Letter from Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn to the Mississippi Legislature; May 1, 1871

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Letter from Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn to the Mississippi Legislature; May 1, 1871

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Alcorn, J. L. (James Lusk), 1816-1894 Brown, Albert Gallatin, 1813-18 Lynch, Charles Mallory, John N.McNutt, Alexander G. (Alexander Gallatin), 1802-1848 McRae, John J., 1815-1868 Powers, Ridgley Ceylon, 1836-1912 Saunders, Unknown Smith, Adam

Events

Collecting of accounts Crime Crime--Destruction of property Crime--Embezzlement Crime--Squatting United States. Constitution United States. Constitution. 15th Amendment

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Banks Banks--Planters Bank (Natchez, Miss.)Mississippi. Executive Department Mississippi. Legislature Mississippi. Legislature. House of Representatives Mississippi. Legislature. Senate Mississippi. Secretary of State Mississippi. Treasury Department Private schools Schools Seminary United States. Congress Universities and colleges Universities and colleges--Alcorn State University (Jackson, Miss.)Universities and colleges--Oxford University (Oxford, Miss.)Universities and colleges--University of Mississippi

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Agriculturists Attorneys General Auditors College students College teachers Planter Power of Attorney Teachers Treasurers

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Chickasaw County (Miss.)Natchez (Miss.)Oxford (Miss.)Washington (D.C.)

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African Americans Historically free and newly freed African Americans Impoverished people

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Death

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[note] 1871 [/note]

[note] May 1—1871 [/note]

To,
The Senate
and
House of Representatives

Gentlemen,

In my annual message submitted to your honorable bodies last January, I brought under your consideration a ~~brief~~ pro-position ^in brief^ for an expansion of the existing University and the establishment of a similar In-stitution for the education of negroes. I disposed of the subject then in the following remarks (pages 23 and 24 of my January message):

"The University of Oxford received last year a payment from the State to the amount of $38.551. The salaries of a full body of professors are barely covered by this expenditure; and we must be prepared, therefore, to deal here-after with the claim of the Institution upon us for a more considerable annuity. The number of students in the establishment now does not

[note] ion [/note]

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justify even the present expenditure; and the question comes up thus whether we shall allow the University to go down, or take steps to extend its benefits to a greater number of our youths. x x x.

"The Literary Fund of the past had been dedicated to the education of the children of the poor. The old domination alienated it from that sacred purpose, in part by its investments in Bank Stocks and in part by the application of its revenues to the academies of the rich. The school lands which were granted to the State for the education of the masses of the people fell into the hands of the old règimé; and, like all the other public trusts of those days, have been the subject of spoilation. Under these circumstances the gathering up of the remnant of the school lands and the re-application of the revenues originally set apart for the Literary Fund do not make good the bad faith of the past to the masses.

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of the children of Mississippi. As somewhat of a requital for the wrong done the children of the people by the men who controlled the affairs of the State from the time of its organization until the close of the late war, I propose that we fill out the opportunity presented in the University by bringing its advantages within the reach of the poor. With that purpose I recommend earnestly that you establish a system of scholarships in the University of two groups—one group free ~~[?]~~, another at half rate—and that one of each of these scholarships shall be given to the common schools of each County of the State as a prize to be won by the best answerers in a com-petitive examination. One hundred thousand dollars would be well applied in discharging this com-pensation to the masses of the people for the plunder of the funds de-dicated to their education; and while discharging a double duty—to beneficiaries of the common

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school fund and to those of the University fund—will consecrate the memories of the University in the affections of the great body of the people.

x x x x

"Colored boys may be expected to present themselves within four or five years at the level of the curriculum of the High School, if not of the University. We ought not to be unprepared to discharge our obligations to them as we discharge it to white boy^s, by the time at which they shall have made their coming demand for a collegiate education. xxx. Whether the Shaw University or some Institution situated in ~~some~~ ^the^ Southern portion of the State shall be made the vehicle of University training for the negro youth, I am anxious that steps be taken to initiate the realization of that purpose, so as to throw out to the emulation of the colored boys of our public schools the same generous system of free & half free scholarships by which I hope to see the University of Oxford

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placed, superior to all clashes of party or of race, a perpetual glory of the Mississippians of my own blood."

