Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1877-12-28
Levee COFFesPSndeRee.
Editor ViCksbuFg Herald:

7 pOetnk our LeHee nnaEQ buHFG5Auks tnak,
40 the editor Of ajournal widely oirculat d
10 the river dist lot, you would not inten-
tlOnally and except through ignorance %.
deaVOrt 70 iDiuriouSly adectthe LeVee Board
or its members; aud that you will readily
admit to your columns any correction Of
yOuF article, | avail myself Of toe Gfst mo-
ment OF leisure from pressing business du.
ties, TO respond 10 IL.
Before entering upon the discussion Of
this matter you ought % have informed
yourself somewhat Of the history Of the
leVee system aud the Board to which 1t lie
entrusted. In reference N the tax on cot
ton for levee purposes, you say In your ar.
iicle: This district saw the United States
and went one better In the matter Of taxa.
ton" AS a matter OF fact, this Is not true.
The United states tax was three cents per
pound; the highest tax ever imposed for
levee purposes was one cent er pound.
The Legislature Of 1915, comp sed Of the
best men 10 the State. enacted that law,
organizing the LeVee Board and levying q
tax Of one cent per pound upon cotton, ten
cents per acre upon land, and authorizing
the Board to issue 81 ,000,C0O of bonds, for
the purI ose Of rebuilding the levees. he
latter at this Time were generally broken,
cut, or caVed into the river, the result Of
the war, and the whole country was sub.
tINNb VI AhuhA v At"s nv RAlhNkg VI
this law was hailed by the people OF ire
district with joy II gave them assurance
Of protection against the ratages OF the
river, and Infused new life and hope into
the whole community. Colonel Field and
Colonel Hudson OF Bolivar, Judge Hayes
and MIR. w. T. Barnard OF lssaQuena, and
Major W. e. Hunt and Colonel George X.
Fail Of this county, were the gentlemen
named In the Act as Commissioners. They
proceeded N collect the tax, issue the
bonds, and rebuild the leVees. The tax
WAS OneTous; II was levied BY q Legislature
Of our own people; II was the n road for
relief from annual inundRti0n. and was
cheeTIully acquiesced In by the whole die
trict. With reconstruction the Levee Board
passed into the hands Of the Radical party,
and was doubtless misused and abused by
that party, as we're all other public trusts.
With the riches which may have been then
acquired by individuals, or the mis-
application Of the funds then made,
neither the system Itself nor the
present Board IL chaFgeable. 1t Is u
part Of the sad history OF Mississippi aud
OF the South under the reconstruction pol.
10y. Against the possession OF the Leyee
Board by that party the people OF thg dis
trlct made long and unTemitting war. bur.
Ing the reign Of that party, and as a part
Of Its policy, the tax for present use and
Tor construction purposes was removed
from cotton, and an ad ValOrem tax upon
land authorized as high a. 3 per cent. In
the revolution Of 1915, the chief battle.cTy
In this district VAS that our lands were
being cOntscated by oppressive taxali on;
especially the ad valorem leVee tax.
witt that revolution accomplished, the
tax was again changed from land to cot.
ton, and the control Of the Levee Board
again passed into the hands OF the land
holders an Taxpayers Of the district
The present Board is composed Of Colonel
Sessions and Mr.. Libby, Of Bolivar cOun-
", Judge Hayes and captain Parish, Of
lssaquena, Captain John Wi liz, Of Shar-
key, and Mr.. Merritt vii iams and myself
Of Washington, Four Of these gentlemen
are among the largest land.holders and
taxpayers In the district. At the time 1t
came into office, January l, 1915, the
Outstanding debt was. ... $3.50 2O2 "a
Outstanding DEBT July ], 1877 f.. 1880 50
principal ...... ....'.|,',,, 1891 a
Interest accrued and AMOUNT
paid from Jan |, 1876, 10 July
/, iS77.........,..........'. 1890 u
Total paid on old debt from Jan
l, 1876, 10 July !, lsI7.... $l7O,sl2 CO
The amount paid out sine Jan.
!, 1876, up TO July !, i 1877, for
repairing and buildir g leyees
is..,...e...........'...... l42,?l4 %
Amount paid for same purpo'e
siT..,...'.u...-.."..... $3.50 90
Amount paid land owners tor
right OF way ............ 3,4l4 90
-
Total for building new leyees
and repairing old ones ...... ls7,4Os 70
drought down i7O.sI2 90
Total paid out since Jan J. ! - 3iS, $40 ~
This statement up 20 July !, 1871, has
been published many mOnihg since, aud
Inspection OF III, b..ks u1 the BOARD invited
at the hands Of the public. You certainly
could not have been aware OF IL. You
speak Of the enormous tag having 0een
squandered or stolen" You broadl assert
that "eYery bpdy connected with The COZ.
Germ has grown rich You = eak Of the
LeVee Board as q "pOweriul ring" making
no distinction between the Board ne at
drst% organized, composed OF the gentlemen
named, the present Board, placed In Office
by the landhniders and a payers " the
district, and the Radical boa d which held
control from the date o construction Np
TO January /, 1876 You assert that "the
tax on cotton almost amounts to Il
prohibition Of It's productions" when e
truth lie, that there Is to-day a larger acre.
age In cotton In zach OF the counties NJ tue
leVee district than ever before certainly
since the war, and probably before The war.
You say that lone Sheriff {. lssaqurna
county. who was a few leGrsRgU !CYve tax
collector, carried Oh $4,000, ani Tor
obvious reasons the Levee Board neN eI
made the leasl attempt n recover tue
money" but you either Intentionally OF
with unpaTd nable carelessnCss fail u
say that this was a Radical sheriff, thai
the LeVee Board was u Radical Board.
and that the county was presided over by
Radical Judges.
A casual reader Of your article could mol
suppose otherwise than that IL was mean
to apply in the full force OF it's grOundlesI
"inBinuatiUns and reckless assertions as h
facts, to the present organic ttiOn Oi the
LeVeG Board. In addition 10 the mat eI
OF the Sheriff Of lssOquena you give, upon
Information, the following FACT. the re-
mainder Of your article being mere genera.
assertions. You LAY Last year we art
informed that tax on only 2 500 bales from
Sharkey county was reported an raid in
Now, In the first place, II acquainted with
the general legislation Uf the state, yOl
, know t1at In 1873 sharkey county wa ere
, nted almost entirely from 1sshguena cOun,
: ty; secondly, II you had sought for accu
: rate information before INDUCING In gen
eral charges anu A. pensions injurious L
: aaah 0pntiaman connected with the Lever