MISSISSIPPI. 



471 



l-M unit ion. The following table presents the 

 public-school statistics of the State for the years 



HI ami IS'.IO-'WI: 



By comparing the year 1888-'89 with the year 

 1890-'91, there will be'found an increase in enroll- 

 innit <>f .">,77.-> pupils, the whites gaining 6.012 

 pupils and the colored people losing 174. There 

 WHS an increase of 5,155 in average attendance, 

 about equally divided between the races, an 

 increase of 316 in white teachers and 115 in 

 colored teachers, an increase of 710 in school- 

 houses, of 294 in schools of all grades, of 70 in 

 high schools, of $11.741 in the receipts for 

 schools, and of $51,978 in disbursements there- 

 for. 



There are 43 towns in the State havine graded 

 schools, which are maintained from eight to ten 

 months annually. They have erected 28 new 

 buildings, costing from $10,000 to $40,000 each. 

 The aggregate value of school property in these 

 43 towns is $537,050. The enrollment in 1890-'91 

 was 22,046, and the salaries of teachers $162,675. 



By the terms of the new Constitution, the 

 State has assumed the duty of maintaining all 

 the public schools for four months of each year. 

 In order to maintain them at their present effi- 

 ciency, $850,000 will be required annually. It 

 is estimated that the income from poll taxes 

 will be $250,000, leaving $600,000 to be raised 

 bv a tax on property. 



Charities. On Feb. 16 the State suffered a 

 loss of about $200.000 by the burning of the 

 State Insane Asylum at Jackson. There were 

 601 inmates, all but one of whom were rescued. 

 There was no insurance. The Legislature 

 promptly made provision for rebuilding, and at 

 the end of the year the work was well advanced. 



Floods. The people of the State suffered 

 severely this year from the overflow of streams 

 swollen by the spring rains. From the first 

 freshet, early in April, the counties of Warren, 

 Carroll, Grenada. Clay, Monroe, and Montgomery 

 were severe sufferers. The Tombigbee river 

 rose higher than ever before known, flooding the 

 adjacent country for miles. Many smaller 

 streams in the central portion of the State over- 

 flowed their banks, railroad and other bridges 

 were swept away, and farms and farmhouses 

 were submerged. In May the Mississippi river 

 overflowed at many places, causing much loss 

 and suffering, especially in Warren County, 

 where it was claimed that 1,600 people were 

 made destitute. 



State Constitution. Early this year, in the 

 case of Sproule vs. Fredericks, the State Su- 

 preino Court rendered an important decision 

 upon the validity of the work of the constitu- 

 tional convention of 1890. The court says: 



The validity of the Constitution of is'tn is culled in 

 question l>y appellee. In support of thin invalidity 

 of the Constitution two proposition* are ocHcrtcd : 



1. A constitutional convention hu.- power only to 

 prepare and frame the body of a Constitution, and 

 that when prepared or framed, the ristrument is "f 

 no force or effect until ratified l>y a j/opular vote of 

 the people; und the Constitution of 18KO having 

 never been submitted to or ratified by the people IB 

 invalid ; and 



2. The changes made by the Constitution in the 

 basis of suffrage are violative of an act of < 

 readmitting the State of Mississippi into tin- I ui<.n 

 in the year 1870, and invalidate that instrument. 



With confidence we reject both propositions as un- 

 sound. The court holds that the constitutional con- 

 vention was a sovereign body with power to frame a 

 new Constitution and put it into effect without refcr- 

 rinir it to the people, as the Legislature which called 

 it into existence aid not seek to impose on its will by 

 providing that the instrument should be submitted 

 to the people. It wields the power of sovereignty, 

 and the only restriction placed upon its power is that 

 the spirit of republicanism should breathe through 

 its work. 



There is little ground for the second branch of the 

 contention. The regulation of the right of suffrage 

 belongs to the State, and the only limitation thereon 

 to be Found in the Constitution of the United States, 

 or the latest amendments thereto, will be found in the 

 prohibition of discrimination against persons on ac- 

 count of race or color. It is an idle consumption of 

 time to talk of this as at all doubtful. The Supreme 

 Court of the United States has more than once af- 

 firmed it. 



Despite the act of Congress referred to when the 

 State was readmitted to her place in the Federal 

 Union, she was restored to all her rights, dignities, 

 and powers. She was admitted as the equal of any 

 other State, with the same power to regulate the right 

 of suffrage in her borders as enjoyed by other States. 

 But the contention is so manifestly untenable, and 

 has been so effectually disposed of ny the utterances 

 of the Supreme Court of the United States, that wo 

 decline to say more. 



Cotton-growers' Convention. On Feb. 18 

 a convention of the cotton growers of the State 

 met at Jackson for the purpose of discussing 

 their common interests. The sentiment of the 

 convention was embodied in the following reso- 

 lutions : 



That it is the opinion of this convention that if the 

 amount of cotton produced be reduced one fourth, the 

 airtrretrate amount of mone\ iveeivcd in the South 

 will IK- largely increased ; that a reduction in ; 

 in cotton wilf result in the raising of tin ii> 

 amount of provisions and live stock, and thus benefit 

 u-; I v bringing in more money and sending ; 



\W recommend that there be a local organisation 

 of the Cotton Growers and Merchants' As.-oeiation in 

 (very town and supervisor's district in the cotton- 

 growing region. 



We further recommend that every planter and 

 farmer within the cotton-growing States plant more 

 diversified crops. 



Political. In February a State Republican 



Convention met at Jackson for the purpose of 

 selecting delegates to the national Republican 

 nominating convention. The two factions of 

 the party failed to agree, and opposing delega- 

 tions were chosen. Later in the year a Kepub- 



