The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-07-14
HOvERNDIR,N MESSAGE,
Relutipe % Charitable Lsaifmions of Il
TO me Senate and Hoass of Representatives "
fhe Gfrfe AZ Nxaff4es1,sIf

9EATLE1IEN - tu4E1 the presentation Vi
the accompanying report Sc the ComfnIssion
which has made "a Investigation into the
Public Institutions In yickaburg and Nat
chez. the occasion OF q general review Of the
Charities Of the State.
The Institution for the instruction of the
Blind. In the first subject that shall submit
| here for your consideration. The law pro-
vides for the education, In this establish
ment, Of two. sets Of pupils-the blind who
can pay, and the blind who cannot; but the
| privilege Is confined expressly, by an Act
of 1865. 70 the whites. j propose that the
law, in this case, shall be altered so as 70
maFe iC conform 10 the principle that no
law OF Mississippi shall make distinctions
on the grounls ipso fact0. of color.
The Institution for the Blind is not an
Asylum-but an Academy. In practice,
| this distinction has been, to very great
extent. disregaTded. The intention of the
law establishing the institution, does not
justly the EN- pioyment Of it's benefaction As
provision for tlelife of any of its inmates.
A special law Act of August 18th. 1854
gives. It Is true, Mr. Dempsey SherrOd, a
person afflicted with blindness, the right OF
home IN the Institution. tor life; and in
| doing 50. gives color to the abuse which
converts that School into an Asylum. /
! recommend that al this be revised. and that
lnasmuch as any supposed consideration. in
the case of Mr.. Sherrod. appears to have
tailed, that the reform should commence by
repeating the Act QuarteFing him for life 0a
the ''InstIIutiOn for the Education of the
Blind" make this Recommendation for
bringing the School back TO its original
character. all the more readily that Mr..
SherrOd, engaged in pursuits outside the
state, does not partake, except very rarely.
of the extraordinary privileges given him
in the Act referred to.
BY allowing the School to become an
Asylum, some consequences highly objec-
tionable follow from the location of the
establishment at the Capital. Several blind
men, Of mature years, are inmates of the
Institution and free to stray about the CITY,
as they please, employ the opportunity to
embarrass the management of the establish
ment, by attempts TO exert an influence on
members Of the Legislature. Such an abuse
as this places proper administration of the
Institution under very great and<seriously
injurious embarrassment. This has been
made. by some reason why the School for
the Blind shall be removed from the Capital !;
but is cited here with the simple purpose of
pointing out The propriety of reform which
shall bring back that Charity to its original
eharacter-that OF School.
The reform of an Institute for the Blind,
If entered on at all, ought. l submit. TO be
carried out thoroughly. The expense is,
grant, great objection, but in plain duty
of humanity, state must not wait to count
the cost. And have very little fear that
any sum, expended honestly and wisely, in
making Oeneficient provision for the help
less blind, will be objected to by people
like ours, full of kindliness and humanity.
The blind people of Mississippi, numbered
according to the census of 1860, as many as
263-ll6 of these were at that time slaves.
Between the ages of 10 and l71S, these 1853
included according TO the general average
of the number between those ages in the
whole population, about 81. This gives us,
hold, a measure of the accommodations re-
quired, in carrying OFT our duty. to make
the Institution for educating the Blind suffi-
GENTLY large to extend its benefit to every
blind child in the State, within what may
be considered a just compromise In decidiE z
between duty OH the one hand, aud economy
on the other, the limit of the school age,
proper to the objects of this charity. Mas
sachusetts, Pennsylvania New York, and
Ohio, show in their Institutions for the ed
| ucation of the Blind, one pupil for every
| $4,000 OF the population; and the same ac-
| tiYity of benevolence on the part of MisSis-
| sippi, would show in our Institution for the
| Blind, forty-three (43) pupils. Inasmuch,
however, as the charity ought to include all
our blind, and, inasmuch, furthermore, as
| ten years old is not toe soon to begin their
education, nor l71a too tender a period of
! life for sending them out armed with a
means of bread, TO struggle tor an indepen-
| Gence, | recommend that our reform of the
| "lnsttution for the education of the Blind
shall proceed on the assumption that it shall
! provide for the accommodation of at least
| fifty pupils.
The blind have special capacity for pro-
| ficiency in several departments of useful
knowledge. They are compensated by Hea-
ven for the loss of the enioyments of sight
by an unusual gift for music. Benevolence
| would suggest their education in this art,
| as a source of pleasure, and IL does so. hacked
| by the utility which adds that that educa-
/ ton may be so directed as to give them a
means Of bread. But they have highly
available capacity for many of the pursuits
/ of productive industry. They can be taught
| with success, to make wicker-ba skets,
brooms, cane-work, and great many other
! articles sufficiently in demand to give all the
/ blind people of the State q means of honest
| indie pendence. With that view, | invite
your attention, when considering the mea-
| sure of reform suggested here, to the ilnpor
tant subject of providing for the blind. a
| system of training in handlcrafts. under
which, as one of the chief objects OF the
I charity, they may be turned upon the world.
| as they are, from the Institutions OF the
| North, capable of self-support.
In bringing back the Constitution for the
| Blind" to its real purpose, the transition
| may involve hardship TO some of its present
pendages of that charity ought not to be
| fuyned uDon the world without means OF
| living. OF the colored blind, who have been
cut of from the scope of the charity in the
past, several are calling to US for some
| com pensaflon for former neglect. We owe
! them the special requitai of giving them an
| opportunity of learning handicraft. These
| adult helpless ought not to be excluded
| from our consideration by a severe applica-
| ton nj the present time, of the conditions
| Of the proper school age. / sugge~t. there
| fore. that m carrying out the proper reforms
/ in the Institution, you make some Temporal
rv provision for the admission into the
\ school of blind adults-those now in il, or
those who may apply hereaffer-for one or
/ two wears. with a view to their training in
some selt-suseaining handicraft.
The idiotic become, under the benehcence
/ of free labor a charge upon the charity OF
! the State. With more than twice as many
idiots amongst the viii ses as amongst the
! colored people. the total number in the State
/ in 1850 was 269. When the new order OF
i things shall have produced in this case the
results of the mental and physical condi-
tions of freedom. upon the eolored race we
Il must look for an increase In the number OF
1 those afflicted by idiocy. The proportion OF
| idiocy referable in the past TO the whites. II
/ applied to both races, as it no doubt will
/ nrove i'm practice to be hereafter, the num-
| be- of idiots liable TO be thrown upon the
4 care of the State may be set down at 400
| How many of this total may present them
selves for the public care. have no data foI
estimating; but while estimating the num-
| Der under a conjecture at not less than
| perhaps 200, would suggest that the or
ranizatinn of the charity for their safe
/ Keeping and maintenance shall be made with
/ 4 view 10 It's future expansion.
THE deaf and dumb are still. as they have
| heen under the regime OF the past, subject:
az ehe charity Of the State. While the iul'
otic constitute, properly, charge upon the
public for life, the deaf and dumb have nf
| claim mon them save for education. The
deaf mntes amongst the free people bear
in the census Of 1860, as high an excess q.
the itiotic amongst the whites do oxel
those afflicted similarly amongst the ther
Islaves. Tho deaf and dumb OF the STAT
NAV be estimated now &C ninety-fhret
rst the mites and forty seven amongs
the peoDle of color--a totd Of 10. Bn
with the equalization thar viii no o0uD
take place under freedom, between me pro
portion suffering from that afheloL