The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-16
For THE cLARroSl
The Female College Again.
CANTON. July sth. 1854

J asking for the location. Their urgent
u invitations and liberal offers evince q
= progressive spirit and growing desire
e for higher education. At the same
{ time the generosity and good nature
Z with which this competition has been
conducted, and the evident desire of
E everybody to secure that location which,
apart from all local preferences, will be
4 best for the whole State, show that ours
is magnanimOus, patriotic people.
= May ask your indulgence while give
$ a few reasons why think Kosciusko is
: : the place the board ought to agree upon.
l. We believe more people over the
!, State favor Koseiusko than any other
point Every man / have talked with
i ON the subject, who was not interested
: in securing the College for his own town,
= has expressed preference for Koscius-
ko. These men are not from any one
county on section, but from all parts of
4 the State We have heard persons in
terested in other localities say that if
their town didn't get the College they
, would rather it should go to Kosciusko
than anywhere else. We believe that
this is the general sentiment, and that
while kosciuskO is not first choice, it is
second.
2 Its centrality. This is without a
doubt a strong point in Kosciusko's
favor. Other places feel this and try to
show that if they are not the most con-
venient to all the people of the State,
4 they are at any rate accessible to all.
But it can't be denied that in State
whose population is so uniformly scat
tered over it's territery as ours is, the
geographical center is the point most
convenient to all.
An inspection of the Census Reports of
1880 show that if you draw line East
and West through Koseiusko, leaving
out of account those counties that are
on line with Attala, there are north |
of this dividing line 227, 300 white peo- |
pie in the State and l4,300 in the |
| Southern half: in other words, that |
Kosciusko, the geographical center of
the State, is so very nearly the center of
population that there are only $4,000
more white people north of her than
there are south of her-Which number
is less than the population of an aver
age county. Now presuming that all
parts of the State will patronize the
College uniformly, why subject the peo-
pie of North Mississippi to the increased
expense of going far down into the
South, or the daughters of South Missis-
sippi, of going to some point in the re-
mote north or east, when a central
and accessible location would neutralize
this burden and prevent its being one
sided and so discriminating. 1t would
not be consulting the good of the
whole State if the people of one
section are to be forced to go to several
thousand dollars additional expense an /
nually in patroniZing the College in
order to save like amount in another {
section. Think what this would amount /
to in fifty years If there is anything /
that the Democracy of Mississippi is /
steeled against, it is unequal and class :
legislation. We have suffered so long I
and so much by reason of the Federal !
governments discriminating against US I
and our industries that we can well feel :
the Importance of dealing equally with
all sections of our own people and I
brethren. q
8. A special reason why we think a /
location in South Mississippi should not .
be chosen for our College is that in that !
section of the State there are already !
large and. aeerishiug seminaries for Z
young ladies, and IT would be unjust to I !
them to plant our institution right under
their shadow and draw away from them .
that patronage which by great labor and !
expense they have succeeded in gaining p
and which they so worthily hold. l al E
lude to Whitworth College at Brook .
haven, under the superintendence of DR.. I,
Johnson, and President Hillman's Col q
Iege at Clinton. The one Methodist, :
the other Baptist institution. The Il
former of these is getting to be one of =
the renowned colleges of the South +,
Yet an inspection of the catalogues of W
these colleges, and | might say, of all n
colleges, both male and female, will r
show that their patronage is largely i
ocal. At Whitworth this year, nearly h,
,ne half of the PIT young ladies in at Il
endance are from Lincoln and one or h,
,wo contiguous counties. The same is in
rue of the University at Oxford. 1t tq
lraws students more largely from ~
that are nearest to Lafayette. tT
Vow the State doesn't wish to interfere n,
n any way with private and denomina- RI
ional schools in the land, but rather to n
oster and encourage them as valuable al
.diuncts in her work of education. We "a
ear it would be unjust to locate our M
state College near these colleges, or even bt
n that part of the State where competi- Or
ion would be most hurtful to schools r.
.lready successfully established and N
which have only their pluck and their cC
,atronage to sustain them. We know ns
f instances where private schools have 81
Uttered complaint because the liberality ar
f the State to her institutions put h
hem at decided advantage in competi- ar
ion for students. Now the part of the m
tate where this result is least likely to IN
,e effected is the central. 1t is not by ns
ar, and we say it with regret, as well f.
,rovided with Female Seminaries. as ia
ither the southern or the northern or tb
he eastern parts OF the State. M
4. 1t was evidently the design of the of
to make ours college that ha
ur poorer men can patronize. The of
fealthy may continue to send to dis in
ant States. The State wants here III
t our very doors an institution that the th
armer, the laboring man and the shop DIR
eeper can patronize, and which by rea- as
on of its accessibility and cheapness or
an number among its. benefciaries those re
4 our State whose incomes are too ev
mited to allow them to send abroad or pu
D pay a large tuition. tr,
Now those acquainted with Kosciusko tn
ill recognize its preeminent fitness for in
ach a school. There do not exist in in,
be population of the town those grada- be
ions in society that are produced by ic
lherited wealth and by family prestige SD
bsolved from merit, that are observable so
i many towns of the State. In no other it
lace do t'the rich and the poor meet to- ciC
ether" so much on terms of equality.
q no other place can a worthy young DIR
ian from the country coming to town, by
nacquainted and unbefriended, have ga
is merit more quickly recognized and th
e inducted into the best of society, than III,
j KosciuskO. We do not think that our sta
centers and places of aggre- lov
ated wealth are the most suitable places an
1r our College. There the constant sight I'M
elegant luxury without its enjoy ar
tent, will only make the daughters Of th
ur hard handed farmers and onr toiling De
lasses enyious, and perhaps embarrass Th
hem by reason of their own limited Fe
leans. take it that this College Is to in
e for the girls what the A. and III. is gr.
u the boys. The title given it, sIn- I'M
ustrial Institute for White Girls. 2 w
aows that il aims to qualify our young rol
.dies to earn their own livelihood. more Of
ian to 'finish" them off in Bellies Let thl
-es, Frdncdis and the like. A modest, wa
town is more suited for De
lch an Institute than one which claims me
u itself to be rather elite. lFC
There are peculiar objections against Ye
,cating the College at the Capital. The be
lpitaI has almost al our public institu-
ons. The State pours out thousands til
dollars annually through the chan its
els Of Jackson. trade. 1t would. be afF
lmping too much the advantages Of the nj
tate in one place. It would Be border ey
z on favoFifism t0gige the capital aIso II,