The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1900-02-17
Reduce Parish Taxation.

Will dsoCoo0d y io AuA
valuation a State tax of 6 mills, and
a parish tax Of 10 mills additional is
quite a burden to the average, hard
working, struggling citizen. 1t is en-
tirely too much. There is more than
a suspicion that the public funds are
being squandered. What have the
people to show. for the large sums OF
money poured into the parish treas
ury? We will start at the fountain
head, the courthouse. This hand
some. structure, built under a more
economical administration in former
days is going to decay, the floors
rotting and the water pipes keeping
the walls damp; the parish jail is a
mere shell, reeking with filth and
scarcely able to hold a child outside
of the iron cells. The public roads
are in a worse condition than they
have been for many years. The par
ish treasury is bankrupt and claims
are fully a year and half in arrears.
These are the cold blooded facts.
Just who or what is responsible for
this condition of affairs we do not
intend just now to enquire. Some
thing is radically wrong and some
thing should be done to correct it.
In the Times-D Democrat of Monday
we read that the county tax levy OF
Jones county (Miss.,) is only q
mills. and there is $4,000 in the coun-
ty treasury. Business methods have
enabled the people Of that county to
obtain some returns for their money
they pay out in taxes. The people
OF Vermilion parish should demand
that they receive something substan-
tial for their tax money. The article
above alluded to says:
ssThe county has located in Ellis
vile one Of the finest courthouses IN
the State. It is Of brick and stone,
two stories high, with offices for all
county officers, supplied with all the
latest Office fixtures, and courtroom
equal to any in the State. The ceun-
ty is out OF debt and has in the neigh
borhood of $1,000 in the county
treasury. Jones was L OF the hrst
counties in the State to experiment
with the county convict farm. he
farm was first established by the
Board of Supervisors about three
years ago. and to date has been a.
paving Investment for the county.
The Board of Supervisors first pur-
chased a tract of land, seventy acres
in all employed a superintendent at
a salary of $37. 50per month, guard
at a salary of $3.50 per month and
a cook at a salary of $3.50 per
month. The seventy acres Of land
had to be cleared, fenced and inn
proved. Houses for all purposes had
to be erected, and nothing was e1-
pected in the way of revenue the first
year. The Improvements ere at
tended to, wagons, teams and farm
implements bought and paid for the
first year and a large crop OF farm
truck raised.
1.-The second year found the coun-
tyfarm out of debt and self-snpport-
ing. Then the Board of Supervisors
purchased an additional tract Of land
seventy acres more. This land had
to be improved, which has been done
and everything pertaining to the farm
is paid for today. Besides the above
work the county for the past three
years has been saved several thous-
and dollars from convict labor in the
way OF working roads and building
bridges, and right here it might be
well to state that Jones county has
roads second to none in the great
State of Mississir pi.'
The February number of Werner's
Magazine contains a number of feat
ures not only valuable to its particu-
lar class Of readers, but interesting
and instructive to the general public.
While continuing to be indispensable