The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1880-09-28
CURIOSITIES OF THE ILLINOIS AS.
SESSAIENTS.
St. Louis Republican.

81 Louis hepuONcan.
The latest assessment in Illinois is per-
haps the greatest curiosity of the kind ever
seen, and is provoking very general COM
ment- not always of the most compliment
tary character. The law Of the state re-
quires that all property shall be assessed for
taxation at its fair cash value, and on the
charitable supposlhon that the assessors
are honest and intelligent men, Illinois is
an excellent place for the investment Of
superhuous capital.
For instance: Steam engines IN Carroll
county are valued at $67 each; in Macou.
pin county carriages and wagons are only
worth 50 40 each; watches in Clark county
| 81 &c, and in the whole state, on an aver
age, only 80 IS; pianos in Shelby county
can be had at the very reasonable price Of
So g. though the board of equalization
has had the audacity to raise it to Sl2 rs;
White county has cattle at s. SO a head f;
Wayne county, sheep at 81 cents; Cumber-
land county, hogs for So cents-which
figures ought to brighten our
English cousins, already alarmed by the
invasion of cheap American meat Lake
county owns sixteen vessels none of them
worth more than $lO-though good skitf
will sell for double the money. The asses
sors do not make any excuse on account of
defective eyesight, but they were unable to
see more than one fireproof safe in Putnam
county, only one billiard taple IN Piatt, in
Perry, and in Franklin countess and only
two in Stark. The Franklin table is put
down at $40. The total amount of money
from Cairo to Chicago and from the
Mississippi to the Wabash by the assess
ment of 1870 is $2OG5, 800. OF this insig-
nlticant sum Hardin county has only Si75,
and Du Page, Lake, Henderson, Schuyler,
Warren, Monroe, Alexander, johnson,
Franklin, Saline and White-not a red
cent. Crawford County, reoices in eight
dollars worth of stocks and bonds,
and thirty-three out of the whole
hundred and two counties have not a soil
tary bond-holder or stock owner within
their limits. Even Cook County can only
muster $llG,455 in these securities, and
Randolph has the tremendous banking cap
banking capital Of $50. But the most as.
founding revelation of all is that Lake,
Rock Island, Brown, Calhoun, Jersey, Nor
gan, Scott, Lawrence, Monroe, Galatn,
Richmond, Saline and White counties have
not dollar invested IN real estate and
improvements thereon" At least, the as.
SCISSORS did not find any of the taxable sort.
Schuyler, Moultrie and Hancock step up
smiling with $40 each in that line.
The wonder is that on such basis as
this the assessors, of whom there is o small
,rmy, can get enough to pay their salaries.
Indeed it is said that the total cost of as
sessing, levying advertising, suing for and
collecting the real estate portion of the tax
es, absorbs 90 per cent. OF the amount rails
cd from this source. Illinois is fortunate
enough to be nearly out of debt, and
so perhaps can afford to indulge in an as
sessmcnt which is simply broad farce
and selfevident sham. But she ought to
have some regard for her reputation abroad,
and the official presentation Of such paup-
erism is not calculated to raise the state in
the esteem of those who do not understand
the secret oft Heretofore our ne,ghbors
across the river have been enved for their
wealth and prosperity by the down-trodden
and poverty-stricken people of the Old
World; but this envy will promptly give
way to self.congratulation when the ILL
nois assessment EXHIBIT OF 1870 is circula-
lated over Europe.