The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-04-06

To ne Senate aad House Of Representatives.

l close OF the war. the recent outrage at Mef-
idian and at few other places on our east
eTn border point 10 possibilities which de-
| mand special measures of detection and
punishment In anticipation of such . ne
I eessity l asked you in my annual message
\ for authority to deal with the crimes of the
\ Ku KIux by an offer of rewards as high as
/ $4,000 and added what l now again urge
upon YOU earnestly, .sthat the rewards 0ner-
/ ed for the detection of men engaged ia out
RACES perpetrated by what is called ku klux.
in a county shall, when paid by the EXecu-
tive, be made special TAG upon that County"
With the right TO change the venue on the
part of the State placed in my hands
1 power which cannot fail In effectiveness
! will have been set In motion with certain
success in not only detecting and punish
ing, but TO great extent in otherwise pre-
venting the outrages OF those midnight as
sassins.
To render still more effective the agencies
of the government for the repression of or
| ganized lawlessness on our eastern border
or anywhere else that IL may show itself
hereafter, invite your attention earnestly
| 10 my message of the llth of February, on
| the difficulties of the Auditor OF Public Ac-
counts as to the exercise OF my power I'M
der the militia law. The 9Th Section of that
| Act authorizes me TO organize the Militia
| but the Auditor thinks he has no power To
pay the expenses incurred in that organ
| ization; and, though that question has been
under consideration OF your honorable bod
1 les for now several weeks, l call your at
4 tention respectfully to the fact that even
the accounts OF General Stafford and Colonel
| Ireland for services in carry ing out that or
ganization remain still unpaid. l urge
| upon your consideration the expediency OF
| settling the Auditors doubts in this matter
and of placing it beyond question that the
authority charged in the letter Of the law,
| with the right of calling out the militia
shall not be excluded from the exercise of
| that right by denial of his power TO order
payment for even a soldiers ration.
Section 30 of the Militia law gives me the
power to "organize and equip not TO exceed
| one regiment of cavalry" With question
| of my authority to order payment for
| single saddle or cartouche box, this con-
! Veyance of power becomes dead letter. /
again invite the attention of your honorable
bodies to this fact; and do so with the earn
| est request that in addition TO actual author
ity to organize the militia generally, you
give me actual authority to organize and
call into the field a cavalry regiment of
picked men for operation wherever masked
assassins shall be seen-the cost of the sub
sistencs of those troops 10 be levied as a
special tax upon the county TO which they
shall have been called by the appearance OF
masked assassins. With this power made
good in my hands, outside any scruples of
the Auditor of Public Accounts, such tax
payers as shall dare to tolerate by their
sympathies the performances of the ku-
i. Klux. will very soon fad out that, that toll
Grafton will have cost them heavily in penal
taxes.
At the same time that we leave nothing
undone to repess organized violence wher-
ever il shows its head, il is no less our SOL
emn duty TO see that we leave nothing I'M
done to remove all possible ground for its
provocation. The race from which the
American white is sprung has ever been
FESTIVE under taxation, and has shown itself
but too ready to make an obnoxious exer-
else of the taxing power ground for in
dIvidual vengeance or organized resistance
And wise legislation, while determined in
strengthening the power of repression,
should never disregard those forces Of So
ciety, which, especially in closing up the
work of revolution are ever ready to meet
hardships by violence. In my profound
anxiety for the peace and order of the
State, | called your attention in my special
message of the Sth of last month, to very
grave points for the revision OF our general
and local taxes, and did so in view of the
illustrations, which / feel it my duty to urge
upon your attention again as possible irri-
tations of the popular temper.
] submit to your consideration with this
communication, letter from a gentleman
of this city, w. Z. Withers, Esq In raising
the point as to whether the Assessor is JUS
titled in including in the basis of taxation.
the products of agricultural industry, it
directs attention to some passages Of the
| Revenue law, which may be interpreted In
Justification of a taxation at once unjust
| and irritating. Section ]. of the Revenue
law of last session, includes in the assess
ment, the amount of all other personal
| property not otherwise enutuA rated :" and I'm
/ this, calls on the Assessor to return, as sub
| ject to taxation, all agricultural products
| unshipped ON the first day of January
/ Now, the injustice of this lies in the fact
| that while it leaves free from this tax on
his production, the planter who lives so
convenient to a great line Of public carriage
| that he can ship his products as rapidly as
he can garner them, it levies that tax on the
planter who lives so far from such a line of
ducts remain on his hands on the first day
! of January.
The exemptions from taxation set forth
| in the twentieth Section of the Revenue
law, apply in the case of private individ-
uals to only wearing apparel dogs, guns,
household furniture and poultry. This leaves
open to assessment and taxation all the pro-
visions held by the head of family on the
| first day of January, for the support Of his
household. 1t subjects, under this con-
struction. the corn in his crib to taxation,
/ though that can be subjected again to taxa
I ton in the form of mules, swine etc.
/ While in the character of goods, wares,
| merchandise or stock sold by transient VEN
/ doris from other States, they may have
| paid under Section 10, of the Revenue law,
| a tax OF one per cent, the FIRST section of
the law subjects to additional taxation un
der the head of " all other personal proper
| ty not otherwise enumerated" the -four and
beef in the tax payers harder and the ba-
| con in his g smoke house" Now as such
| taxation is to the experience of this people
and Extensively inquisitorial as such an
| assessment therefore is to them, this inter-
probation of the revenue law involves a
mode of revenue which, under all the cir
cumstances of the case, is unnecessarily Of
| fensive.
The Legislature l am confident, did not
| intend to tax agricultural productions. IL
did not, am sure, contemplate the assess
ment of either the land owner or the laborer
| for the cotton he may have on given day
| in the gin house, the corn he may have Ia
| the crib or the groceries he may have in his
store-room. The disappearance OF these
| articles after the assessment would follow as
| a matter of course, and while that fact
would on one hand confine the collection of
| the tax TO the man of property IL would on
the other hand but serve in the case Of the
man of no property to swell the list Of tax
delnQuents. As an act not only of Justice
but of Cancellation, also, recommend earn
estly that no time shall be lost by the Leg
| islature In arresting the assessments that 90
forward now in some counties on a basis,
that, while violating the intention OF the
Legislature adds unnecessarily to the causes
tending TO increase popular dissatisfaction
with the working of the revenue law.
There is much i'm the whole service of the
revenue law which Involves unnecessary
burdens upon the taxpayers. | have al
ready called your attention 20 the expedien-
cy of fixing a maximum TO the commission
OF assessors and collectors. may add TO
that the propriety of deducting from the !
assessor the amount of all such commissions |
as he may have received on excessive as |
sessments. whether the revision of these |
excuses shall be made by the Board OF Su-
pervisors or by the Legislature. Severe |
economy In our administration of the affairs |
Of the State Is, repeat, one OF the first con- /
ditions of effectiveness in all our measures |
tor a vigorous repression Of crime.
The Initiation of the assessment rolls Is one /
of the contingent evils of the system OF pay
ing the Assessors by a percentage regulated 4
by the amount of their assessments. The /