The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-03-19
RALEIGH, n. c., March Is, 100:

RALEIGH. n. G., March 16, 1908.
The usual reaction and scarcity Ofnews
has followed the rush of business in and
adjournment sine die of the General AS
sembly-so there's little to write about
this week.
This week warrants will be issued on
| the State Treasurer and sent out, looking
| to the carrying out OF the pledge OF
maintaining four months school in all
the counties. The 500, 900 for that pur-
pose is now available.
The Legislature made grave mistake
| in the amount of bonds issued. 1t would
have been. much better if the Senate
amendment to the House bill, increasing
the amount from $500, 900 to $500, 600
had been adopted. This amendment was
offered by Senator Brown and was
| adopted in the Senate by a goodly ma
| jOrity 1t would have been still better if
even larger amount had been author
| lied and the State had come to the
scratch and met the crying needs of the
Asylum for the Insane at Raleigh (espe-
cially) and at Morganton, and taken
from the jails and poor-houses the 500
and more INDECENT insane. The present
conditions, which have already been toll
Grated entirely too long, are disgrace
to the State and every citizen in it. Al
ready the cry has gone out from official
sources in the capitol building that the
$500 900 bond issue will be inadequate
to meet the pressing needs it was design
ed to relieve.
| The refusal of the Legislature to pass
| the bill providing for reformatory for
young criminals of the white race was
another act that is not applauded or en-
dorsed by the people.
| There seems to have been absolutely
nothing doing of late towards raising
funds for the Sir Walter Raleigh monu-
ment, which was started with such a
flourish of trumpets more than year
ago. The fund" amounts to only $500
SO far. The children are to have first
chance at raising this money, and as |
write these lines Mr.. W. j. Peele comes in
and tells me that it has been decided to
have a general school collection of pennies
on next North Carolina Day." and that
calendar is now being prepared by him
to contain all the principal events in Raj
eigh's life, and will be distributed among
the school children at that time. There
observation-disclosures of school age, at least
land they can raise $1,000 by giving
only one cent each. That's the way we
If North Carolina is to be fifty repre-
scented at the ST. Louis Exposition next
year our wealthy men and manufac
turers must come to the aid Of their State
through private subscriptions, SO as tc
augment the $4,000 appropriated by
the Legislature and make the total al
least $4,000. Unless $4,000 or more
be raised in addition this SIC, 1000, small
as it is, will not be available, because The
act appropriating it does so on that con
dition 1t is not too early to start the
ball a-rolling.
There is considerable criticism of the re
suit of the investigation of the ALLEGED
cruelty to penitentiary cOnvicts, and The
report of the legislative committee ap
pointed to make the investigation. Al
who read the testimony are more or less
convinced that there were inhuma1
guards, subordinates, who mistreatet
convicts and practiced cruelty-althougl
taf fs6&a fsl Ii in eahar aaep 9fsiahx did no
can Superintendent Mann be charged
with direct responsibility for it. Blu
there ought to beno more of it. Still, nj
one charged is convicted" no one ever
''reprimanded," and no guard has beel
discharged for that cause as anybody ha
heard of. Hence the prevalent criticism
There are brutes, at least there have been
among these guards no gainsay
ing that-and there have been, probabl,
are yet, attendants at other public insti
tutiOns in North Carolina who are Of d;
too brutal nature to be kept in the EN-
ploy of the State another day There
a remedy for these wrongs every day il
the week, and it ought to be applied. |
it is not, there's going to be more ''criti
cism.' LLEWXAM.