Before your adjournment, I invite your attention earnestly to the points touched on in the above remarks. Reflection on the re-commendations made above, have suggested to my mind revisions and additions under which I take leave to bring the whole subject before you in a fullness of specification that may strengthen your convictions of duty in the case, and simplify the work of its practical discharge.

The Congress of the United States granted, in an act approved February the 20^th,, 1819, thirty—six sections of land for the endowment in this State of a "Seminary of Learning". These lands were, at first, placed under a system of leasing; and continued so for ten or twelve years with a net result to

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the credit of the Seminary of $8,102.00. In 1831 an Act was passed ordering the sale of this valuable property on notes payable by instalments in one, two, and three, years. The sale was made in 1833. With the exception of half a section, the whole was disposed of in exchange for notes with "approved security" to the aggregate amount of $277.322.00.

Governor. Lynch states in his message of 1837, (Senate Journal page 54) "the bonds and notes given for the Seminary lands & which

[page torn]

20^th,, 1819, thirty—six sections of land for the endorsement in this State of a "Seminary of Learning". These lands were, at first, placed under a system of leasing; and continued so for ten or twelve years with a net result to

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[note] are [/note]

amount to ^$277.000.00 ~~and~~ ^are^ now all due; and the original sales, together with the interest that has accrued, now exceeds ^$310.000."—Such was the condition and amount of the fund in 1837.

Governor. M^cNutt shows the con-dition of the assets resulting from the sale of the Seminary land, in his message of January 8^th,, 1859. He says on that subject (Senate Journal page 8.) "The Seminary fund now amounts to ^$314.146.00 exclusive of interest, and half a section of land,"

Auditor Saunders specifies the items of the Seminary fund in 1841. In his letter (printed on page 425 of the House Journal of that year) he states those items thus:—

Remaining uncollected	^$168.578
Invested in Planters Bank stock	^$129.300
Do, in Planters Bank of Natchez	^$7.889
Do Paid into State Treasury	^$16.439
Total	^$322.146

Under the terms of the Act of Congress making the grant, the Seminary lands were "vested in the Legislature of the said State in trust for the support of a

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Seminary of Learning therein". A trust as this donation was, the State is bound to make good any and all losses resulting to that trust by her own maladministration.—Now that I have shown you the amount and condition of the fund at different periods previous to its utter wreck, let me point out, in brief, the justice with which that wreck must be held chargeable to the State's abuse of her office as a trustee.—

Governor M^cNutt says of the Seminary land—fund (Senate Journal of 1839 page 8): "The notes are generally well secured; but many of them are under protest. xxx The late Auditor, John N. Mallory, has embezzled a portion of the fund; and the best interests of the State require the immediate establish-ment of the Seminary. xx. Unless the University is speedily established, or the law providing for the collection of the fund changed, a large portion of it may be lost. Many of the drawers of the notes are dead; and others have re-moved out of the State".—Such was the development of the "State's management of the trust two years after all the

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notes had become due,

A committee of the House of Representatives put the State's abuse of her trust, in the case of the Seminary lands, in evidence thus in 1841: "Your committee", says the report of that body on page 420—1 of the House Journal of 1841, "has not been informed of any great ex-ertion having been made to collect this large amount of debt; and from the best information they have on the subject, a great proportion of it is in a very bad condition on account of the insolvency of the debtors. They are con-strained to believe that, if due diligence had been used in the collection, more than three-fourths of this large outstanding debt could have been collected before this time."

A still broader confession of the abuse of the State's trust in the case is made by Auditor Saunders. That officer gives, on page 121 of House Journal of 1841, evidence of the malad-ministration of that trust thus: "In some instances the purchasers and securities are all dead; the land is occupied by persons who are not bound

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for the payment of the same; and the timber is being destroyed and the land is wearing away. xx. In some instances there are no persons, either as principal, securities, executors, or administrators, on whom to serve a writ for the purpose of obtaining judgment." And the alientation of the Seminary land, allowed to go on under such a state of facts as these, has taken place in the face of a contract of sale making a redemption of the purchase notes a con-dition precedent to the transfer of the title!

