The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1884-01-24
EDITORIAL MATTER.
From Tri. We ekly issues o I Mon day nd Frid
A state Bureau Of Statistics.

hifciy uoiudnueu III OuI o'ho0 10
Bureau Of Statistics, through which
those facts and figures indicative o.
resources and progress that are sc
satisfactory aud attractive to immi'
grants and capitalists can be obtain.
ed and disseminated.
At the present time we have nc
means of ascertaining the annual
products of the State, and no figures
to exhibit except the meagre returns
made by county Assessors to the
Auditor, and our readers have no
conception of the paucity and mad
equacy of this our only resource un
der existing laws and usage, until
they come to consider our methods
of assessing in connection with our
system Of exemptions.
For instance, we exempt ten head
of hogs and the same number of
sheep to each breeder. The result
of this is that il a man has eleven
head Of either he only appears upon
the rolls as the owner of one, and if
there were thousand such ASSESS
ments in a county it would only be
credited in the Auditors official re-
port with one thousand sheep or
hogs, whereas, in point Of fact, there
were eleven thousand.
To further demonstrate the fallacy
and humbuggery of such statistics,
let us remember that lambs and pigs
are nevergiven in at all, and if a man
had nine sows and ninety sucking
pigs he would not appear upon the
rolls as the posseseor of q single one,
If thousand men in Monroe or auy
other stock breeding county pos-
sessed ten head of mature hogs each
and that is mere than fair ever
age in any county-and there was no
farmer in tie comfy possessing
more than ten, the county would
appear on the Auditors books with
out single hog to it's credit, though
actually possessing ten thousand
aged grunters,and pigs innumerable.
In the matter of cattle we exempt
two cows and their calves, or in
other words, four head of cattle to
each farmer, and these exempt cattle
make no appearance upon the Aud
itor's books, although four head is
much more than the usual average
of horned cattle,
We exempt ell horse and mule
coIts, hence those who study our
progress from the Auditors rolls,
naturally conclude that all our work
stock are imported, and have little
idea thet every county can boast
hundreds that are home raised.
We exempt all produce in the
hands of the producer, hence we are
generally supposed to raise nothing
but cotton, and even this would not
be credited to us but for the feecy
witnesses that crowd our. depot plat.
forms and wharves.
This method of hiding our light
under bushel is working grievous
wrong to Mississippi, and it is oul
fault that the world in the absence
of any but the assessment figuref
submitted by the Auditor, accepts
the verdict Of our enemies Tint we
ra;ss nothing but cotton, and can
raise nothing but cotton, and give
our fat acres and glorious forests the
go. by, while they seek homes in the
bleak but well advertised West.
1t is in the power of the present
Legislature to correct all this aud tc
supply the necessary data with little
cost and great exaclness. We are
about to put ou, Immigration Bureau
on a fair footing with liberal endcw
ment; now, the next things to bt
done, or the thing to be done at the
same time, is to arm the Commis.
sioner with that data and informa'
ton that is the heavy and eficienI
artillery of the cause.
We should provide Chair in oul
Agricultural and Mechanical College
to be filled by a Commissioners o.
Statistics,and give him several clerks
if necesssry,..to aid him in collecting
and compiling. Then we should
make every County Assessor a re-
porter for his comfy, and provide
him with book 80 ruled and headed
as to embrace every industrial and
mechanical product and establish,
ment noted in the schedules of the
United States census, and require
him after receiving the schedule ol
assessable property from each tax
payer,to fill out the proper heading:
ths list of his products and posses.
sions, without reference even to hi,
name, for all we want is the aggre
CRATES for each county,and the State
For this extra labor the result o.
which will be of incalculable value tt
his county, each assessor should b.
allowed at least two hundred dollar
a year from the County Treasury
and should be required to forward ,