The Yazoo City weekly Whig. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 18??-1855, 1853-02-25
TIE w HIG.
The Financial Condition Of the
state.

state.
u u From the Natchcz Courier, we take I'll
ID following forcible article.upon the pecuniar
/ affairs of our State, and ask for il a Garrett
reading. We opine thatitwill be perceive
that affairs have not been managed in th
most beneficial manner:
''The State of Mississippi is, we regret
: learn. at present in very awkward position
Its treasury is empty portion ofits peopl
appears willing to give up all idea of pre-
, serving its credit; and part Of its pres
seems anxious to avoid the question of hoy
thatcredit can be restored, lest any agitation
1ofthe public mind may interrupt the quie
lserenety that now promises to mare spoils
men SO long a grasp Of public honors and Q
lofiices. The sinking fund, improperly ap
propriated by the State last year to pay
Its ordinary expenses, has at length been
Exhausted; and the State Treasurer has al
last to guard only "a bcggarly array Of
empty boxes" This sinking fund was
composed of a portion of the monies paid
in by bondholders as premium, at the
time the latter bought the bonds to which
the State had pledged her faith. So fair
then stood the credit of Mississippi, that
about $500, 900 were paid in cash into her
treasury, over and above the Bonds. It
was directed to be reserved as the COM
mencement of sinking fund for their re-
demption.
Three or four years since Mississippi had a
large surplus in her treasury: considerably
over half million, il we recollect Alright.
The Legislature, though always acknowl-
edgeing the liability of the State constitu
tional, legal and moral-to paythe Planters
Bank Bonds, declined to pay the interests
thereon: and as if to afford Encouragement
to the spirit ofrepudiation, and totake away
the continually recurring incentive to hon
esty, that treasury always presented, the
Legislature ordered $500, 600 Of the surp-
lus to be distributed back to the counties
of the State, and the taxes of the people to
be diminsed ne-half If the Legislature
had desired to force the State into repu
diation of her bonds, to drain her treasury
and impoverish her Golfers, so that she could
not pay her debts without onerous taxation,
that body would have adopted no other
means than it did.
Even in this distribution of the surplus, /
there was method in the legislative mad
ness that almost provokes smile. The
counties had been taxed according to the
zeal and personal property contained there
n; the taxes were re- distributed back ac- i
,ording to the population! From Adams
county, the State had gathered some $15,-
100 a year; to her, it gave back 1876, 900; /
From Tishemingo and TiPpah, it had gath
,red about So, 500; and it gave back $3l,- Ii
JOG! These are strange facts, but they are
acts, nevertheless. The State.drew money /
rom one set of counties, and gave it away Il
o another set; as if to give the last nHmed
et an excuse for voting not to pay the Il
State obligations; on the ground of unNill- K
ngness to be taxed. an excuse they readily K
walled themselves 81, at the very period &
When they were receiving back in one year
more taxes than they had paid IN during
hree years, and when the counties, which
we're thus bearing heaviest burthens oftax- /
tion, for the benefit of their more populous Ii
ister counties, were still by large majorities
d favor of further taxation to redeem the e
redit Of the STATED We doubt whether any Is
sher State can exhibit such singular ID
hrase Of public sentiment. or point to such h
d unjust and culpable course of Legislation. II
The surplus was distributed back in IS
bis unrighteous ratio: the taxes were re- 4
uced III this innprorident manner, and then ID
he legislature directed asvote of the people 4
J Be taken. as to whether they were viii q
q 10 submit u taxation to pay bonds. p
Illich tie legislature itself, while it did not II
are to repudiate, had not the frmness to .
ropose liquidatingl Where can be found ]
be PARALLEL to such conduct? Nor was I
is in. At the very period when this en- q
engagement vas given to the people 70 .
emulate the State Bonds By the factof an y
npty treasury, Of diminished revenue, 9
Id the bug bar Of heavy taxation II the /
ature, the Legislature seized upon the very le
,oney paid ID By the bond-holders, as !
remium upon the bonds over and above Ig