The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1897-04-21
lLE WASHINGTON COUNTY, MISS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 1897
LEYEE BOiRB REVENUES.

At the meeting Of the Lcvce BOARD
held ON the l7lh, au order was made
providing for the raising Of revenue
Tor the purposes of the Board by tho
Issuance OF certificates of indebtedness
to the amount of $4,000 90, as au.
thoflzed by the act to provide for
such emergencies A proposition was
at the sane meeting considered, and
presumably adopted, although no re-
ference TO il appears upon the min
u'cs OF the meeting, 10 provide for
tue raising OF an additional $4,000
oy the same means, viz: the issuance
OF certificates Of Indebtedness of The
board. This action has been publicly
discussed and considered al length in
Grcenyille, and The concensus OF Gpiu-
ion by the bar appears 10 be that the
project is not feasible by reason Of
the limited time Ia which the neces-
sary prclmiuaric, mus, be observed.
Section No 234, Of the Constitution
OF tie State explicitly Gays:
No bill changing The boundaries of
the distric., or affecting the taxation
or revenue of The YH2Oo Mississippi
| L.rce District, or the Mississippi Lc-
wee District shall be COZ sidcrod by
the lcgisla a.urG unless said bill shall
have heen published II some news
paper III the county in which is stu
ated the domlcile of the Board of Le-
wee Commissioners of the leveo dis
trlct TO be affected thereby, for four
weeks prior to the introduction there
Of into the legislature, aud no such
bill shall be considered for final pas
sage by either the Senate or House of
| Representatives unless the same shall
have been referred to aud reported by
an appropriate committee of each
house in which The same may be
pending: and nc such committee
shall consider or report on any such
bill unless publication thereof shall
have b, Ell made as aforesaid
The time now is too short for The
proper observance of the provisions
of the above quoted section, The leg
islature has been called TO meet on
The 27th; and it appears probable
that the session will be very brief
one. Cen should tie session eX-
tend over three weeks, which is not
likely, there can scarcely be time for
The four weeks publication, the intro
duclon and consideration Of the
measure 1t .s very unfortunate that
the meeting of the board was not
called in sufficient time to permit the
mature preparation and consideration
of measure so important 20 all the
interests Of !hc district. No question
can possibly arise as 10 the object of
the action of the board. Ii was un-
doubtedly for the purpose of raising
revenue, and as such, is directly af-
fected aud must be governed by the
foregoing section of the constitution.
1t is not probable that any capitalist
would take the certificates which it 10
proposed to Issue without consulting
a lawyer as to the safety of his pur-
chase and, if the legislature should
not have time to act is not possible |
that well informed lawyer would fall
to point out that the certificates hod
been issued in direct 90 fl CT with IN
emphatic constitutional provision.
Tho means sought by the board to
raise this extra $4,000 of revenue ap- |
pear to be either taken without due |
or i'll the hope that |
hasty legislation may accomplish |
something in view of the pressing me-
cessitieS Of the situation. From all |
surface indications, there seems to be |
but little hope that the need for adj
ditional revenue Gun be supplied at
this late day by the measure pro
posed
1t was 10 doubt by an oversight
that the board neglected TO urge upoS
tue representatives, of the district the
necessity for caliug attention to the
great loss and injury to the levee sys-
tenn from the deprivation of the tax
from cotton raised by the state with
in the district. The President of the
board will of course at once impress
upou the members the necessity OF
urging such relief legislation in pro-
per form aud IS body, as it is scarce
Iy probable that any such measure
would be regarded unless II Is en-
iorsed and requested by the board it,
self and the duly authorized conser-
vators of levee interests.
AT present most of the plantations
cultivated by the state are fsrmed on
ihe share system, the State taking
half on which no tax Is paid, while
the owner pays the usual tax on bis
portion. 1t is probable that in future
his system wln give place TO that of
renting outright to The STATE, in which
,ase AL revenue TO the Board from
base plantations will cease 1t is also
probable that the State will Increase
ts holdings in the Delta, and the result
III Ia ~ lin lnvnnnes for lcYee