Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1907-02-02

ment they will bring along a blank TO
be filled with statistics concerning the
agricultural products of the State. The
blank this year will contain something
like a dozen questions. When filled it
will -be forwarded to the Department of
Agriculture and Commerce for tabulation
and publication in accordance with the
law creating that department. The sta
tistics desired are valuable if properly
taken. A great deal of extra work is
thus put upon the assessors, and that
without compensation, and this article
is for the purpose OF aequainting the
people with the questions that will ap-
pear on this blank, so that they can
have the information at hand and lessen
the work of the assessors. A landlord
can give in the statistics for all his ten
ants if he is in possession of the facts
and this would simplify the work great.
ly, By having the information at hand
the assessor can fill out the blank in a
minute or two and the people are re-
spectfully urged to do this as far as
possible.
The first question is, how many acres
in cotton? This means for the yea 1906
for which the statistics are desired. How
many bales? If you cultivated twenty
acres in cotton and gathered nine bales,
have these figures ready when the as
SCISSOR comes, The next is how many
acres in corn and how many bushels
gathered? If the farmer had twenty
acres in corn and gathered 400 bushels,
give it in that way. Wheat oats, bar.
ley rye and rice are similarly handled.
Then comes the hay and forage crop. Ii
the planter had ten acres in hay and
forage and gathered thirty tons, the
answer will be easily given. The ques-
tion of how many sheep you have and
the amount of wool sheared is important.
Many persons do not know exactly how
many sheep they have running at large
but the number can be closely estimated
The clip of wool is more easily furnished
The question of how many hogs and
pounds of meat killed can be easily an.
swered. If a man had twenty hogs and
killed six that weighed 1900 pounds, it
will be no trouble to so state it. With
out any hesitation every man can tell
how many horses, mules, jacks and jen-
nets he has. Goats will be a little
harder from the fact that some will
have to estimate this number 1t is es-
Pecially desired to get an approximately
correct estimate on the number of goats,
as the industry is Il growing one that
is deserving of attention, The two ques-
tions concerning cattle are important.
First, how many head of cattle alto
gether and then how many head of mich
cows. A more complete report on cattle
and dairying was at first anticipated, but
in view of the enormity of the work this
information has been confined to two
inquiries.
The people are respectfully urged to
corporate with the assessors in this
work to the end that the information
obtained may be complete and of value.
Almost the entire number have expressed
desire to make the work thorough and
correct, hoping that thereby they will
have a better claim upon the Legislature
for remuneration that was not provided
at the time the department was created.
1t was created for the benefit of the
agricultural, horticultural and CONNER
cial people of the State and their earnest
cooperation is desired to make it of
value.
For more than ten years the writer
has talked and written of a purely mu-
tual life insurance company for the peo-
pie of Mississippi, Il company where the
smallest policy holder would be as much
entitled to representation as the wealth
lest and one that was run in the inter-
est of the policy holders and not solely
for swelling the bank account of a
coterie of fnanciers, who might hold the
stock Of such company. A mutual COM
pany is the only one in which the policy
holder, who is the only man to furnish
the sinews of war for a concern, is
bound to get just what he is entitled
to, whether the management SO desires
or not. He is the holder of all power in
the election of officers and the direction
of the conpany's affairs A stock COM
pany may be all right for the men who
own the stock, but for the policy holder
it is more than likely not to be all right.
The policy holder may participate in the
distribution of profits if the stockhold-
ers so decide, but that very indistinet
line where the stakeholder quits partici-
pating and the policy holder begins is
wholly determined by the stockholder.
The stockholder has all the say and the
policy holder none at all. How many
men, looking at them from a financial
standpoint, would say that it is time
for me to quit taking the profits and be-
gin to give the policy holder share2
Suppose, on the other hand, the policy
holder had all the power and he was
supposed to say after while that he
had received enough of the profits and
the stakeholder could now have a share2
When would the policy holder come to
such conclusion
The question of just and equitable life
insurance is one that is of the greatest
Importance to Mssissippians and is
worthy of much careful thought and
consideration. Millions of dollars are
|paid annually by the people of our State
for this necessity, and it is but just
Ethat they should get the best at figures
that are just to all concerned. That
Ithey are not getting this square deal at
Eprescnt goes without contradiction. 1t
! Is the purpose of the writer to publish
N number Of articles during the year on
kthe subject, and written in plain Ian
&guagc, that everybody can understand.
III the people of Mississippi are being
Epnfairly treated, they should be ap-