Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-02-20
Letter from
Big Bud.

~OS'~ ~ Aso@oDSs
We have had a rather livel
time the last few days. We ha
up the /. I. & G. bill and a ride
was put on providing that sll girl
above the quota allowed from eac
county should pay tuition. Gu
delegation did all we could to dc
feat this as we thought 1T unfair
as no girl has been deprived of he
place from any county becaus
some counties had more than thei
quota. Noxubee has twenty -thre
girls there, but each county has al
allowed them by law and as we hav
the dormitory room and plenty O
teachers, I think any county ough
to be allowed to send enough t,
fill up the dormitory, even if tn
number exceeds their quota. Thi
amendment was adopted but W,
put in motion to reconsider ani
we hope to defeat it when callei
up. If not, the same rider will
be put on both the University and
the A. & M. bill. Noxubee being
a nearby county has always had
more than her quota at both the
l. |. &C. and the A. & M.
Lowndes county gave a lot OF
mon"y and land to secure the 1. I.
& @. and it would be very illiberal
to make the people Of Columbus
pay tuition on all day scholars.
A good bill passed the House
providing that when man has
had homestead and his children
become of age and leave him and
his wife should die, that he could
claim his homestead even if he did
not live on it, provided he was
over sixty years of age.
We had a rough house when we
took up for consideration House
Bill raising the age of consent from
~ to 1S. As the galleries were
crowded with the best ladies in
jackson, I reckon I can write
about the proceedings. I regard
this bill as altogether unnecessary
and entirely too drastic. The
speakers in favor of the bill en-
larged very much on the evils of
seduction and how necessary it
was to pass this bill to protect our
girls. We already have on our
statute books law putting 10 the
pen for ten years any male who Sc
duces a female under eighteen
years Of age, but I am proud to
say that this protection is rarely
ever invoked In cases of this kind,
but the old shotgun stands and
hope will always stand as the
great preventive of this kind of a
crime. So I contended that this
law was unnecessary for the pro-
lection of our white girls and we
all know that if the law is en-.
forced against the colored race,
that as one of the speakers said,
"The penitentiary would not hold
them" This is the only race that
has the "single standard Of NOR.
ality," but it is on the other side.
We all know that if a young negro
woman, under eighteen years of
age, ever gives birth to child, it
does not affect her standing with
the majority of the negroes and we
white people give her employment
just as quickly as we would if she
had not happened to this accident,
and in my opinion we do this race
a great injustice in enacting a law |
of this kind that will apply to
them and making the penalty for
a violation of this Act a fine of
$4,000 or Imprisonment in the
penitentiary for a period of five
years. There is a saving clause,
am glad to say, in that it applies
only to females of pr;-vious chaste
character and the testimony of
the female alone shall not be suffi-
cient to convict and the penalty is
to be fixed by the jury and not by
the judge. An amendment was
introduced and only lacked four
votes of prevailing, providing that
'imm0dest dress shall be pimd
trcie evidence sufficient to rebut
the presumption ofprevious chaste
character" This was a strike at
slit skirts, decolette dresses, etc.
/ was opposed to the bill, Brame
in favor Of it and Henry Minor
said he did not want to vote for or
agains the bill, SO on final passage
che flew the COOP
When I was at home, my good
friend, Mike O'Byrne told me that
he and a good many of the boys