Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-04-20

|
ly, as a rule, tnan they do the negroes
The prison population of Mississippi
is not eXcessiye-l,11G convicts for a
population of one million and halt
OF people. The negro convicts mum
Der 1872. the whites 1913, while there
is one Indian undergoing "a life sen,
tence. OF the women prisoners two
are white and twenty-siX are colored
| The conyicts are mostly young men
$40 being under twenty-five years OF
age and S96 under forty.
Mississippi convicts are humanely
treated. and. instead of being kept
within prison walls. they are worked
in the open air upon plantations.
where they are well fed and clothed.
| and have comfortable places to sleep.
| They work twelve hours day vita
| an hour AT noon. from to 6 O'Clock.
| The state has four plantations for
| convict labor. One of them, known
as The Sunflower Farm" over in the
| Yazoo Delta. contains 1879 acres
| another on the Alabama and Vicks-
| burg railroad, 1900 acres; the Oak
ley Place, twenty miles south of Jack
son. has 200 acres, and the Belmont
plantation. on The Yazoo and Missis
sippi Valley railroad, 1000 acres.
Bishop Charles b. Galloway of the
Methodist church whom | have heard
called the ablest man in the South.
and who is certainly one of the best
posted men in this section, tells me
tnat the moral and physical condition
of the colored population in Mlssis-
sippi is improving somewhat. but very
little, He thinks that about 35 per
cent of them are looking up. are be
coming more Industrious and are be
having better.
There is more encouragement in
the country" said the bishop, than
in tne towns which attract the idle,
shiftless ,improvident and vicious ele-
ments. The prisons are recruited
from the towns, where even the best
intentioDed negro boy will soon learn
bad habits If he allows himself to re-
main idle. and that unfortunately is
the tendency of the race. This Is all
the more serious on account of racial
antipathy.
In the villages and rural districts
see some improvement. The one
roomed cabin is gradually going
away: the schools and churches are
improving. there is less superstition
and a better understanding of re
ligion; we are getting better class
of preachers, both as to the character
of their preaching and the manner Of
their living. This is largely due TO
the influence of the colleges and
schools which are furnishing every
year numbers of qualified teachers
and better educated class of preach
ers. use the term "a large number
in the comparative sense. Unfortn-
nately. however the number is much
smaller than it ought to be.
"The suppression of the negro vote
has not deprived that race of its am
bition or its desire to improve and to
know Every school for colored stu
dents in the South is crowded to over
flowing, and thousands are turned
away every year for lack of accomo-
dations, which is the most lamentable
thing occurring in the southern states
today The white people are regard
ing industrial education with greater
favor. and while the graduates of the
Industrial schools are but a drop in
the bucket and are easily lost from
sight in the great masses OF the col
ored population, we hear good reports
about them constantly. They nave
done exceptionally well as mechan-
ics, tradesmen. catt;nmen. teachebs
and preachers. In this city of Jack
son we have three negro contractors
who do more building tnan all of the
rest of the town combined, and you
will hear them spoken of as men OF
character and responsibility. Two OF
them are graduates OF Alcorn College,
which is well conducted, with about
500 students. and is turning out a lot
of good men every year. There is no
doubt that the industrial school Is
the solution of the race problem. FOR
It teaches its students the dignity
OF labor, the advantages of industry
and honesty. and keeps them out of
| politics and other mischief Tney
train men and women TO make the
best of their talents and to be use
full citizens"
what is the State of Mississippi
doing to improve the condition OF
its negro population" | asked.
1T is doing a good deal" replied
Bishop Galloway: mot by any means
as much as it should do, but more
than It has done, and 1t is accompli- 81
ing good results through the Indus
trial schools TIE people Of the state
do not sympathze with Governor
vardaman in his views about negro
education. Public sentiment is against
him We believe in educating color
cd teachers because they are abso'
| 'utelv necessary for negro schools
White people will not teach colored
schools, and unless we train colored
teachers the schools would have tf
close, which would be calamity We
believe in giving every child com