The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-03-19

parties promptly appealed to the supreme
court, for the second time landing the
| case there.
Judge CAN'T rendered the decision
Tuesday affirming the judgment of the
lower court"
Under the law creating the department
of agriculture the tax assessors of the
several counties are required when list
ing property for taxes" to also call on
taxpayers and heads of families in their
respective counties, engaged in agricul-
turc, horticulture or stock raising, for
necessary facts and information from
which the commissioner of agriculture
shall prepare an annual agricultural re-
port. 1t is concerning this report, it's
scope, its Importance to the people and
! the State, and the boon and benefit it
may and should be to the farmer and
the agricultural horticultural and stock
raising interests of our broad State, the
duty and relation the assessors b:ar to
the department, and next, the attitude
of the farmers to the assessors and to
the work itself, that | would further
speak.
If Texas were alone in its idea of an
agncuitural bureau, or stood alone as
the only State in the Union that pub
lishcd an agricultural report, just rea-
son and cause might perhaps exist in the
minds of its agricultural population, to
! deem 1t an experiment, questionable in
its aims and objects, and unworthy of
their support and countenance. Man
learns by experience and profits by eX-
ample. From the experience and exam
pie of the older States, our own caught
the inspiration and established the de-
| partment, not as an experiment, but as
Il powerful factor in its material adj
vancement and its onward march of
progress. From its inception the depart
ment of agriculture has furnished
abundant proof of its capacity and eff
cheney to promote the very aims and OBJ
| jccts contemplated in its creation, and
| that it has accomplished so much is Il
matter of congratnlation and should be
appreciated, especially when we con-
| slider the prejudccs it has met and had
| TO encounter from those who should
have been its champions, and who were
expected to furnish the facts, figures and
| information in such accurate aud trust
worthy form as to have silenced the carp
ing pessmist and given food for thought
to the liberal and progressive farmer.
THE ASSESSOR.
AS stated before, this officer is charged
by law with the gathering of the neces-
sary data from which the department
must compile its annual report. How
! efficiently these officials have performed
their duties their returns on file in this
department will testify.
1t will be SEEM by reference to the law
requiring the tax assessor to gather the
| necessary facts upon which the agricul-
tural report is based, that it is mandatory;
it says they shall do so, and to enforce
| this mandate prescribes penalty. Thus,
by implication, if not in direct lettering
responsive duty on the part of the tax
| payer is Indicated; Il bare Indication how
ever, and wholly insufficient In this re-
spect the law is inefficient and should be
| amended. In the communication with
which | accompanied the last report |
directed attention to the difficulties that
prevented the fultillment of the laws in
tention to secure full and correct statis-
tics, and suggested that prompt remedial
legislation should be had. Farther and
more extended dealing with this feature
of the States departmental duties CON
firms and emphasizes the propriety of the
suggestions then offered. Actual tests
demonstrate that existing laws do not
accomplish the purposes, and are fruit
less of the results for which they were
enacted, because they are powerless for
the enforcement of their own require
ments. In this emergency the States
constituted agency is to that extent en-
joined from the performance of the mis-
sion with which it is charged. An eX-
animation of the returns now on file in
I the agricultural bureau of this depart
! ment will verify and justify the opinion
| have expressed on this subject
| The necessity for an amendment can be
| clearly shown, and | would invite your
eXcellency's attention to the many letters
from the assessors of the various coun-
ties, wherein they complain that some of
the people absolutely refuse to furnish
or give the required information; and ask
this departments advice and instruction
rs to the necessary steps to be taken in
order to secure it. These refusas are
based on the whims oftentimes of the
individual, more frequently, however,
upon miscOnception of the uses to which
the information is put. This state of
affairs is to be deplored and can only be
remedied by one of two courses; a man
datory amendment to the law and the
fixing of Il penalty for refusal by any tax
payer to furnish the required facts and
information, or else a patient campaign
of education by means of farmers insti-
tutes and the frequent meeting of the peo-
pie by the commissioner, with practical
talks on, and a gradual unfolding, of, the
benchcent purposes for which the de-
partment was created. 1t is my aim and
shall be my object, in either event, to
overcome these prejudices and wipe out
all antagOnism to the work in hand, and
L believe That by the latter plan, II the
former should not be deemed advisable,
the people can be brought to realize that
they are promoting their own interests
as individuals and the material prosperity
of the State by cheerfuly imparting to
the assessors all the facts and informa
ton contemplated by the law, and requi-
site to enable them to transmit accurate
schedules and correct reports.
| have briefly touched upon the law,
its imperfections and the attitude of the
assessors and the people to the work, and
would now say something of the work
itself Varied in scope and vast in mag
nitude, the mere complement of the data
gathered requires infinitely more labor
than the average man is aware of. Treat
ing with and of the varied industries of
DIG organized counties, tables are pre-
pared for each county, and these tables,
multiplied by the principal products of the
| country, as for instance tables for corn,
cotton. the cereals in their order, pota-
toes, tobacco, beans, peas, subar cane
and molasses, cultivated and native
grasses. hay. etc, fruits and berries and
their subdivisions, the products of the
dairy, the farmyard, stock of all kinds,
| horses, mules, jacks. jennets. cattle,
sheep, hogs and their products, wool.
| fowls, laborers employed and their
wages, farms owned. farms rented, with
product and value of each class given.
and given with particularly of detail.
MANY mickle makes muckle' is an old