Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1860-01-10

All, AIS. The average valuation as equal
lied was 1913 per acre. The aggregate |
valuation of lands as equalized was Sis, |
49, 29. Aggregate valuation Of lots as
equalized, $50, SSH. Aggregate val
uation of personal property, $l3,6O7 1893.
Total aggregate valuation of property as
equaIzed, $168, 620,233.
A comparison with the same items OF
the assessments of 1853 is decidedly favor
able to the good effects of the new law,
showing an increased return and valuation
of property in 1859 as compared with
1858, as assessed, of S82,6l9, $50, and as
equalized, Of $98,702,213.
The true rule in the levy and collectors
Of taxes is to make the property of the
State pay the taxes # the State. When
all property, real and personal, is assessed
at a fair cash value, the burthens OF gov
eminent expenses are equally and fairly
distributed. The property of every man
is protected by the law, and each should
be compelled to pay to meet the expenses
of the State according to what he has. 1t
is difficult to conceive why any discrimin-
alton should be made in the in the assess
ment of personal and real estate. An of
ses Of Indebtedness against assessed valu-
alton might as well be made upon an In
numbered farm, debts deducted from the
valuation of personal estate. This ques-
ton of assessment and the levy and coliec-
ton of taxes commends itself to your
careful consideration. Independent of the
defect in the law, growing out of the dis
elimination above suggested, our present
law is defective in its details and machin-
| cry. 1t requires simplifying and per-
! fecting.
! The total taxation levied last year for
| State purposes, including the amount to
meet State Indebtedness, and for township
| libraries, was - mills per cent. on the
dollar of valuation, producing in the ag-
gregate the sum of 1924, BOIL, of reve-
nue.. This is $4,000 less than the pre-
vious year, and less than any year fer the
! past siA years.
STATISTICS.
The returns required by law to be made
| to the Secretary of State of agricultural
| manufacturing and mineral statistics, are
very imperfect, and show an inexcusable
neglect in the officers charged with the
duty of making such returns. So far as
they have been made, they show the valu-
| ton of the products of industry to be $685.
| 9S6,T71, the counties of Grant, Kewaunee,
La Gross, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Portage
1
| ties are among the most important in the
State. Tie same neglect is exhibited IN
| other particulars.
The number OF Desf and Dumb reported I. -.....122
The number Of Blind reported s........-.....-.. 50
The number Of Insane OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 81
ana the NUMBER OF ldiOtlc -.----.---- ---.-.- %
Forty-nine counties make DC report
The law which requires statistical infor
nation to be furnished, is entirely made
| and punbt 70 ha rax-IsaI NO n
alties ought to be imposed upon officers who
| either carelessly or wilfully, fail in the per-
| Torrance OF such duties. 1t Is g matter of
| great public concern that, every year, in
| formation be furnished of the evidences of
! increasing wealth and prosperity of the
! State. 1t is safe to conclude, that scarcely
more than half the mineral and agricuitu-
! raj products and manufactured articles and
| fairies of the State are shown by the re-
| ports made. OF the vas. lumber and
/ timber trade of the North and Northwest,
we have but very imperfect knowledge.
| The Legislature ought TO be furnished with
ali the facts showing the wealth OF the
/ Stete, and the energy and enterprise of the
people. 1t would be useful to our citizens
at home, and Go credit to the State abroad.
| 1t would invite capital hither for perma-
nent investment, from which far greater
! u IAdEGS " JUN bS ItdpSL, lIISA lEcIL
| foreign capital loaned at twelve per cent.
COMMON SCHOOLS.
The number OF person of school age
! that is, between four and twenty years of
/ age, as returned for 1859, is 27S, 81.
The average length of time schools have
to be taught, is FIVE and one half months.
Total number of school districts in the
State, 4,33l.
Vain alton Of School House Property 5,Is1.
The average wages psid to male Teachers
per mon h, has been q. %
The average vages 10 female Teachers 1929
The amount paid FOR Teachers wages during
the last year a.. .--....---..-..... SS8,sea
That sum is an increase OF over 100000
above the aggregate amount paid for the
same purpose the previous year.
According to the figures of the Secreta-
ry Of State, as | have before stated, the
amount to be apportioned for the support
of Schools, next March would be s245. 272,
If the interest due the School Fund should
/ be promptly paid; but the experience Of
the past year showed a deficit of about
| $4,000, owing to the failure to pay int
rest, and the Superintendent of Public In
struction estimates for considerable, but
| not so large, deficit the present. year.
The School Fund is less, by about $69,-
600, than last year, owing to the failure TO
pay Tor, and the consequent forfeiture OF
lands heretofore sold.
The policy that has been so long pursued
of selling the school lands, either in large
or small quantities, with 50 small portion
of the purchase money paid down at the
time of TIE sale, has been most mischiev-
Gus. The evils of that system now begin
TO be realized. The entry of large quanti-
ties of the best agricultural lands belong
ing to that fund by spectators, to be put
into the market at specializing prices, has
retarded the settlement and cultivation of
the lands, and financial reyerses have re-
turned them, by thousands of acres, upon
the fund. Lands, valuable chiefly tor
timber, have been held until their value
has been destroyed by exhaustion of the
forests growing upon them, aud then for
feited. The school lands still in the hands
of the State unsold, are every year deteri-
Grating in value for want of adequate legal
means TO prevent trespasses. The Com
missioners should be armed with the ne
ces.ary legal process by the Legislature,
and ample means furnished them to pay
the expenses incident to prosecutions and
protecting agencies.
The Board of Regents of Normal Schools,
composed Of educated aud discreet men,
has been an excellent auxiliary To our school
system The Teachers Institutes unfs- the