MISSISSIPPI. 



571 



then no other election shall be held in the same coun- 

 ty in less than two years thereafter, and then only 

 upon a new petition as aforesaid, and by otherwise 

 conforming to this act. 



That, if a majority of the legal votes cast at any 

 election held under the provisions of this act shall be 

 against the sale, it shall not be lawful for any person 

 within the limits of such county to sell or barter for 

 valuable consideration, either d'irectly or indirectly, 

 or "ive away, to induce trade at any place of business, 

 or furnish at other public places, any alcoholic, spirit- 

 uous, vinous, malt, or intoxicating liquors, or intoxi- 

 cating bitters, or other drinks which, if drunk to ex- 

 cess, will produce intoxication, under the penalties 

 hereinafter prescribed ; but, if a majority of the votes 

 cast at any such election shall be for the sale of such 

 liquors, then license to sell the same may be ordeivd 

 by the board of supervisors of the county at a regular 

 term, or by the proper municipal autho'rities, to any 

 male person over the age of twenty-one years, when 

 such applicant is a resident in the county where such 

 liquors are to be sold, who, in the opinion of the au- 

 thority granting such license, shall be of good moral 

 character and a sober and suitable person to receive 

 such license, by the recommendation to that effect in 

 writing, signed by at least twenty-five real-estate 

 owners in such district or town. 



That any person who shall violate the provisions 

 of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

 shall, on conviction, be punished for the first offense 

 by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, and by imprison- 

 ment in the county jail not exceeding sixty days ; and 

 for the second offense by a fine of one hundred dollars 

 and imprisonment in the county jail for four months ; 

 and for the third, or other offenses, by a fine of five 

 hundred dollars and imprisonment in the county jail 

 for six months. The selling of liquors in violation of 

 this act shall also be a nuisance, and the same may be 

 abated by an appropriate proceeding at law, or en- 

 ioined on the application ot any citizen of this State 

 by chancery court of the proper countyj and there 

 shall be no property in any intoxicating liquors kept 

 or offered for sale in violation of law. 



That nothing in this act shall be so construed as 

 to prevent the manufacture of wine or cider for do- 

 mestic or sacramental purposes, nor shall anything 

 herein contained prevent licensed druggists from sell- 

 ing or furnishing pure alcohol for medicinal, art, sci- 

 entific, or mechanical purposes ; and for cveiy sale of 

 wine the seller shall be guilty of a misdemeanor^ and 

 may be punished as provided b.y section 8 of this act 

 in reference to violations thereof, and nothing herein 

 contained shall prevent physicians of good standing 

 in this State from keeping vinous, spirituous, or malt 

 liquors for use in their practice, and dispensing the 

 same for the use of their patients : Provided, however, 

 no such liquors shall be kept by physicians at any 

 drug-store or other public place, or disposed of in 

 quantities of more than one pint, and it shall be un- 

 lawful for them to soil it at all. 



The act in relation to free schools provides 

 for a uniform system of free schools for all 

 children between five and twenty-one years of 

 age. The Board of Education appoints county 

 superintendents, with the advice and consent 

 of the Senate. The county superintendents 

 are to hold separate teachers' institutes for the 

 two races. A board of three trustees for each 

 school is elected by the patrons thereof. The 

 scholastic year begins on October 1, and ends 

 on September 30. There is to be a winter 

 term to begin in November, and a summer 

 term to begin in June, during either of which 

 a school may be taught at the option of its 

 trustees. The schools are all to be kept in 

 continuous session for four months, provided 



that in thinly settled districts the trustees and 

 county superintendent may change this rule, 

 and for as many days longer as the school 

 funds for that scholastic year will pay for. 



Whenever the amount of school fund in the 

 State treasury in any fiscal year does not, in 

 the aggregate, amount to $300,000, exclusive 

 of Ohickasaw or other special funds, then the 

 State Treasurer is to transfer from the general 

 fund to the common-school fund a sufficient 

 amount to make the sum of said school fund 

 $300,000, said sum to be distributed upon war- 

 rants of the Auditor among the several coun- 

 ties pro rata, according to the number of edu- 

 cable children in said counties. 



It is to be the duty of the board of super- 

 visors of each county in the State, on or before 

 the first Monday in September, annually, to 

 levy upon the taxable property of such county 

 a tax of three mills or more on the dollar, to 

 be collected as other county taxes for general 

 purposes and at the same time, and to be paid 

 into the county treasury to the credit of the 

 common-school fund, to make up any defi- 

 ciency in the aggregate amount of common- 

 school funds arising from other sources neces- 

 sary to maintain the public tfree schools of said 

 county during the time required by law. 



Political. The only general election during 

 the year was for members of Congress. It 

 occurred on November 2, and Democrats were 

 returned as successful in all of the seven dis- 

 tricts. 



Negro Emigration. About the middle of No- 

 vember, after the cotton-picking, an extensive 

 movement of colored people began from the 

 hill country of Mississippi to the river-bottoms, 

 or, as the land along the Mississippi and Yazoo 

 is called, the Swamp. The movement began 

 in the western portion of Hinds County, which 

 is on the edge of the hills, and but a short dis- 

 tance from the Swamp. By the middle of De- 

 cember the exodus had reached such magnitude 

 as to become a serious economic question. 

 The great majority of the labor on the cotton- 

 plantations in Hinds and Rankin is colored, 

 and the loss of this labor threatened the de- 

 struction of that industry. On several plan- 

 tations all, or very nearly all, the tenants emi- 

 grated, leaving the planters with nothing but 

 their land, with no one to cultivate it. Nearly 

 all the emigrants go to the Yazoo country. 

 Some few have crossed over into Arkansas, 

 into Desha and Chicot Counties, to which the 

 tide of negro immigration from the Atlantic 

 States has been pouring for three years. But 

 most of the Mississippians have remained in 

 Issaquena, Sharkey, Washington, Bolivar, Ya- 

 zoo, Leflore, and other counties of the Yazoo 

 delta. This country is all alluvial, is level, in- 

 tersected by innumerable streams, which run 

 into one another in so intricate and labyrinthine 

 a manner as to make it a land of thousands of 

 islands. It is in danger of overflow during 

 high water in the Mississippi ; but is fully pro- 

 tected from inundation by a thorough and 



