The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-01-02
THE LEVEE QUESTION.
Extracts of n Letter of Gen. =. w.
Ferguson, President Board Of
Levee Comm issiOners.

: pound the highest tax ever imposed 70
: levee purposes was one cent per pound
The Legislature of 1865, composed of tn,
best men in the State, enacted that Law
organizing the levee board and levying
tax OF one cent per pound upon cotton
ten cents per acre upon land, and author
izing the board to issue $1,000, 900 Q
bonds for the purpose of rebuilding tn
leyees. The latter at this time were gen
orally broken, cut or caved into the river
the result of the war, and the whole coun
try was subject to annual overflow. The
passage of this law was hailed by the PEG
pie OF the district with joy; it gave then
assurance of protection against the raw
ages of the river, and infused new life
and hope into the whole community
Colonel Field and Colonel Hudson of Boil
ivar, Judge Hayes and Mr.. w. T. Bar
nard, of Isssquena, and Major w. E
Hunt and Colonel George K. Fall, OF
this county were the gentlemen named il
the act as commissioners.
-Che- proceeded to collect the tax, is
sue the bonds, and rebuild the levees
The tax was onerous; it was levied by
the Legislature of our own people; il
was the one road for relief from annual
inundation, and was cheerfully acquiesc
ed in by the whole district With recon
struction the levee board passed into the
hands of the Radical party, and was
doubtless misused and abused by that
party, as were 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 is chargeable. 1t is part of the
sad history Of Mississippi and of the
South under the reconstruction policy.
Against the possession of the levee
board by that party the people of the
district made long and unremitting war.
During the reign of that party, and as a
party, and as a part of its policy, the
tax for present use and for construction
purpose was removed from cotton, and
an al valorem tax upon land authorized
as high as per cent. In the revolution
of 1875, the chief battle-cry in this dis
tFict was that our lands were being con-
fscated by oppressive taxation; especial
| ly the ad valorem levee tax.
| With that revolution accomplished,
the tax was again changed from land to
cotton, and the control Of the levee board
again passed into the hands of the land
holders and taxpayers of the district.
| The present board is composed of Col
onel Sessions and Mr.. Libby, of Bolivar
county, Judge Hayes and Captain Far
ish, of Issaquena, Captain John Willis,
of Sharkey, and Mr.. Merritt Williams
and myself of Washington. Four of
these gentlemen are among the largest
landholders and taxpayers in the dis
trict At the time it came into Office,
January l, 1876, the
Outstanding debt was ..... $685., POP on
Outstanding debt July l, 1871. 245,690 50
Reduction since Jan. !, 1876, in
principal. .........,...... 1861 40
Interest accrued and amount
paid from January l, 1876, to
July /, 1877. $4,000 Ga
Total paid on old debt from Jan.
i, 1876, to July l. 1877 -: $l7O,s12 O9
The amount paid out since Jan. /,
1876, up to July /. 1877, for re-
pairing and building levees is. 142 PA 0O
from July !, II, to Dec. III $3.50 90
Amount paid land owners for
right of way ...... 3,4I4 90
Total for building new Ievees and
repairing old ones. ........... 1S7 ,49S 90
DOWN ................. -. 17oeI2 O9
Total paid out sir ce Jan. l, 1876 s358,3lO O9
This statement up to July l, 1877, has
been published many months since, and
inspection of the books of the board in
vited at the hands of the public. x
The number of bales upon which tax
was collected in 1875, a fine crop year,
was as follows:
In Washington. .....................4 A, 30
In Issaquena. Observation-Disclosures. 1925
In 1876, a bad crop year, one in which
Bolivar and Washington were injured by
breaks in the levees, and In which Issa-
auena was cut in half by the creation OF
Sharkey, tax was collected on the follow
ing number of bales;
In Bolivar Observation-Disclosures. II 81
| In Washington. ......................3 81, sos
| In Issaquepa. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 15,e76
In Sharkey .......-...-........ 2,86e
The amount credited to Sharkey coun-
ty was reported after the collector was in.
structed as far as possible to separate in
his reports the cotton of the two counties
and was made up principally of the cot
ton shipped down Deer Greek from Shar-
key. The difference between the two
years in the counties respectively is
In Bolivar Observation-Disclosures. u 23z
In the territory composing Issaquena
and Sharkey, and which with small ex-
ception was included in Issaquena alone
in 1875, 1,784 bales.
There is a heavy tax on cotton, 81 pei
bale to pay off the old debt, "a part Of
the tax imposed in 1865, and of which
the district can only rid itself when the
debt is paid, and 81 for the purpose OF
present construction, subject to reduction
by the board whenever the exigencies Of
the district will permit There is very
light tax on land subsisting solely for the
purpose of paying old debts, which the
Supreme Court has decided we cannot
escape, and with which the present board
has nothing whatever to do. There i:
NO TAX on ANYTHING else. The Law
permits the board to place tax on cot
ton seed, and the board is composed Of
representative men, elected by the board
of Supervisors every two years as such
representative men, rejecting the opinions
of their constituents, they deemed the
cotton seed tax unnecessary, and conse
quently did not levy it. Merchandise
horses, mules, bank stock, solvent cred
its, and the thousands and one articles
of property which fall under your demon
inatiOn of everything else" are not nov
ard never have been subject to levet
taxes. The figures which 1 have giver
are large; they show that immense sums
of money have been expended, but the
work which has been done is of no les
magnitude. A continuous and unbro
i. ken line OF levee is now standing, O
will be by the 18th of January, from tn,
upper line of Bolivar county to the south.
arn line of Issannana . d;n4arno .