The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1906-04-28

tor the great state OF MISSISSIPPI,
with her $4,000 acres of land, more
than $4,000 of it IN cultivation, 6ooo
or 1000 to be put in cultivation, with
more than 1000 able-bodied convicts
to go to the field. with plenty of mon
ey to equip and operate her large
landed interest!
I find on examination of the rec
ord, that in 1904, member of the
board of control voted to concentrate
all the State convicts upon State prop
erty; that in December, 1905, this
same member voted to hire seventy
convicts to one of the favored few,
when the State had cleared up during
the year 1905 from 1900 to 1000 acres
of her own land, and the prison force
had only been increased by forty-hve
convicts. I find from the testimony
taken before the penitentiary inves-
tigating committee Of few weeks
ago, that the physician of the Oakley
farm, he being the son-in-law of Sen
ator McLaurin, bought several thou
sand dollars worth of drugs for the
Oakley hospital at retail drug store.
paying from fifty to three hundred
per cent more than these drugs would
have cost if he bought from either
of the wholesale drug stores in jack
son, and that these wholesale drug
stores in Jackson offered to sell him
at wholesale prices any quantity of
drugs, from an ounce to a barrel, or
from one bottle to a gross. | find
That man by the name OF Jackson
worked the so-called' sick convicts
of the Oakley hospital and produced
$1,000 worth of cotton with them, and
that Jackson converted the proceeds
OF this cotton to his own use, and
that the State never received a cent
for the work of these convicts.
| also find from the testimony taken
before the investigating committee,
that great brutality was praeticed on
the part of the board of control or.
the convicts OF the Rankin farm-one
convict having been murdered in cold
blood and his body allowed to lie III
the sun and rain from early morn
until late in the evening. Another
convict was whipped almost to death.
and the brute who had him whipped
is now under Indictment in Rankin
county
Now, gentlemen Of the Senate, with
this showing. if you owned the $4,000
acres of land owned by the State OF
Mississippi, and owned her $4,000
convicts, would you continue the
present management for forty-eight
hours7 If not, you have no right as
sworn representative of the great
State of Mississippi to continue this
mana dement, for the State You
ought to do for the State as you would
do for yourselves
: Now, as. to the business proposi-
ton OF the charge suggested by the
bill, and that we are considering, the
! bill provides for the appointment Of
three trustees, who are to receive
$1,000 per annum and their travelling
expenses, and for superintendent
of the penitentiary. who is to receive
$4,000 per annum, making total cost
of 10000, plus travelling expenses, and
[ think we can safely assume that
the new management would not cost
the State of Mississippi sum ex-
ceeding $4,000 per annurn. The State
now has in round NUMBERS about 49,
900 acres of land in cultivation, thus
making the management of this vast
landed interest of the State cost abou,
one dollar per acre. Col Ed. Rich
ardson, the most successful cotton
planter of his day, and the largest
paid his managers on his plantations
on an average of one dollar an acre
to look after them. The State, undet
the present system, has lost from
thirty-fve to fifty thousand dollars
in cottonseed alone. 1t does seera
to me that we ought not to hesitate
to pass the house bill as it came to us
from the house.