Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1900-10-20
MISSISSIPPI MATTERS.
NOTES OF PAST AND CURRENT EVENTS
By ]. L. POWER.
By ]. L. POWER.
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State Superintendent Whitfield thus
discusses the proposed constitutional
amendment to make the poll tax
school fund to be retained in the coun-
ties where collected, instead of being,
as now, Il State school fund, to be dis
tributed pro rata to the number of
educable children in each:
This is one of the mqst important propo-
sitions, in my opinion, that have been sub
mitted to the people since the new consti-
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 popu-
lation so far exceeds the white The length
of the school term in many Of the white
counties of the State is the minimum period
of four months, and the salaries are neces-
sarily cut to maintain the schools for this
period. In those sections where the negro
largely predominates in the population the
schools run six and sometimes to maxi
mum of seven months from the State dis
tribution alone The reasons for this are
First, the schools can, as q rule, be main
tanned cheaper where the population is
dense and every teacher has his full
capacity Of work second, negro teachers
usually hold lower grades of license and
consequently receive less pay; third, the
distribution is based on the actual number
of educabe children while the cost Of the
school is determined by the number attend
ing, and the attendance of the negroes is
usually far below the average of the
whites 1t is fact that the great raass Of
negroes of the State are receiving at least
% per cent, more school days thar the
white children The contemplated change
in the constitution will 90 some extent
remedy this, although in 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 un-
der 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 a special county
school fund. This, however, is not tho
case. The poll tax collected from each
county is deducted from the amount dis
tributed to that county. If the constitu-
ton should be amended 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 number 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 pro
posed amendment each white county would
get the benefit of all of its poll tax fund.
This will be much to the advantage of the
white section, as it is a well-known fact
that very few of the negroes pay their poll
taxes
think the amendment is in danger Of
being defeated under the ruling of the su-
preme court, declaring that the amend
ment must receive majority of the votes
cast at the election instead of a mere ma
iority Of the votes cast on that particular
propositions 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 failure to do so is a vote against it.