The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-07-28
Our Poor State Government
(Fro m Commercial RppeoD

What a miserable mess our people
are making of state government.
That the machinery of the state
does not entirely collapse is because
of that well-defined coherency which
men have discovered exists in graft
and in incompetency.
In the State of Mississippi an inves.
tigation is going on which has already
shown that the penitentiary system
was fearfully mismanaged, and which
has also shown fraud and theft on the
part Of a number of the minor at
taches.
Against the head of the penitentiary
commission there is an indictment
with a conviction. The finding of the
/ jury in the one case against Smith re-
suited from a trifng incident. But
behind the jury's verdict there seemed
to be further desire to hold him re-
sponsible, to punish Smith for what
and for other things he may or may
not have done.
The other two commissioners have
been indicted, and one of them is on
trial. He is an honest man. The thing
he has probably been guilty of is trust
ing too much to the integrity of others.
Those who have to do with convicts
are lucky if they escape wrong-doing
themselves. If they themselves do
not commit sin against society, they
often become victims of what men call
bad luck.
The very brutality of the occupation
and the daily contact with the sordid
and the vicious seem to dull mans
sense of right and wrong.
The great shame of Mississippi. how
ever, is in the graft that is being I'M
earthed at the insane asylum. Rob
bling an insane person, making them :
the victims of the greed of their
guards or keepers is a form of crime
that has in it not only the infamy but
the meanness of cowardice.
The highwayman who sticks a gun
In the face of another man takes a |
chance. The burglar runs the risk Of i
being shot. The train robber knows |
il he keeps In his business that some |
day some man will call his hand.
But the CRATER on the insane Is a
sneak. He takes small chances, be-
cause the testimony of an insane per-
son is incompetent.
Why is there grating in the peni-
-entiary system of Mississippi? Why
have under officials In the state gov !,
eminent gone short And why are '
men robbing the insane?
Surely the standard of integrity
among private citizens is as high in
as in any other state.
1t is because the government of Mis-
'issippi is, and has been, purely per-
PSASANoA' IL nOl even a |
government Of party, but a govern
nent of factions.
Men do not hold office because they
nay be efficient, but because they
rained with that crowd which can
'est appeal to the popular ear. II
Men in Mississippi for years have !,
'een running for office because they
we're McLaurin men or Money men or 6
he reverse. Later the banner bearers
we're vardaman and Williams or Var
aman and Percy. e
The struggle was individual. The
Methods of campaign were not instruc- J
i've, but destructive. III
The platform orator interested his /
audience not in what he proposed to d
10. but what the other fellow had Z
allied to do and what he Intended to {
10 to him.
Measures of merit II taken up by IL
ne faction we're opposed by another. {
lfter the yictors got office their ap-
s II q ~ "a -