MISSISSIPPI. 



459 



Finances. The receipts for the fiscal year from 

 Oct. 1, 1896, to Sept. 30, 1897, were $1,492,978.92; 

 and there was $18,006.68 balance in the treasury on 

 Oct. 1, 1896, making a total of $1,510,985.60 ; of said 

 balance only $506.68 was available, the remainder 

 being a donation of the United States to the Agri- 

 cultural and Mechanical Colleges. Disbursements 

 amounted to $1,457,134.54. The total amount of 

 warrants issued by the Auditor was $1,381,518.30. 

 Receipts from State tax privileges amounted to 

 $352,112.56; from land purchases, $18,470.60 ; from 

 Stat e tax of 1896, $990,583.48. Among the disburse- 

 ments were : Judiciary, $86,565 ; executive, $25,- 

 114; common school fund, $673,442 ; pension fund, 

 $73,311; legislative fund, $32,875 ; commission for 

 assessing, $50,394; Chickasaw school fund interest, 

 $52,391; University of Mississippi, $37,643; Lunatic 

 Asylum, $82,576 ; Deaf and Dumb Institute, $32,- 

 021 ; East Mississippi Insane Asylum, $43,085 ; 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College, $39,085 ; In- 

 dustrial Institute and College, $23,410; Alcorn Ag- 

 ricultural and Mechanical College, $18,960 ; Vicks- 

 burg City Hospital, $12,309 ; State Board of Health, 

 $14,894 ; interest on 6-per-cent. bonds. $29,976 ; 

 canceled land patents, $11,327; Agricultural and 

 Mechanical College congressional fund, $20,791 ; 

 interest on 5-per-cent. bonds, $19,325. The total 

 State debt was $2,703,550.94 ; total collections made 

 by the State Revenue Agent, for the two fiscal years, 

 $57,856.27. During 1897, to meet the necessities of 

 the treasury, the Governor borrowed from the First 

 State Bank of Columbus $25,000, at 5 per cent, per 

 annum ; from E. & S. Virden $10,000, at 5-J per 

 cent. ; and from the Manhattan Savings Bank and 

 Trust Company of Memphis $50,000, at 5 per cent. 

 [As only biennial reports are made, some of the 

 figures in this paragraph are necessarily the same 

 that were given in the " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 

 1897.] 



Banks. The following is a recapitulation of all 

 the State banks : Overdrafts secured, $767,170.60 ; 

 overdrafts unsecured, $230,096 ; State bonds, $127,- 

 035.87; stocks, $325,118.21; Loans and discounts, 

 $9,132,712.65 ; county bonds, $90,733.20 ; levee 

 bonds. $101,799.50 ; city bonds, $135,804.40 ; bank- 

 ing houses, $230,250.61 ; other real estate, $238,- 

 611.97 ; furniture and fixtures, $89,396.48 ; expenses, 

 $127,137 ; taxes, $73,132.76 ; sight exchange, $2,040,- 

 185.82 ; cash on hand, $1.276,053.41 ; resources and 

 liabilities, $14,988,238.48 ; capital paid in, $3,700,- 

 594.64 ; surplus, $432,128.09 ; undivided profits, 

 $631,652.95 ; deposits liable to check, $8,643,050.11 ; 

 time certificates deposit, $626,565.37; bills payable, 

 $539,284.29 ; due other banks, $248,722.41 ; redis- 

 counts. $152,819.76 ; cashiers' checks, dividends, etc. 

 $101,420.86. 



Valuation. The valuations according to the 

 last assessment are: Realty. $113,210,931; person- 

 alty, $44,994,791 ; polls, at $2 each, $264,847; rail- 

 roads, telegraphs, express and sleeping cars, $24,682,- 

 H76 ; total valuation, $182,888,598; tax, at 6| mills, 

 $1.718,469.89. 



