The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1902-09-26
THE SITUATION.

NtAl year WIG 49,
opportunity that has ever obtained
in Mississippi for voters to impress
their idea of government directly |
on candidates who offer for State /
Office.
Heretofore, conventions that
represented largely a population
without suffrage ESPECIALLY true
of delegates from the delta coun-
ties) manipulated the conventions
and coerced men and measures
that the sovereign voters would
not have selected.
These conventions were com
posed of delegates accredited from
the several counties on a basis OF
their representation in the legis-
lature-in other words, the dele
gates were apportioned on popuia-
ton only, without regard to the
Democratic voting strength OF the
county represented.
This unfair plan gave the delta
counties, with "A handful of quail
fed voters and dense negro pop
ulation, greater representation in
the convention than it did the hill
counties where the mass of Dem
ocratic voters reside, practically
placing the nomination of all State
officers at the disposal OF the black
counties and gerrymandering the
white counties almost entirely out
OF ii.
The primary election law has
reversed the conditions and has
made the hill counties sovereign.
as they ought to have been all the
time. So radical a change must
necessarily bring about a conten-
ton between the two sections of
Mississippi and revolptionize poll
tics, as well as modify several or
ganic laws of the State. Any
issue that will win in the State
election next year will be opposed
by the delta section, because the
tendency of that issue will be to
distribute political benefits and
otherwise give the white counties
fair tote. The disposition of
State candidates, thus far. has been
to straddle the differences between
the two sections by evading the
true issues in platforms of gener-
alities and platitudes.
The white voters residing in the
hill counties of Mississippi, how
ever, mean to impress their own
ideas on the State government and
will vote for the men who fearlessly
represent them.
The question of adjusting the
State school fund properly between
the schools of the two races is the
prominent issue that will influence
more votes in the election next
year than any other. The injudic-
ious and extravagant expenditure
of State funds for negro education
in Mississippi is exciting dissatis-
faction. and voters are casting
about for legitimate plan by
which they can modify the burden
without impairing the excellency
of the free schools Of the State
THE WEEKLY believes that the
present system of distributing the
school fund from the State treas.
ury to the various counties on a
basis of educable population il
extravagant and discriminating in
favor of the delta counties. L,
knows that the schools in those
counties are largely colored and
believes if they were maintained
at no more cost than schools of the
same character are in the hill
counties that $4,000 would sup
port the public schools Of Missis.
sippi as well and as long as the
81 $4,000 now does and save one
half million Of dollars to the tax
payers annually, or else extend
the school term to eight months
without special county taxation.
This paper is of the opinion that
the school fund should be distrib.
uted to the counties of the State
according to the differing educa-
tional requirements of each, which
can be determined by the value Of
the teaching service employed in