Governor Brown referring to the Seminary fund says, in his message of January. 6. 1846: "The State is, in my opinion, under the most solemn obligation to pay it back". Governor M^cRae says in a copious message estimating the amount of the Seminary fund (page 29 House Journal of 1856): "which is at this time, the just endow-ment of the University from what the State has actually received or recognized as equivalent to money, by her executive officers, from the grant made to her in trust by Congress "for the support of a

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[note] these [/note]

Seminary of learning"." And in ad-dition to ~~the~~ ^these^ confessions by her executive officers, of the liability of the State to the University, I, who am constrained by no tenderness for the old regimé which has made all the interests of the people since their organization under even a Territorial Government, subjects of persistent plunder, declare solemnly that, because of fraud shown unmistakably on the record, the State of Mississippi is liable in political morals for every dollar of the balance due ^to^ the Seminary Fund.

An Act of July 26 1843 confesses the liability of the State to the University by making it the duty of the Treasurer to set forth that liability in the form of a public account. It directs him "to credit the University fund with interest at the rate of five per cent, upon all monies theretofore paid into the Treasury from the time when so paid to the passage of this Act; and thereafter to annually credit said fund with interest at the rate of 8 per cent. per annum for all monies due from the State to said fund". Under the terms of

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this clause a calculation was made showing (See message of Governor M^cRae page 290, House Journal of 1856) the gross liability of the State on account of the Seminary fund, to have been, on January 1^st,, 1857, $1.077.790.

The estimate given by Governor M^cRae presents a certain looseness on its face. The debits are, for example; calculated up to 1857; whilst the credits are calculated up to 1856. The five per cent interest is reckoned on the whole principal of the fund; where-as the act confines it to "all monies theretofore paid into the Treasury", upwards of ^$168.000 of the fund having remained so late as 1841 unpaid. In addition to these objections to this estimate of Governor M^cRae, another law had intervened; for the Act of February 25^th,, 1848 directed that, upon the sum "then standing on the ^books of the^ Treasurer of the State, and upon all sums, that may hereafter be paid into the Treasury of the State to the credit of the University," there should be paid a semi—annual interest of six per cent.

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The State has failed in her obligations to the University under the Act of 1843; and under also the Act of 1848. With but ^$89.000 on the Treasurer's books subject today to six per cent interest in favor of the University, the current records themselves present no true measure of the liability of the State to that Institution. Rejecting the estimate of Governor M^cRae; rejecting the broken compacts made in the laws of 1843 and of 1848; rejecting the deficient aggregate of the amount shown on the Treasurer's books, the only true means of estimating the amount due by the State to the University is that of dealing with the principal, as in a similar case between individuals, on the basis of an interest of six per cent per annum—every payment calling for a fresh striking of the balance of the account.

Auditor Saunders states, as cited above, the amount of the Seminary fund in January 1841. He does so with a specification which shows accuracy. The account appears to have been kept

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[note] be taken [/note]

up to that time with care. The figures of Auditor Saunders may, therefore, ^be taken^ as a faithworthy starting-point for estimating the amount due the Seminary fund today. On that basis,, calculating the interest at six per cent, and striking the balance due at every payment made, the amount which the State now owes the University is found by calculation to be about $650.000.

Governor Brown in his message of January 6, 1846 (See page 18, House Journal of 1846) estimates the School lands then in the hands of the town-ships at from ten to twelve hundred sections—about 700.000 acres. This munificent donation was ^like the subsequent donation of 176.000 acres to the Chickasaw district^ made in trust for ~~the~~ children of the State; and ~~were~~ ^was^ accepted by the State subject to all the responsibilities of a trustee.

