The Tupelo journal., 1907-02-01

menC they Will bring along a Diank "
be filled with statistics concerning the
agricultural products of the State. The
blank this year will contain something
like a dozen questions. When filled 1T
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 acquainting 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 year 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. 1t
the planter had ten acres in hay and
forage and gathered thirty tons, the
answer will be easily given. The ques-
ton 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, 1T
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 a 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
cooperate with the assessors in this
work to the end that the information
obtained may be complete and of value.
Almost the entire number nave expressed
a 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 commer-
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, a 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 financiers, who might hold the
stock of such a 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 company'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 indistinct
line where the stakeholder quits partici-
pating and the policy holder begins is
wholly determined by the stakeholder.
The s~tockholder 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 a share 2
Suppose, on the other hand, the policy
holder had all the power and he was
supposed to say after a while that he
had received enough of the profits and
the stakeholder could now have a share?
When would the policy holder come to
such a conclusion?.
The question of just and equitable life
insurance is one that is of the greatest
Importance to M~ississippians and is
worthy of much careful thought and
consideration. Millions of dollars are
Maid annually by the people of our State