Mississippi

Mississippi was the first State in the Union to establish, in 1884, a State-supported college for women. The lack of normal training for white teachers (from 1870 to 1904 there was a normal school for negroes at Holly Springs) continued until 1890, when a teachers' training course was introduced into the curriculum of the State University. There are separate schools for whites and blacks, with equipment and service approximately equal, although the whites pay about nine-tenths of the school taxes. The schools are subject to the supervision of a State superintendent of public education and of a board of education, composed of the superin tendent, the secretary of State and the attorney general; and within each county, to a county superintendent and a county board of education. The schools are supported by a poll-tax, a dog-tax, by general appropriations, by local levies and by the Chickasaw school fund. An act of Congress of March 3, 1803, reserved from sale Section 16 of the public lands in each township for educa tional purposes.

A unique and distinctive educational and cultural State depart ment was established in 1902 for the preservation and publication of the history of the State. The State department of archives and history is founded on the idea that the State owes a duty to its history. The department has issued a veritable library of Missis sippi history, has created a beautiful State Hall of Fame, and has the best State Museum in the country.

An important development in education was the establishment in 1908 of county agricultural high schools. Every county may establish one for white children and one for negroes, or two counties may combine and create one set of schools for the two counties. These schools receive State aid based on the number of boarding pupils. The public school system was modernized and made uniform throughout the State by the school code of The school population between five and 17 years of age, in clusive, in 1934, was 617,900. Of this number 608,036, or 98.4%, were in the public schools, including 64,716 in the high schools.

The State institutions for higher education are : the University of Mississippi (chartered 1844; opened 1848), at University, near Oxford; the Agricultural and Mechanical college (opened 1880), at A. and M. College, near Starkville; the State College for Women (opened in 1885 as the Industrial Institute and College for Girls), at Columbus; the Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes (1871; reorganized in 1878), at Alcorn; the State Teachers college, at Hattiesburg; the Delta State Teach ers college at Cleveland ; and many colleges not supported by the State. An agricultural experiment station, established in 1887 under the Hatch act, is at the Agricultural College near Stark ville; and there are branch experiment stations at McNeill, Holly Springs and Stoneville.

Charities and Reformatories.

The charitable institutions of the State are supervised by separate boards of trustees appointed by the governor. Institutions maintained by the State are : the Mississippi Insane hospital, at Jackson; East Mississippi Insane hospital, at Meridian ; the school and colony for feeble-minded, at Ellisville; Mississippi State Charity Hospital, at Jackson; South Mississippi Charity Hospital, at Laurel; Matty Hersee Hospital, at Meridian; the Tuberculosis Sanatorium, at Magee; the Jeffer son Davis Beauvoir Memorial Home (for old soldiers), at Biloxi; and a school for the deaf and a school for the blind, at Jackson State aid is given to the hospitals at Vicksburg and Natchez and also to 21 hospitals distributed over the State. The Mississippi In dustrial and Training School for Delinquent and Abandoned Chil dren was established at Columbia in 1916. The farm penitentiaries of the State are controlled by a board of three trustees elected by the people ; they are managed by a superintendent appointed for a term of four years by the governor. The convict lease system was abolished by the Constitution of 1890, and State farms were pur chased in Rankin, Hinds and Holmes counties, and later in Sunflower county.

Industry, Trade and Transport.

Agriculture is the leading industry of the State, and cotton is the chief product. The total value for all farm crops produced in 1935 was estimated at $117, 000,000, and of this amount the cotton was valued at $90,120,000. Cotton is grown in every county of the State, but the large yields are in the delta (Bolivar, Coahoma, Washington, Yazoo and Le flore counties), and in Monroe, Lowndes and Noxubee counties on the Alabama border. The acreage of cotton in 1935 was 2,644,000; the yield was 1,259,00o bales, exclusive of linters (short lengths). The acreage of Indian corn in 1935 was 2,964,00o and the crop was 38,532,000 bushels. The only other cereal of economic sig nificance was oats, which had a yield of 86o,000 bushels. Dairy ing and early vegetable growing are gradually becoming important industries.

In 1935, the number of farms was 311,683, of which over half were operated by negroes and the rest by whites. There was a decrease in the number of farms, and an increase in farm acreage as compared with 193o. There was a slight decrease in the rela tive amount of tenantry during the period of 1930-35. Of the total number of farms in were operated by owners and part owners, 217,564 by tenants, and 895 by managers. The live stock on the farms on Jan. 1, 1936, comprised 78,00o horses, mules, 1,261,000 cattle and 927,00o swine.