Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1820-01-21

Mr.. Slocumb questioned the 49,
ty oil the allowance. He lhol nrht,ie-
expense greater than was necs sm .,.'
and the nation. said Mr.. S. wilI nns.",.!y'
'lc'e we are in earnest when we sn. w.
OF relrencIlment. while VIC 90 on 70 p ga.
the public money in this way. n. 'S!e
not think the information sufic;s s VIZ
valuable to Justify the expence. 'nuy
Mr.. Smith, of Md. movcd to ANA,
the amendment allowing 60 her ra'.
so as to provide that it should not ts IN
coed that amount. and, "to be ann ~
toned III proportion to the services r ros
dered, under the direction of the Son w.
tary OF State" '''lc@
This amendment being agreed 70
NJ. M'Coy moved to amend tbo :
mendn'cnt by striking cut t1centy' ~ .n ID
inserting ten, per cent. S"U
M. Smith of Md. thought this anon.
entirely inadequate to tie service ,'r,''
CURED. The whole amount Of comrsn ~
satIon tor this ser, ice at the last crncns
was $4,000 dollars. and if this mo,i'
prevailed, it would reduce the amount
TO be divided amongst the marsLsls Nv
10000 dollars. This would he finn ~ "
tle--in fact, rot enough to pay the az.
slstanls Which mast necessarily be en-.
ployed.
Mr.. Smith of n. C. concurred in tbo
opinion that this would not be an ado.
quate compensation, and hoped the a.
mendment would not prevail.
Mr.. Mccoy deemed ten per cent an
ample compensation for the service rc
CURED, though the service itself would
be OF little value to the public. AT the
last census, the marshals were required
to enter every family and take an &C
count of its manufactures, but wha! be.
nefit was it to the nation? For mere.
ly rendering an account of the manu-.
featuring establishments. ten per cent
on the amount of the pay allowed for
taking the census, &c. would be c.
nough.
Mr.. Mercer was in favor of giving
a still create extent to the subjects re.
quired to be enumerated and returned
by the marshals, so as to embrace all
the objects to which the Legislation Of
the country could extend. 1t was pro.
per that the Legislature should be in
possession Of statistical information on
all tire objects which Legislation could
cover. so as to yield their full benefit to
the public councils. So far from cOnsi.
dering the bill to embrace too much, Mr.
Nj. was sorry that the scope of enquiry
proposed Was so narrow. lie would
embrace all the professions, and he
would require returns of the agricultural
condition Of the country--how much
land was in cultivation, how much ara
bic, how much pasture, how much in
corn, in rice, &c. No nation had such
means of acquiring all this information
as was afforded to ours, by the perlodl-
cal census required to be taken. Nor
was the labor difficult. During the
last war, the taxes extended to subjects
almost without example in any nation
from the family picture which hung
on the wall to remind us of our ances.
tors, to the chair on which we sat-the
furniture tax in Virginia produced a
revenue of 10000, but the expense Of
obtaining the information necessary 'oI
enable them to levy these and other
taxes amounted to a tr;he, compared
with the sum produced, &c. In almost
all Legislation for country, the oeS'
guides were tables of statistics, giving
the various details to which he had III
part referred. To ensure proper re-
turns, such as would not mIslead III
stead of enlightehing, it was necessary
to allow a fair and just compensation
He wished to ensure the faithful per-
formance of this important duty, anu a.
void such abuses, such gross lnaccurs'
cies as he had observed formerly Ill
some of the returns from Virginia III
stances of which MIR. NJ. stated. Ecoho'
my was urged against liberal compen'|
sation, but Mr.. Nj. remarked that mO'|
ney we'll spent was always spent &c,
cording to the soundest principles oI
prudence and economy--cconomy uv|
not consist in the meresaylng OF none!
this was often the very reverse Oh ,
just economy, &c.
Mr.. Livcrmore, of n. II. was IN 10