The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-15


 trustees have parted with a few small parcels and when the deeds have been made will probably have in the state treasury from lands already sold about s20OO0. The lands sold are separated into small parcels and brought from S1O to $2O an acre, none less than S10. The board has been disposed to sell other small par cels I recommend that you make the school an appropriation of S25.O00 to pay this debt and authorize me to draw of the school land fuTds an aouisional amount to settle all cld:sis against 1t, and, in addition, I recommend an in- creased annual appropriation. It will not again get in debt. It is doing a great work and you will perhaps think 1t wise to properly care for it. The school lands can be sold any day for an amount great CT than $175.0O0.
 The Deaf, Dumb and Blind Schools.
 These schools are doing a great work They have a first call on us. You will find, however, in looking over the audi tors report, that they are growing more and more expensive. The addition to their cost grows largely out of an increased attendance.
 The University.
 The University Is independent of any legislation you can enact for it. Under the new constitution 1t draws out of the state $36,O09 a year and has a large addi- tional income from the lease of its coal lands Only recently the board leased 150O acres of Its lands at minimum roy alty of S4,000 year and it is calculated that these acres will furnish, in the course of twenty years, si000OO to the fund Other leases have recently been made and it is in receipt of a sufficient income to make 1t a great school. If 1t should fail to become an honor to the state, the failure will grow out of the unwisdom of it's board of trustees, ap- bearing in the selection of an efficient head and faculty. At present the attend ance is small. but growing, and the pa trons as far as can be learned, are great ly pleased. Let us hope that it has be- gun a career of usefulness and glory which will rank with the first institu- tions in the whole country.
 The Polytechnic.
 This school has the largest enrolment of its existence, there being there now over 400 students. Its great growth is a tribute to the learned and enthusiastic faculty. Part of the large income which Is necessary to care for 1t arises from the wise provision Of law which gives 1t one sixth of gross receipts arising from the sale of fertilizer tags. A reduction of the tag tax will lay hand on the Polytech- nic and the losses thus sustained you will be called upon to care for in another way
 Lynching.
 The excuse urged for lynchlng for crimes which are common in the south Is no excuse at all The man who crim- inally assaults woman in this state. if allowed to be tried, will certainly get his just deserts at the hands of the law. No negro, I daresay, has come out of the courts when his guilt appeared certain without the death penalty. Other classes of citizens for other crimes escape the Just penalty for the violation of the law. but the negro, and for the gravest of all crimes, never escapes. In palllation of the offense the mob spirit expresses its objection to the presence in the court room of innocent women made there to tell their trouble before a crowd of morbidly curious or even sympathetic and interested persons But the new con- stitution robs them of even this excuse. Under 1t, the judge may clear the court room "of all persons except such as may be necessary in the conduct of the trial"
 There have been quite a number of lynchings since you met here. In the last StdT dlu u lldll UT ny OnlCidl lIl- cumbency of this office l recall five such crimes. One of these lynchlngs was for the crime of criminal assault. So easy was 1t for the mob spirit to get away from the originally cause for provoking that spirit that three of the latest of these crimes were for other offenses and two for no offense at all. In one county, near the capital city, lot of sef-consti- tuted guardians of the peace and honor of their homes in an attempt to mob a negro who had committed an offense. which, under the law, could not have called for a sentence of more than two years, took his brother, innocent of any offense at all, and hanged him. I am glad to be able to say to you that there was a just judge and a sufficient number of law abiding citizens to give these men, or some of them, term in the penitentiary. believe these are the first like offenders to serve the state since the great war. No man had heretofore gone to the pen itentiary for lynching a negro. It Is our shame Now that the law has begun to act let law-abiding citizens and just Judges see to 1t that other murderers go not unwhipped of Justice hereafter.
 Following this case, a mob In Pike county took a negro away from consta- ble-I know not with what difficulty ana lyncneu nm. HIS O1tnSe was DfOD- ably swearing contrary to one of his white neighbors in a justice trial on a proof of character. This was cold blooded murder. and without excuse at all. A human life for the whim of the poor old mans neighbor. The mob spirit will say The did not know he was not guilty of a serious offense. We believed this benson, and hence took his life" Several persons accused of this crime were arrested by a viglant officer and some court allowed them to go forth on bond They may come before a court again. Their victim-innocent-is dead The murderers go about. None of them will be hanged as they should be-
 Another case grew out of an assault to murder and still another in a hunt for a rapist the ,murderous mob found the wrong man. The man the outlaws killed in this last case had never seen the rap ist's victim or heard of her.
 Human life is about as cheap in Ala bama as 1t is anywhere. One or two southern states vie with us and may over reach us in tae low price We put upon 1t, but we are shamefully near the bad emil hence. And sheriffs can prevent this law iessness in most cases. A determined sheriff can have friends in every beat who will give him notice of the possibil- ity Of the assembling or a crowd, and he can, if he is known to be brave and de- termined, rescue the innocent or the gull ty from the clutches of an angry crew, thirstlng and crying for blood. This off, flee has had, several times, to order out the military to protect prisoners, always placing it under the orders of the sheriff of the county. It becomes necessary to do this some times, but 1t Is a reflection on the citizenship of any community There ought to be a sufficient number of