The Huntington argus. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1872-1905, 1873-02-15
For the Huntington Argus.
INTERESTING sTATIsTICs.

The State Auditors Report for 1872
contains a vast deal OF information of in
terest to readers who are interested in the
progress OF the State. Comparisons OF val.
ues OF personal property in the different
counties Of the state show a wide differ
ence in contiguous localities The increas.
OF population in some counties, and de
crease in others, is also matters OF inter-
est, aud exhibits some unexpected results;
that IL, we find an increase where We least
expected it, and contra We also find how
much has been taxed the past two years.
and the Increase ia the number OF acres
OF lard IN some counties, and the decrease
in others-ihe latter being greater than the
former. In more than oneJhah the coun
ties Of the Stale the number of acres of
land assessed is less than it was in 1871
l suppose 1t is because many acres were
on the books by mistake, though the land
may have "swunk,' like the niggers cat
fish, in some places. The could easily be
IN cases where man had bought his land
by guess, and found 1t, upon actual survey.
TO be much less than he had reported to
the commissioner 1t is not likely, how
ever, that in such y county as Cabell % 600
acres had been missed in that way. Mo
OF II, If not all, comes OF erroneous asses
ments. 1t is not known when this de-
crease will stop
would like to report something for
Wayne, but she is one of only four coun.
ties IN the State delinquent in returns 20
the Auditor. She is distinguished among
the sister counties for neglect or ncoia pc
tence OF the assessors am ashamed it i.
so, but the truth must be told
1t cost the State OF West Virginia 81, 900
to get the insane patients to the hospital.
and it cost $4,000 to support lunatics in
the county jails durin: the year. The
penitentiary costs over 100000, and the
superintendent draws the whole and dis
burses it 1t costs 81 900 vnd over Tor
guards at the penitentiary. $l7j were paid
for the flag stats over the capitol build
ING, and they won't hold flag in windy
weather. The Constitutional Convention
cost S3i ,97ijS for the time it was in -es-
sion. The Legislature OF 1871 cost 500
600 The State printer got about $2I 900
during the year
The balance Of money for general State
purposes IN the Treasury on the LIST OF Dc.
tober last, was SlO,5 500 The Auditor e.ri-
mated the expenses Of the Legislature for
lS'2-'3 at $4,000, but as the expenses up
to Jau. !, 1873, were $3l 800, (more than
the whole session o. last year.) and up to
this time (Feb. 81 is 1000 more, the rs
innate Is not half enough-probablv not
quarter enough The expenses Of the
Legislature up to the end OF thi- week will
be Siry Thousand doAnS tor the nav and
mileage Of members aud other Officers
But that is only "a small portion of the ex
penses yet to follow! Have patience. tax
payers!
The assessors usually require the own
er7 to place the value upon live stock and
all personal property, and then swear them
as TO the correctness of the values This
is the general rule the assessor himself
fixes the value OF only small portion OF
the property lac assesses Tor taxation. Ia
king the whole valuation OF the different
kinds Of live stock IN county. and dlyi-
ding it Toy the number o animals Of a kind
90 that county, we have the average value