creased expenses necessary. During the period of
the war, and for several years thereafter, public
buildings and state institutions were permitted to
fall into decay. The state house and grounds, the
executive mansion, the penitentiary, the insane
asylum, and the buildings for the blind, deaf and
dumb, were in a dilapidated condition and had to
be extended and repaired. A new building for the
blind was purchased and fitted up. The reconstructionists established a public school system and
spent money to maintain and support it, perhaps
too freely, in view of the impoverishment of the
people. When they took hold, warrants were
worth but sixty or seventy cents on the dollar, a
fact which made the price of building materials
used in the work of construction correspondingly
higher.”[1]
In addition to all this there was fraud and stealing. There were white men who cheated and secured large sums. Most of $800,000 appropriated for land in South Carolina was wasted in graft. Bills for wine and furniture in South Carolina were enormous; the printing bill of Mississippi was ridiculously extravagant. Colored men shared in this loot but they at least had some excuse. We may not forget that among slaves
- ↑ J. W. Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi, New York, p. 322. 1901.
