Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1920-06-03
tuition owned by TN state and il /
had not been deferred ~ disinclina-
ton to offend generous Nan should
have prepared and introduce a bill
to repay every cent he advanced.

ton to offend a generous Nan should
have prepared and introd hced a bill
to repay every cent he advanced.
Gambling With Human Lives.
The subcommittee WI lch visited one
of our charity hospitals found plans
and tubs placed on the floor to catch
the water falling through leaks in the
roof.
Two years ago an experienced boil
ermaker estimated that Sic. 900 would
have repaired the heating system,
lwaterworks and power plant at the
Insane Hospital in Jackson. Today
an expert estimates it at approxi-
nlately 100000. But the money is
the least part of it. There are 1,647
inmates. The boilers that are used
for heat in winter are used, also, to
pump water, furnish light, run the
laundry and the bakery. The pipes
conveying the heat are over ground,
and leaking. There are "a large build
lings on the G.oaa ; to be supplied
/ with heat The boilers are dangerous
and liable 10 blow up at any time. If
they do, the obstruction of life will be
enormou., ...iI il is accident should
occur in Tie winter, there is no way to
furnish heat for the patients, and
sickness and death would follow. The
party employed to look over this in
stitution said the permission of such
conditions was criminal. 1t is not the
i fault of the officers in charge, and it
will not be the fault of this Legisla-
ture, for it has provided in the bond
issue of $4,000, 900 an item of $685.
900 to remedy this condition.
| have heard it rumored that ref
erendum petition is being circulated
against the bond issue. The parties
who are doing this, and those who are
signing it, should know that the FL
ing of this petition will postpone this
item until after the election in Novem-
Der, and that they are gambling with
human lives, and that the RESPONSE
bility has passed from the Legislature
to them. Those who have relatives or
friends in this institution should do
their utmost to prevent this act. The
terrible fire at Oakley, in which so
many convicts were burned to death,
ought to be sufficient lesson to every
citizen of Mississippi.
Little New Building Planned.
The boilers of the State Charity
Hospital at Jackson are also in a very
bad condition. The heating system at
the Mississippi State College for Wo-
men is inadequate and detective; and
at the State Normal College it may
go out of commission at any time.
The instances given are the worst,
but others are bad, and different only
in degree. The State Normal College
was built eight years ago, and has not
been painted since. Failure to paint
exposes the woodwork to the weather
and certain decay, with assurance of
a heavy bill for repair.
| have no criticism to make of the
former Legislatures. We were in the
midst of war. Federal taxes were
high, and war drive followed war drive
and the tax commission was then on
trial, and valuations uncertain.
The committee on appropriations
had 20 members, and after many
weeks of hard work and honest effort
to deal fairly with our institutions and
the taxpayers, they brought out the
appropriations, and the House and
Senate and our progressive governor
agreed with them. We gave every
party interested full, fair and cour-
teous hearing. We realized that any
head of an institution that did not
have vision of larger. more use
full institution, was not the man for
the place; but that as we had many
institutions, it was our business to
look after them all. So we told the
mead OF each institution as they ap-
peared before us, that we would
probably have to cut his appropriation
and as we did not want to impair the
efficiency OF his institution, we asked
him to indicate where he could stand
cut with the least injury. In this
way we reduced the Improvement ap-
preparation over one million dollars,
and the support materially. One day
we asked the head of an institution
the usual question. and from his heart
he answered, "My God, mah, have
nothing there, nothingw We report
ed his bill as it was written, and the
House increased it, and the Senate
agreed to the increase.
Tax Levy Compulsory.
Our plan in the committee, was,
lhrst, to consider the amount necessary
to support the institution; second,
necessary repairs; third, to provide
buildings to take care of the present
overflow attendance; fourth. to en-
large the institution. The fourth
item was considered only in the case
OF the tuberculosis Sanitarium and
the Juvenile Reformatory. Where
there were several items, we followed
the plan of giving the whole of one
item, rather than the half of several.
Ii man asked for two buildings. and
we had not sufficient funds, we would
provide for one good one, and not two
makeshifts.
m addition to the foregoing reasons
Tor an increase in appropriations and
tax levy, was the increased cost of
living. In October, 1919, the governor
had to borrow for the institutions
S2oO,O0O, and the Legislature had to
appropriate $4,000 additional; so that
the deficit in appropriations for 1913
II was $2S3,000 As one-half of a
mil would produce $250,O0O, it will
De seen that the increase in the tax
levy was compulsory when the Legis-
lature met. And as further reason,
only $4,000 had been appropriated
for repairs for 1888 for all institu-
tons, rs in number. one alone having
"a large BUILDINGS several having