 an infringement of the constitutional pro- 

 vision which vests in Congress the power " to 

 regulate commerce among the several States." 

 But when the State has granted to a company 

 the right to fix its rates within maximum lim- 

 its, the State can not afterward, the Court 

 held, interfere with the charges fixed by the 

 company if they are within the limits pre- 

 scribed. From these decisions only the Natch- 

 ez, Jackson, and Columbus Railroad Company, 

 which had no maximum of rates prescribed in 

 its charter, prosecuted an appeal to the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States. The suita 

 instituted in the Federal court were also de- 

 cided adversely to the commissioners, and 

 they took an appeal to the Supreme Court of 

 the United States. That Court has recently 

 delivered an opinion reversing the District 

 Court, upholding the constitutionality of the 

 supervision law in all particulars. 



The Levees. The Board of Levee Commis- 

 sioners in Yazoo- Mississippi Delta, after some 

 unavoidable delays, negotiated bonds and en- 

 tered on the construction of levees late in 

 1884. They put up a large amount of new 

 levees that had been carried away by the 

 floods and repaired the old, so that the whole 

 river front from the hills in De Soto County to 

 the levees of the lower district has been closed 

 against ordinary floods ; but still higher and 

 larger levees are needed to make permanent 

 the improvements already begtm. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met in Jackson, on the 19th of August, and 

 nominated the following ticket: For Govern- 

 or, Robert Lowry; for Lieutenant-Governor, 

 G. D. Shands ; for Secretary of State, George 

 M. Govan ; for State Treasurer, W. L. Hem- 

 ingway ; for Auditor of Public Accounts, W. 

 W. Stone ; for Attorney- General, T. Marshall 

 Miller ; for Superintendent of Public Educa- 

 tion, J. R. Preston. The Republicans had no 

 ticket in the field. On Nov. 3 the total vote 



