Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-02-15
THE AUDITORS REPORT.
Old Virginia Climbing Out OF
Trouble,

The annual report of State
Auditor Mayre has been issued,
covering matters statistical for
the year ending September 80, 1906.
The report is valuable one, present.
ing great deal of information that
will show the resources, the tax rate,
the receipts from all sources, the ex-
penditures and what each county
and city pays iu the way of criminal
expenses. The property holdings of
the whites and blacks are separated.
and when comparisons are made the
possessions of the latter are small.
To begin with, the negroes own
less ttan Que twenty fifth of the real
estate of the State, the actual figures
being: Whites, 25,696,191; colored
1865, ,426, while the value of hold
ipgs is relatively smaller than the
acreage, the report showing that the
whites have TO pay on a valuation Of
1851, ,69S,726 and the blacks on $l7,-
27S,343. The foregoing applies
strictly to real estate and includes all
proper ties owned by whites and blacks
in the counties as well as in the
cities.
When 1t comes to personal prop
erty, which includes everything tax
able that is not listed as real prop
erty, the negroes make Q relatively
better showing than they do in the
matter of real estate. The whites
own $131,774,416, while the blacks
are held to account for $5,9S9, ,O4S,
This showing is due to the fact that
the negroes own horses in the coun-
try and other forms of personal prop
erty in the cities, making the show
ing much better.
In the matter of incomes the ne
groes make possibly the worst show
ing that is made in any of the com
parisons to be found in the entire
report. The law is that all incomes
in excess of 5000 year shall pay to
the State l per cent, gross. This in
cludes rents, inheritances, salaries
and moneys of every description in
excess of 5000 received in any one
year. 1t is a notorious fact that
thousands of whites each year "dodge"
this item on their tax lists, 80 that
the total paid by the whites for this
one item is $103,702 30. while the
negroes report only $69.7O for the
entire State, the bulk of which comes
from this city. For the whites, the
city of Richmond pays more than all
the other cities combined, leading
Norfolk by more than three times
the amount returned there. The total
from Richmond is $50, ,4276O.
CRIME IN THE STATE.
The study of the item of criminal
expenses is most interesting. The
figures from the report show that
Norfolk county expends about three
times as much as any other county
in the State in defraying the expen-
ses of the criminal element in that
section. The next county in the mat.
ter of criminal expenses is Henrico,
which surrounds the capital of the
State, and which spent little more
than $4,000 for the same time and
for the same purposes as did Norfolk
county. Highland county, one of
the mountain counties, is the most
orderly county in the State, when the
reckoning is done on financial basis
That county managed to get through
the fiscal year for $26.22.
Notwithstanding the great differ.
ence in returns of incomes between
the cities of the State, the city OF
Richmond paid $41, ,453. .SS for crimi.
nal charges, while the city of Nor.
folk was second with bill amount.
ing to $36,754.37. This can be
explained, however, by the statemen,
that Norfolk is the rendezvous dur.
ing certain portions of the year fol
the criminal classes from NORTH
Carolina. The same is true as Il
Norfolk county, for there are many
thousands of negroes to be found
there during the berrying season, and
when they are not at work they ar,
constantly in contest with the ofiic
ers.
HORSES ARE CHEAP.
The returns of the assessors show
that there are in the State 343, ,26s
horses, which includes mules. Th,
values of the horses vary greatly il
the several counties, for where
horse is held at 5000 when a prospec
tive buyer is in sight, it is worth fa
less than one-fourth that sum wher
the assessors appear. To be close t,
the exact figures, the animals ar
worth bit less than $48 for taxabl,
purposes, though there is a grea
demand for horses at this time. Th
prices for horses, as fixed by tn,
owners for taxation. ranges from