Under the Act of February. 27. 1833, the short leases of the previous period were abandoned for the virtual alienation of the school lands authorizing the lease of those lands for 99 years. The leases under that act were to be made on notes payable in one, two, three,

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[note] stitute [/note]

and four, years; but were to consti=tute a lien and special mortage on the lands until the final payment. Governor Brown gives the result of this legislation thus: He says he has "not been enabled to ascertain that over 100 of the 1100 sections have been well managed. Some of them" he adds "have been trespassed on and denuded of their timber; in other instances they have been leased and the money has not been collected; in many instances it has been collected and squandered; and in the fewest number of cases have there been free schools kept by the proceeds".

And, in fine, the splendid donation made by Congress for the education of the children of the poor of this State—a donation worth millions of dollars—may be declared, without any further proof from the record of a fact so notorious to all our people, to have been squandered after the fashion of all other trusts ^in the hands^ of Mississippi democracy, by a manage-ment of imbecility and fraud!

The colored people of the State bear no responsibility for the malad—

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ministration of the old regimé. They are now, however, joint heirs of the then governing race in the bequests of the United States. The school—tax of the present day comes mainly from the pockets of the whites; and in that point of view rests on the footing of a just requital.

~~But the negro is~~ ^But the negro is^ moving up rapidly to the position of a tax—payer; and may, therefore, begin to claim now special injury at the hands of the whites in the wicked ex-haustion, by the democracy, of the school resources of the State. I propose to compensate the colored people for that waste of their educational inheritance by the foundation of an institution for their education in the higher walks of learning. While, therefore, discharging the obligation of political morality to the University education of the whites, I recommend ~~earnestly~~ the discharge of the obligations of political morality to the University education of the blacks also.

The negroes are not yet sufficiently advanced for the establishment at this moment, of a negro—University. Our common

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schools will, however, have given out before five years, colored boys in considerable numbers sufficiently advanced to enter the curriculum of the University. So soon, indeed, may this condition of things be looked for, that I propose to prepare for it at once; and, with that view, recommend ~~earnestly~~ the immediate establish-ment of a high school, so directed and cherished that it may keep pace with all the demands of the hour in a healthy progress to the level of the college. I recommend that you ap-propriate fifty thousand dollars for this purpose; that you place its management in the hands of a board of trustees acting under a President; and that the Board thus constituted have full power to purchase a site and buildings in the Southern part of the State; to locate and furnish the same; to employ teachers; and give shape to the future of the Institution—the appropriation to be continued for a period of ten years, provided that no greater sum shall be drawn than is found necessary to establish and

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maintain the institution at the standard necessary to meet ^its proper^ ~~the~~ wants. ~~of the same, all these duties to be discharged with the approval of the Governor.~~

At the rate of interest paid upon our Bonds, the amount due by the State to the University would represent an income of $50.000. I recommend that you declare that sum to be, henceforth, a fixed annuity payable semi—annually to that "Seminary of Learning". In consideration of the chemical apparatus and landed property already owned by the Oxford University, I submit respectfully that you assign to it but two—fifths of the proceeds of the land—scrip donated by Congress for the establishment of an agricultural college or colleges—conditioned, however, that the amount given to that University shall be applied under the direction of the Board of Trustees so as to give young men of this society of agriculturists, the benefit of education in the art and science of agriculture. The three-fifths of the proceeds of the scrip,

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I suggest that you apply to the establishment immediately of a similar professorship in the ~~future~~ University for the education of our youth of color.

When recently in ^the city of^ Washington ~~City~~ I arranged for the issuance of the agricultural College land scrip due to this State. It covers an area of 210.000 acres; and will be ready for delivery to the order of the State within thirty or forty days from the date of this communication. Further legislation on the part of the State is, however, necessary in the meantime to give a more formal acceptance of the grant in the terms of the Act of Congress. I recommend the enactment of a law for that purpose, and for the further purpose of authorizing the Governor to receive and receipt for the scrip and to convert it into money subject to the approval of the Lieut—Governor, the Attorney-General, and the Secretary of State, or a majority of these officers.

