Oxford eagle., 1919-02-13

The Clarion Ledger Of Sunday con
tanned the following wGite-up o. the
organization. stsuction and work of
the Mississippi Industrial and Train
ing School located at Columbia.
The Mississippi Industrial ami
Training School was created hy an acf
Of the Legislature in 1916. Al initial
appropriation of S25. 10000 wa made
to begin with.
The act provided that the Governor
should appoint board Of trustees con
sisting of five members The Governor
appointed the following gentlemen:
DR.. J. Il. Lawrence. Jackson: Senator
FL. c. Franklin, Clarksdale; L. ] Lott.
Grenada; A. b. Schauber. Laurel and
Professor W. Jacobs. Poplalville. The
board of trustees was called together
for organization by the Governor on
Nveiaber 10. 1916. IL was organized
By the election of l.. c. Franklin a.
president and A. b. Schauber as sec
retary.
Several towns entered into the con-
test for the location of the school,
all Offering the required three thous-
and acres of land and various sums of
money.
On May 10, 1917, the board of trus-
tees met in the Governors office for
the purpose OF receiving propositions
from these various towns and of max
lng final selection. After receiving
the committees from Hattiesburg. Tay
lorsville, Laurel and Columbia, it was
found that Columbia had to offer the
three thousand acres of land and $50
300 in money. This being the best
proposition, Columbia was selected.
Bids were then advertised for, con
tract was let to Dobbs d Wetmore of
Meridian. for the construction Of -four
brick buildings and the ground broken
and actual work begun on the build
ings in September
Architect and Consulting Engineer.
\. A. kramer, had the ground plans
And every building for the whole, COM
pleted plant ready before building
| vas touched. Ii l. quite an attractive
| scheme and has had the endorsement
| Of ev-cy visitor to the grounds so far
The hrst four structures. the admin
| .stration building, a dormitoTy Tor
boys and one for girls and the super
| intendents home were completed and
lie taking in Of children begun on the
list of August, 1918. The boys doimi-
| tory was soon filled and we now have
p girls-62 children in all. There are
y commitment records OF boys in the
| superintendent office now, for whom
thene is no room.
The Legislature of 1918 apprropria-
ted money for the erection Of fou.
more buildings-two dormitories. one
chool building and light plant The
building fo- the light plant is finished
Ind the two dormitories have the roofs
II is indeed heart rending to have
! appeals coming every day from good
! people throughout the State. begging
tat boys be taken from jails and from
environment that arc Fastening them
. ruin and then have 70 say that we
ave no ROOM" said Superintendent.
Jacobs. I'VE have had appeals from
Judges. lawyers and other interested
people that we can not heed because
sc have no more room until the other
dcrmitories are finished. We are doing
our best We have had the most dis
agreeable winter that this part Of the
country has witnessed in many years
and this NTH the terrible labor condi-
tons, has made progress slow.
1t might be Interesting 10 the people
Of Mississippi TO know that MRS. Mar
tha =. Falconer, with the Federal Gov
eminent. has donated two girls doImi-
tories TO the school. These dormitori-
cs vii cost something like 100000 a
very splendid recognition from the
Government and especially so from
Mrs. Falconer.
I'VE are doing our very best" said
Mr.. Jacobs, ''to make room for the
children and that il is 4 matter of very
great regret to the school authorities
that we cannot take more at the pres
ent time. When we have finished the
new dormitories. we are hoping to be
able to take care of something like
eighty more boys for the balance of