Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1877-12-28

cntt0u 10 hauled from Bolivar county to
0reenVllle. IL is purchased by merchants
here, and shipped with the general mass OF
their weekly shipments. ltis reported %
Washington county cntton, and Il would
be impossible for the Collector 70 report 1t
otheFWIs BE collects the taxes on It.
and that 10 the material consideration.
Now, then, let me call your attention to
the foil wing figures: The number Of
bales upon which tax was collected in
1918, a hne crop year, wal 40 followG:
In SOLVER ..,...... "a W.
In Washington Observation-Disclosures. "A 1866
In IssaquenR ........ . ....... lie. T2S
In 1876, q bad crop year, one in which
Bolivar and Washington were injured by
breaks In the leVeeB, and In which lssa.
Vuena was cut In half by the creation Of
sharkey, tax vac collected on the follow.
Ing number Ut bales:
IN DoliVaT ........,.,. ,.,.,.,,... ...l l,oIi
In W warrington .....,-...... ....... .32,bJe
In I%ssaquenA zee. .......... l5,OTd
In ShaEkey &c.. ares
The amount credited to ShaTkey county
was reported alter the Collector was 10.
structed as far az posi- lie TO separate in
bis reports the cotton OF the two counties,
and was made up principally NJ the cotton
shipped down Deer Dreek from Sharkey.
The difference between the two years 10
the counties respectively Ia
In Bolivar ............. ........ 1899
In washington .....,.....,,.......ll ,b4T
In the territory composing ~lssaquena
and sharkey, and which with Q small ex.
ceptlOn was included Ia Is, aQuena alone
In 1870, LISA bales. Now your article pro-
ceeding upon information from some
wretchedly ignernant informant would
create the Impression that the cotton tax
t9nllnntnF hna nltOunH ali Aha anon nT Ghuw
key for 1910 except 1850 bales TO slip
through bis hngers,o has been guilty ofcOE-
rupt practices In regard thereto, and yet |
have shown you that for that year be collect
edupon only ], IS4 bales less Of cotton raised
in the territory, composing the two COun.
ties OF I%ssaquena aud ShaIkey, than he did
upon cotton grown In I.saquena alone 10
1875, ~lssaQuena then including Sharkey;
whilst In the same year the falling OF 10
Bolivar and Washington was 1l,(OO and
II 600 bales respectively. These iacts all
BUard, and those books are open at all
times TO public Inspect on. You say this
Sharkey county caSe is az isolated one Of
many such, aud you say further 1--WE be
lleVe that ills safe TO say that not One.half
Of the money collected ls ever applied 10
pay ment Of debts incurred for building the
levees." Now this 10 q matter OF great
public Interest, OF which you we're writing,
not ~ the LeVee District alone, but TO the
State ut large. Editing 4 journal OF ex-
tend d circulation you ahOu d have had.
and teen able 10 produce, reliable data
and iacts upon which to found the BELTRP
thus expressed. more reliable certainly
than the SharKey county case. l have
shown you that since the present Board
has been in Office Sl10, $40 90 0fthe old Iebt
has been paid and slS1, 4gS expended for
building and repalrin | wees, making a
total Of $3.50 3l0.i9. DO you not think now
that your belief as u what has become
Of thr money was hastily formed and
without any good foundatiOnsf AgaIn,
you state as i fact that "there is an i'm.
merse tax on cotton seed, land. and
EVERYTHING gLsE for leVeO purpOses,U
Now this II not a fact. There IL a heavy
tax OF cotton, 81 per bale to pay Oh the
cid debt, "a part OF the tax imposed In
1868, and OF which the district can only rid
Itself when the debt 10 paid and s! tor
the pIrpOse II present construction, sub.
ject Ia reduction by the Board whenever
the exigenCies OF the district will permit.
There is a very light tax on land subsist.
ing solely for the purpose OF paying old
dents, which the Supreme Court has dc.
cided We cannot escape. aud with which
the present Board mas nothing whatever
10 do. There Is no A OF ANYTHING else.
You ought to have At least read the stat.
utes on this subject before undertaking so
authOTitatively 10 give the leyee Board ian
airing" The law permits the Board To
place a tax on Gotten seed, and the Board
is composed OG representative men, elect
ed by the Board uf supervisors every two
years; as such representative men, 70.
fecting the opinions OF their constituents,
they deemed the cotton seed tax unneces.
sary, and consequently did not levy 1t.
Merchandise, hOrses, mu eS, ban&.stOck,
solvent credits, ard the thousand and one
articles oi property which fail under your
denomination Of "every thing else" are
not now and never have been subject 10
levee taxes. The figures which | have
given are large; they show that immense
sum u money have been expended, but
the work which has been done ls III no less
+ magnitude. A c. %ntinunus and u~nbrOken
line Of levee Is now standing, or win be
~ the 10Th Ot January, from the y n
lIue Of Bolivar county 10 the Southern line
% ~I-saquena, a distance Of about three
hu dred miles. In 1855 the lands OF this
dis, let were subjecttO annual i~nundatiOn
throughout this distance. To-day the pea.
pie rcpnse In comparative security behind
4 continuous line Of stAunch and well
blilt levees, Had your information upon
local Affairs been as accurate as II 10 ex-
tended, you would have known that the
existing leVee laws constituted the prln.
ripal issue before The planters and land.
hIi.ers who nominated members for the
Leg stature from this county last Summer,
aud were overwhelmingly endorsed by
that Convention. Had you given that %.
tient and earnest inquiry into the indus.
trial and material interests Of this portion
~ the State which the popularity and
general circulation Of your paper demands
at the hands OF a Conscientious editor, you
Htuld have !eai ned that the present sys.
l. m Is satisfactory 70 the people, that II 70
he IN alter OF greatest Interest to them In
public AFFAIRS, tnat they view with jeal.
U ~ and distrust any effort to break II
down, that they are thoroughly acquainted
with all OIL i;s workings and hat they are
not disposed 10 have their magnificent
country dGCTied. You would have learned
that me gentlemen composing tn present
Board are in the man planter Of high
character, without saiH y. aGd under
heavy bond; that every Official Is under
sim IL. bond; tina, the proceedings OF the
Buaru are regularly made public, ard Its
books at all times open to inspect on; thai
siace January LIST, 1877, u large part VI tue
debt has been paid that the bonds Of The
Board are now, and have for two years
been, at par; that under the law no more
debt al he contracted; that the leVceE
are In good condition; that the levee dis,
trict IL tho N 81 prosperous part Of the
Mississippi bottom, and there " every
reason u expect a constantly decreasing