Another perplexing problem that faced the Southern legislatures was how to meet the needs of the paupers, white and Negro. Much of the property of the white people had been swept away entirely or had greatly deteriorated in value as a result of the War. Few of the Negroes, to be sure, had property to lose, but what was worse, they had lost their right to look to the white people for sustenance. Many of them were unable to support themselves, and the white people could not help them. The legislatures, therefore, adopted the plan of levying a tax upon each race for the support of its own indigents. South Carolina and Mississippi again took the lead. In South Carolina,[115] when a person of color was unable to earn his support and was likely to become a public charge, the father and grandfathers, mother and grandmothers, child and grandchildren, brother and sister of such a person should each according to ability contribute for the support of his or her relative. In each judicial district there was a “Board of Relief of Indigent Persons of Color,” consisting of from four to eight magistrates, each magistrate looking after the indigent Negroes in his precinct. There was a fund, composed of fees paid for the approval of contracts for service, instruments of apprenticeship, licenses, fines, penalties, forfeitures, and wages of convicts, for the relief of indigent Negroes. If this fund was insufficient, the board might impose a tax of one dollar upon all male persons of color between eighteen and fifty, and fifty cents upon each female between eighteen and forty-five. This tax had to be paid on the day fixed or the person rendered himself liable to pay a double tax. It was the duty of every occupant of premises to make a report to the magistrate of any indigent colored person thereon, and the magistrate had to make inquiry into the condition and wants of such Negroes so reported. Moreover, the magistrate had to make a semiannual report of the condition of such Negroes to the chairman of the Board of Relief. The machinery for taking care of Negro paupers was worked out in more detail than it would be profitable to go into here. South Carolina made also these very humane provisions: Where, upon any farm or lands, there were, on December 21, 1865, persons of color who were formerly the slaves of the owner, lessee, or occupant of the farm or lands present there on November 10, 1865, and had been there six months previous, helpless, either from old age, infancy, disease, or other cause, and unable to maintain themselves and had no parent or other relative able to maintain them or to provide other houses or quarters, it was not lawful for the present or any subsequent owner, lessee, or occupant before January 1, 1867, to evict such helpless person of color, under penalty of a fine of fifty dollars, or imprisonment of one month.