The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-01-04

| that five hundred thousand dollars OF
series H. of the state bonds issued
March sth, 1896, bearing 6 per cent
interest, will mature January lst,
1907. 1 submit to you the wisdom OF
meeting this obligation by the sale OF
long time, low interest bearing bonds.
The condition Of the states finances
calls for prudence, wise economy
deep concern for the honor of the
state, and invokes the higher order of
craftsmanship, to handle the situation
properly.
The Penitentiary.
! In my inaugural address delivered
before the joint session of the legis-
lature of Mississippi on January l9,
1904, discussing the penitentiary man
agement, | recommended the aboli-
ition Of the board of control and sub
stituting therefore department OF
the state government to be under the
direction and control Of one capable
man, selected as the legislature may
provide, whose it shall be to direct
and supervise the working of the con-
victs as the law may prescribe. I" The
reasons urged then for the proposed
change in the penitentiary manage
ment, are equally cogent new, and
applicable to present conditions.
If all the convicts had been con-
centrated and worked upon the state
land in 1903 and capable officer had
been placed in charge of the penlten-
tiary every acre of the states land,
susceptible to cultivation, would now
be cleared and capable Of yielding SIX
or eight thousand bales of cotton, and
ample corn and food products to main !
tain the convicts and live stock.
In all essential respects, tie prime
purpose of the penitentiary has been
overlooked by the board of control
Instead of being conducted for the
benefit of the criminals-a kind OF
moral hospital, where the moral Grip
pies could be treated-the question
of money making for the state and the
favored few, has been the end sought
to be attained. The state of Missls-
sirpi cannot afford to profit by crime
Public Education.
Public education is matter OF pro-
found and abiding interest to the peo-
pie of Mississippi and the malnte-
nance Of system of free public
schools, has become fundamental
tenet in our political creed. But people
have fads about education, as they do
about everything, and are liable to
go TO Improbable extremes. The en-
| thusiast weaves a most allurlng ia
brio of glittering theories-in his
hands he holds the panacea for all
the social ills-and to carry out his
world-saving plan he would spend all
the money in Christendom and mort
gage the future. Where the supply
of money is limited, it is well for those
charged with the disbursement Of the
state S revenues to be careful that
the money appropriated for school
purposes shall be invested so as to
bring the largest educational returns.
I believe a dollar invested In the. de-
velopment of the mind of the white
child and the cultivation of the white
man and woman, is the best invest
ment the state ever made. On the
other hand, believe every dollar in
vested for negro education under our
sresent free school system, is an in
defensible and unwarranted prodlgal-
ity of cash. 1t is crime against the
white man who furnishes the dollar
and disadvantage to the negro upon
whom it is spent Discussing the
question of education in my inaugu-
raj address delivered to the joint ses-
sion of the senate and house January
10th, 1904, I said:
"One of the most rational and pro-
ftable duties Of free government it
seems to me, is to educate its children.
Education means only the develop I
ment of the good there is in man, the |
vitalizing of those dormant forces
which build and complete that poten'
tial moral entity called character. II
is a wise economy in this, that if a
man or citizen be made better by
education, the government will share
his improvement, and the enlightened
moral sentiment will write the laws
of the land. But when I speak Of the
government educating its children,
wish it understood that do not mean
| it is to be the duty or the hope Of the
state to give every boy and girl a |
technical education or course at col
lege. That is practically impossible.
We have colleges and universities
shich the state mHst maintain and
maintain properly, but the first, the
paramount duty of the state is to
provide means for 81. ing instructions
| at least in the rudimentary branches
1 to those children whose peculiar envi-
ronment and impecunious condition
render it impossible for them to get
it any other way. If the state will
place at the door Of all of her children
an opportunity to obtain even COM |
Imon school edacation, such as is given
in the best graded public schools, she
will Save done well. I want to impress
r. n