The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-07-28
Governors Message i'm Relation 40
Exemptions.
To the Senate and House Of Representatives.
Me State Of Mississippi:

GENTLEMEN The pauper presents dis /
cord in the harmonies of RepuDllcanlsm.
That sympathy with humanity which un- |
derlies our institutions seeks to eliminate |
physical want from our people by guaran- |
teeing the children of the unfortunate in
the provision of homestead, is turned TO |
abuse when it is carried beyond the purpose |
of protecting our system from the produce |
tion of that Indulgence which serves to de- |
velop what is known in European monar- |
| chies as the dangerous classes.
| The exemption laws of this State took
form as they now stand. under circumstan-
| ces highly exceptional. AS they are en-
! bodie in the Act of 1866 they were evident
! ly conceived with the purpose of shielding
the debtor from the creditor. AS stay
law that measure may have been an expe-
! diency of the moment; but now that the
debtor has had ample time to convert his
assets without ruin, and while the bank
| rupt law has entirely wiped out the old ac-
| count, the temporary justification of the eX-
emption law of 1865 passed away. BE this,
however, as it may, the spirit of free labor
has brought that law to Judgment, and
while that spirit embodies all the tenderness
which enters into the conception of the
immunity of the homestead, it embodies
also all the Justice which enters into the
conception of fair dealing and honest pay
mo-t And inaSmuch as we have taken
steps, ~ increasing the efficiency OF the
e Courts 70 70 o. followed ! trust by a prompt
system OF ples'o;ng with an abolition of
what Is knoT tho ss stepiIm Importance term we
m a sentence U by giving tt 20 tnelr prae6
| pie basis of recovery
Y The floating capital OF our peoIas;r b,,si-
s sufficient for the transaction of 5reIr pusI-
. ness. Our fixed capital is there-oLe VI es-
| sentIal Importance to on prVPSSt.y as
r basis ofcredit. The f-fmS OF Els oIa1e rep
u rosant nearly all rs wealth, and that fact
: 80 serva 70 sLSw the extent of the Grip
p ri;3g of the I.fsiness energies of the people
y p1i ntssolo,,e necessarily from condition of
u things rdder which tie great majority OF
III Of oil her
"a az, of the law for che recovery of debts =
iS Of five millions of acres of improved lands in
n the State. according to the Census of 1860 /
/ estimate that The number exempted from
a | the reach oftte observation-disclosures, mechanic
! doctor. LAWYER. Notwithstanding bus
\ mess amongst us is but little less than four
h millions OF an agricultural wealth valued
: in the census of 1860 at one hundred and
! ninety millions of dollars, / estimate the
: amoant withdrawn by the exemption law
q of 1866, from the available credit basis of the
business of the State at the sum of one hun
bred and fifty millions of dollars.
I The value and the area of farms exempted
by the law of 1865 serve to show the Grip
ping effect of that law but generally. A
specific illustration of the injurious conse-
quences of the act on the activity OF BUSH
ness amongst our people may be given by
citing the fact that out of 81, 900 of our own
ers of agricultural property the number
from whom even a single dollar can be re-
covered at law is reduced, by the exemp-
tions of the act of 1865 to about 7,000i While
four-fffths of the great head of our wealth
is withdrawn absolutely from all the uses of
credit, the exemption laws withdraw also
from all transactions based on credit, the
large proportion of fourfifths OF our agri-
cultural property owners
The political economy of our exemption
laws must not, however, be pushed out to
the invasion of their principle While the
| Homestead must be maintained inViolabIc as
a refuge from want for the faIaily of honest
misfortune, we must accomplish that essen
tial result with the least possible violation
of the laws of public arithmetic. A forty
acre exemption would exclude, OF the five
millions of acres of improved land in the
State, about one million and quarter acres.
or one-fourth of all, while it would embrace
of q farm valuation of one hundred and
ninety millions of dollars, valuation of
about thirty-eight millions of dollars-one-
! fifth of of ALL An eighty acre limit on the |
| homestead reserve from execution, while |
exempting of the five millions of acres of
our improved land about two millions and
a half would exempt OF our total farm-val- |
uation of one hundred and ninety millions |
of dollars, about eighty millions of dollars |
about three-sevenths OF all. While the lat |
ter is a very great proportion of our wealth
to be withdrawn from the uses of credits |
and the rights of creditors, the expediency
OF the case appears to ME TO demand that, |
1 while the legitimate objects of the exemp-
| ton would, perhaps, be met by forty acre |
| limit, we stop for the present in our advance |
| towards the letter of the principle by reduc- |
| ing the exemption to a limit of eighty acres. |
The exemption laws will embrace about |
10000 owners OF agricultural property. The |
exemptions of horses, hogs, cattle, sheep |
made by the law of 1865 would, if each farm |
of these owners were stocked to the stand |
ard of those exemptions, represent ten per /
cent more cattle, thirty per cent more hogs,
and one hundred and twenty per cent more |
sheep than we have in the Stlte ! In order /
that some of the forty-two millions of dol
lars represented by our live stock shall be
made available for credits and creditors, | |
propose that we reduce these exemptions /
for each homestead to two horses or mules,
three mich cows, five sheep and fifteen
hogs.
The law of 1865 exempt the arms and ac-
coutrements of every white person. pro-
pose TO amend this by including in the ex-
emptiOn all persons 20 the extent of q rife
or shot gun with the accoutrements, and to |
that extent only. 1t exempts saddles and
brides for 1.-THE use of the family" 1 re-
commend that that exemption be cut down
70 one saddle and bride, and recommend
nnally that all exemptions made even to
tne extent of the acreage of the homestead
Win It's improvements. shall be subject 70
the limitation that they shall not, whether
in town or country, exceed an aggregate
value oftwo thousand dollars in currency
the taxable property included in the exemD-
ton being set down at its valuation in the
assessment for taxes next preceding the
rendering OF judgment against the owner
and when, from the nature of the property
no valuation is on record. then by such 9TH
er fair valuation az the Legislature shall
provide. j. l.. ALCoRN,
Governor.
Executives Office, July 16, 1870.