The proceeds of the land—scrip

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due the State will amount, I presume, to about $160.000. In the act proposed for its acceptance and delivery I re-commend a provision to the effect that the money received for the scrip shall be invested at the discretion of the Governor, the Lieut—Governor, the Attorney—General, and the Secretary of State, a majority concurring, in the Bonds of the United States or of this State. The interest in the latter case would yield to the Southern University, under the distribution pro-posed, upwards of ^$7.500 a year. This annuity would maintain on a liberal scale the school of agri-culture and mechanic arts in each case; and any shortcomings remaining therefrom in reference to a model farm, a laboratory, and the mechanical appliances necessary to carry out the conditions of the grant in good faith, could be made ^good^ by special expenditures for four or five years from the proposed annuity of ^$50.000—.

An annuity of ^$50.000 in ^to^ each of the two Universities cannot

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be justified on the basis of the working facts of the existing In-stitution. With 150 or 200 students, the severe arithmetic of free labor will very soon protest against even the ordinary grant to the college at Oxford.—Adam. Smith has raised his voice amongst us since the adoption of the fifteenth amend-ment.—To justify the large endowment I propose for the two establishments, and at the same time to commend them more broadly to the affections of the people, I propose to throw them open to the children of the poor by the system of free scholarships which I ~~proposed~~ ^have suggested^ in my annual message as referred to, as a prize for competition amongst the boys of our common schools. One white boy sent from each County annually to one University, and one colored boy sent annually ^from each county^ to the other University, we can maintain the number of students in each at from four to five hundred; and while reducing thus the average

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cost to the State for each boy to one half the average cost now, we will have shielded our two great schools from that inexorable logic of our future political thinking—^that of^ public economy.

One hundred thousand dollars a year will certainly be a large ex-penditure upon our Universities. The number of young men to be thrown out in future into the society of the State at the level of scholar-ships must, however, be held by those who see the wisdom of elevating the negro to the intellectual condition of Liberty, to be double what it has been. And the Universities, to main-tain themselves as such in the judgment of the public, must be held, under the rivalry of that private study which is sure to follow from the universality of elementary knowledge, to demand all the resources necessary to their highest efficiency.

Elevated in the production of scholars to their proper height, those Institutions will exclude the

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many Academics and Institutes ~~that~~ ^they^ would otherwise be brought into competition with ^at^ a waste of private means and of public income. While ~~setting~~ ^filling^ out the Universities to their proper dimensions, I would recommend earnestly ~~that~~, to hold the preliminary training of their future students diffused amongst the masses of the people in the face of the danger threatening ~~our~~ ^an^ exhaustion of the school funds and the general opposition of the tax—payers, ^that^ you take such steps as, while preserving our common schools as a benfaction to all our people, shall place them under the restraints of an economy at once liberal and severe. Individual effort working on the basis of the general education must be looked to for the production of candidates for the University; but the production of those candidates maintained thus on a high and healthy basis, your legislation on the subject of public schools should, I ~~submit~~ ^suggest^ respectfully, never lose sight of the fact that the economy necessary to save the

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school—system from ruin, goes forward properly in view of the fact that, those schools being designed primarily for the education of the great masses of a society of free labor, do not demand appliances of the character of walnut desks or teachers at ~~the~~ salaries approaching those of University professorors.

In dis-charging the duty of justice recommended in this message for a second time to your consideration, I may observe that there is no reason why we should set apart the new University formally for the people of color. Our under-standing of the present expediency which has lead us to accept the fact of the popular feeling ^which has been conciliated^ ~~calculated~~ in our action on separate schools will be sufficient to give peculiarity to the Southern University as it does by common consent to the Northern University. No legal barriers erected unnecessarily in either case, we may ~~have~~ ^allow^ distinctions of race to run their course in their ~~proper~~ character of social sentiments; and

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thus permit an honorable rivalry in intellectual acquirement to grow up amongst the two sets of our population with free play for its operation in moderating all those forces of repulsion which may ^be held to^ originate in prejudice rather than in fact.

J. L. Alcorn
Governor.

Executive Office
May. 1. 1871.

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Gov. Messag

Refered to Committee on State warnts

May 1

Gov Message

Refered to committee on State warrents

May 1^st