Education. The Superintendent of Education 

 eported that " although the State has been afflicted 

 ! vith epidemics of smallpox and yellow fever, work- 

 tig incalculable injury to labor and capital, although 

 in unprecedented drought has parched the eastern 

 irairies and a devastating flood has swept over the 

 alleys of the west, although the State's principal 

 ommodity has fallen to the cost of production, the 

 chool system of the State has steadily prospered. 

 n many counties the enrollment of pupils has in- 

 reascd, the school term has been lengthened, better 

 radiers have been employed, new schoolhouses 

 inve been built, and an educational sentiment has 

 eon aroused. Gradually the people are realizing 

 hat the public school is the hope of the State, and 



I 



that the school tax is immediately returned to them 

 in the education of their children." 



During the scholastic year of 1895-'96. 363,753 pu- 

 pils were enrolled in the public schools, 165,878 being 

 white and 197,875 colored : for the year 1896-'97. 

 367,579 were enrolled, 170,811 being white and 

 196,768 being colored. The report continues : " It 

 is apparent that nearly 200,000 children in Missis- 

 sippi of educable age do not attend the public 

 schools. Assuming that 25 per cent, of this number 

 attend the private schools of the State, a vast num- 

 ber will receive no instruction. Every person who 

 thinks will ask why this large number of children 

 are out of school. That they will some day prove a 

 menace to the welfare of the State can not be 

 doubted. Unquestionably the absence of these chil- 

 dren from school is attributable to the indifference 

 or ignorance of their parents. Too often children 

 of tender years are required to begin the task of 

 bread winning, and are kept out of school that their 

 labor may complement that of the father, or pos- 

 sibly to relieve the father in great measure from 

 labor." The superintendent asked the Legislature 

 to authorize him to have "the newspaper adopted 

 as a text in the public schools." 



Schools for Indian children have been maintained 

 in the counties of Leake, Neshoba, Kemper, Newton, 

 and Greene. The supervisor of these schools says 

 in his report : ' The greatest obstacle in the way of 

 the educational and religious progress of our Mis- 

 sissippi Choctaws is the Indian ball play as it has 

 been conducted for the past fifteen years. To put 

 it mildly, the ball play is the most demoralizing in- 

 stitution in Mississippi. It is, in a great measure, 

 nowadays, manipulated or controlled by a white 

 swashbuckler element ; and gambling, whiskey 

 drinking, fighting, and not infrequently bloodshed, 

 have become the regular concomitants of the play. 

 These facts are well known to every one living in 

 the Indian counties, and the Indian church mem- 

 bers who have a real desire for the improvement of 

 their people are very anxious that the ball play 

 should be abolished by law." It is given as an 

 evidence of progress among the Indians that they 

 are beginning to assume English surnames. 



Penitentiary. There were 911 convicts in the 

 penitentiary in 1897. The financial condition of 

 the penitentiary farms was given : Total receipts 

 for 1896-'97, $192,156.98 ; expenditures, $141,920.76 ; 

 cash on hand Jan. 1, 1897, $50,236.22 ; total receipts, 

 for 1897, $120,436.44; expenditures, $96.335.18; 

 cash on hand Jan. 1, 1898, $24,101.26; cash in Mer- 

 chants' Bank, $3,707.06. Cotton on hand, 3,477 

 bales ; cotton seed, 1,720 tons ; corn, 28.500 bushels ; 

 peas, 3,210 bushels. The report of the Board of 

 Control says that " the system of contracting with 

 landowners for planting operations on the share 

 plan or any other basis is unsatisfactory. Issues 

 constantly arise as to the method of cultivating 

 the land and the mode of conducting the work be- 

 tween the State authorities and the landowner. It 

 often happens that the latter fails to furnish the 

 proper teams and sufficient food," and in some in- 

 instances there has been friction between the State 

 authorities and the landowners respecting the man- 

 ner in which the convicts should be treated. 



Insane Asylum. In 1896 there were 751 pa- 

 tients, of whom 186 were white males, 209 white 

 females, 174 colored males, and 182 colored females. 

 Discharged recovered, 93 white males 30, white 

 females 30, colored males 72, and colored females 

 16 ; discharged improved, 17. At the beginning of 

 1897 there were 782 patients white males 195, white 

 females 223, colored males 175, and colored females 

 189 ; admitted during the year, 273 white males 

 68, white females 76, colored males 72, and colored 

 females 57 ; total present, 1,055 white males 263, 



