The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-10-04
Vote For the Amend
n1ent.

~ III ~ fCANN vi q IN ~ =
election, is one of the most i'm
portant changes in that instru-
ment that could be imagined. AS
the time is drawing near when
the verdict will have to be passed
upon that amendment, some ex-
pressions from the head of the
educational interests of the State
will be timely. Superintendent
Whitfield said:
"Th1s is one of the most i'm
portant propositions, in my opin-
ion, that have been submitted to
the people since the new Constr
tuition was created. Under the
present mode of distribution the
length of the school term in the
thinly settled white counties IS
much less than in the densely
settled delta section, where the
negro population so far exceeds
the white. The length of the
school term in many of the white
counties of the State is the mini
mum period of four months, and
the salaries are necessarily cut
to maintain the schools for this
period. In those sections where
the negro largely predomlnates
in the population the schools run
six and sometimes to maximum
of seven months from the State
distribution alone. The reasons
for this are: First, the schools
can, as d rule, be maintained
cheaper where the population is
dense and every teacher has his
full capacity of work; second, ne
gro teachers usually hold lower
grades of licence and consequent
1y receive less pay; third, the
distribution is based on the act
ual number of educable children,
while the cost of the school IS de-
termined by the number attend
ing, and the attendance of the
negroes is usually far below the
average of the whites. 1t is a
fact that the great mass of ne
groes of the State are receiving
at least Is per cent. more school
days than the white children.
The contemplated change in the
Constitution will to some extent
remedy this, although in a State
like ours, where population IS so
distributed, no plan will ever be
found for distributing the school
fund that will completely remove
all cause for criticism. The fact
that under the present system
the poll tax funds are retained in
the counties where collected leads
many people to believe that the
poll tax money is already spe-
cial county school fund. This,
however, is not the case. The
poll tax collected from each coun-
tv is deducted from the amount
distributed to that county. If
the Constitution should beamend-
ed as proposed the poll tax will
be, in fact, county fund, and
that appropriated from the State
Treasury will be distributed to
the different counties on a basis
of the mum Der of educable chill
dren in each. AS it is now, the
poll tax collected in the white
counties is virtually distributed
to all the counties of the State,
the black counties receiving more
from this source than they pay
in. Under the proposed amend
ment each white county would
get the benefit of all of its poll
tax fund. This will be much to
the advantage of the white sec
ton, as it is a well-known fact
that very few of the negroes pay
their poll taxes.
II think the amendment is in
danger of being defeated under
the ruling of the Supreme Court,
declaring that the amendment
must receive a majority of the
votes cast at the election instead
of a mere majority of the votes
cast on that particular PROPOSE
ton. 1t is, therefore, necessary
that every man in favor of the
amendment who votes for any of
the congressional candidates
should vote for the amendment,
for a failure to do so is a vote
against it. I am glad to learn
that Secretary of State Power
will have placards posted at every
voting precinct calling the atten-
ton of the voters to this lmpor-
tant amendment. "