The sun., 1901-07-28

latins for totally different order Of thinss.
and for q nsw people. and. consequently.
they supposed themselves 70 nesd . now
systsm Of Law.
II 10 10 b noted that during the period
Of Republican rule in Mississippi there were
no great railroad swindlss. - there we're In
louisiana and Arkansas. and no suoh whole
sale plunderins OF the treasury a took place
In South Carolina. We have sson that the
reconstruction Constitution OF Mississippi
prohibited the lending Of tho credit OF the
State. IL Is true. however. a. tho whites
charged. that the number Of offioss and
agencies carrying high salaries was need
lsssly multiplied. 90 that nearly the entire
Republican party was In the pay OF the State.
Thus William Prica . Methodist preacher
from the North. was State Senator from
Grenada county. was Public Prtnte- Of his
district, and was Postmaster until the Presi-
dent issued an order prohibiting Postmasters
from holding other ofiices. whsrsupon Price
turned tho poet office over TO his wife. At
the same time his nephew was Superintendent
Off Education and Deputy Collector Of Internal
Revenue: his son-in-law was Q Chancery
clerk. and Ae himself was an applicant for
the once Of Sheriff and Tax Collector. In
Madison county q family named Smith was
favored a. follows One was Postmaster. one
was Public Printer. ono was member Of the
County Board. another Q member Of the City
Council. one q city weisher. one Q candidate
for the Legislature and one . candidate for
School Director In Noxuboe county In 1878
there were only twelve white Republicans.
Tho Offices were distributed among them
thus: Ono Sheriff. two deputies. ono Chancery
clerk. ono Treasurer. one Superintendent Of
Education. one Assessor. two Magistrates
and one editor Of a Republican paper The
others were members Of the County Board
or Of the Legislature
As evidence for the complaint that the
increase In the number Of public ofYioes was
needless. the Democrats oited the organi-
zation Of the Judiciary. When the recon-
struotionists took charge. ten circuit Judges
were performing all the duties which sub.
sequently required twenty Chsnoellors and
thirteen Circuit Judges. Tho Republicans
explained that the abolition Of the ofiice Of
County Probate Judge In 1870 and the trans
fer OF most Of the duties Of that otioe te tho
Chancery Courts had made an increase In
the number Of Chancellors necessary. More
over. they said. the number Of citizens In
the State had been doubled By the adoption
Of the Fourteenth Amendment, q fact which
added vastly to the business OF the courts.
The Democrats met this explanation by
asserting that many OF the duties previously
performed by the Probate Judges had been
transferred 10 the Chancery clerks. OF whom
there was ono In each county that the recent
amendment OF the State Constitution by
which tho Jurisdiction Of Justices OF the
Peace had been made to include all civil
cases not exceeding In amount $3.50. and
the general poverty Of the people BY which
business transactions were very much lin
tied In value. had taken away one third of
the civil business Of the Circuit and ChaDcery
Courts. Mr.. Garner. for his part, has little
doubt that tho need for such elaborate !u-
dicial machinery As was instituted by the
reoonstruc ctionists was more apparent than
real He nnds 1t difficult to believe that
there was sufficient chancery business in Mis-
sissippi In 1874 to require term OF the Chan
oery Court In each couGty at least four times
a year Gov. Ames himself In 1878 recon-
mended reduction In the number Of Chan
oellors from twenty to ten. but II wsa left
70 the Democrats 10 make II In 1915.
Charles Nordhor. who personally made an
investig cation Of the state Of things In Mis-
sissippi during the reconstruction regime,
one feature Of the Ames ad
as robbery. pure and simple"
What he referred to was the State printing.
the cost Of which was out Of all proportion
to the other expenses Of the Government.
For the Ave years Immediately preceding
1891 the average annual cost had not exceeded
5000; for the quinQuennlal term beginning
with 1870 II was e73.O0o. the average annual
excess thus being $4,000 In one year the out
lay for printing reached nearly ti2s.0oo
The Democracy In 1879 cut the amount down
to $4,000 II seems that the Journals OF the
contained vast amount Of mat
ter utterly worthless to the public. They
wsre themselves bulky In size. and 70 them
were added large appendices. Some e1-
amples are adduced In tho book before us.
In 1880 the journals Of the two houses had
only i.lo3 pages: In 1873 there were
1. .383 pages. or nearly four times as many.
The statutes were no less voluminous. For
the Ave years preceding reconstruction the
total number OF pages had been Ais. while
for the Ave years Of Republican rule It was
s.7s9, The oficial printer was accused OF
being corrupt and Of having secured his sp-
piontment from the Legislature BY means Of
bribery. What was incomprchenslble to
nldu1s ne WIS one Oh INC cDu-
fdential advisers. and for a time q member
Of his household. Ultimately no turned his
printing Office over to another person and
hook clerkship In the State Treasurer's Office
lt salary Of 1900 year in state varrants
worth 10 or so cents on the dollar. He was
thus enabled 10 cash at par the warrants
which he had received as state Printer.
to $4,000 OF 100000 a year. On
Nov. "a, 1878. the Republican Attorney-Gen-
eral wrote concerning this Official: -EIs
office as State Printer Is about To expire and
he wants to be Postmaster at Vicksburg.
regret to say that he Ia so degraded that the
charge Of corruption and bribery Is no offence
20 him. and II comes from various sources"
Another conspicuous Republican declared
a January, 1915. that his atrocities on the
state Treasury for the last two years would
I'll Volume that he collected four or Ave
lines as much on every printing bill as the
aw allowed him, and that Gov. Anes know
his. yet used all his influence. actively and
oersistently. to keep him In the place
VI.
Among the sins charged 20 the "carpet-
Mississippi the accusation was
ong current that after Ave years OF eI-