MISSISSIPPI. 



547 



but much remains to be done to put it on a 

 satisfactory basis. The present debt of the 

 State is $2,707,152.76. Of this, $1,319,613.72 

 is included in trust funds. Deducting this and 

 $37,534.08 to be paid for interest in January, 

 1873, the amount of the debt demanding pay- 

 ment will be $1,351,004.96. Of this, $353,000 

 constitutes the bonded debt, bearing 8 per 

 cent, interest, $406,500 has been deposited by 

 insurance companies and for bonds, and $471,- 

 025.66 consists of warrants still outstanding. 

 The disbursements of the Treasury for the 

 year amounted to $1,596,828.64, which shows 

 a reduction of $132,217.70 from the expenses 

 of the previous year. In the expenses of the 

 Legislature and public printing alone there was 

 a reduction of $112,553,35. There was an in- 

 crease of expense in the Judiciary Department, 

 the cost of the courts being $434,793.43. 

 Among what may be classed as extraordinary 

 expenditures, were $96,527.15 for additions to 

 the Lunatic Asylum, 37,720 for making and pub- 

 lishing the Revised Code, $105,804.28 paid on 

 the principal and interest of the public debt, 

 and $81,968.20 of railroad subsidy or $371,- 

 938.73 in all. There remains for the ordinary 

 expenses of the government $1,224,889.91, or 

 $233,982.65 less than was expended for the 

 same purposes during the preceding year. All 

 these disbursements are calculated on the basis 

 of the State warrants, the average value of 

 which was not more than eighty cents to the 

 dollar. If we allow for the discount on the 

 value of the warrants, the ordinary expenses 

 amounted to about $979,911 in currency. The 

 total receipts of the Treasury for the year 

 amounted to $1,249,276.28, or $88,874.21 less 

 than those of the previous year. This falling 

 off is attributed to the dilatory action of the 

 collectors, as the tax levy had been increased 

 ? rom five-tenths of one per cent, in 1871 to 

 seven-tenths of one per cent, in 1872. 



Several railroads are still owing the State 

 for money loaned to them in 1857 and 1858, 

 originally amounting in the aggregate to $800,- 

 000. Up to the breaking out of the civil 

 war the interest had been regularly paid, and, 

 mder an act of the Legislature passed in 1863, 

 ;he companies, with the exception of the New 

 3rleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad 

 Company, paid their indebtedness, and with- 

 drew their collateral securities ; but the Con- 

 stitutional Conventions of 1865 and 1868 refused 

 ;o recognize the validity of this settlement, and 

 ;he courts have since held that the State is en- 

 titled to recover the amount of the debts, with 

 interest. The Legislature, at the last session, 

 authorized the Governor to settle with the 

 ailroad companies on easy terms, accepting 

 State warrants in payment of their indebted- 

 ness. Under this provision, the New Orleans, 

 Tackson & Great Northern Railroad Company 

 placed in the hands of the Governor an accept- 

 ed draft on New York for the full amount due 

 from them, to be held until the necessary 

 amount of warrants should be turned over to 



the Treasury. Before the end of the year, 

 warrants to the amount of $151,897.99 had 

 been paid. The other railroads which are in- 

 debted to the State namely, the Mobile & 

 Ohio, the Mississippi Central, and the Missis- 

 sippi & Tennessee have failed to make any 

 payment under the act of April last. The 

 time for making settlements under this act ex- 

 pired with the end of the year. Under an act 

 granting aid to. encourage internal improve- 

 ments, $81,968.20 in State warrants was issued 

 to the Ripley Railroad. After many of these 

 had passed into the hands of traders and 

 workmen, the State Treasurer, under advice 

 of the Attorney-General, refused to accept 

 them in payment of dues to the State, and 

 they were in danger of becoming worthless, 

 when an arrangement was made with the New 

 Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad 

 Company to buy them up, and pay them over 

 to the Governor on account of their indebted- 

 ness to the State. The act granting subsidies 

 to railroads expired by limitation on the 1st of 

 September, and the Governor recommended 

 to the Legislature of 1873 that it be not re- 

 newed, in view of " the present financial con- 

 dition of the State, and the large demands 

 which it is necessary to make upon the Treasu- 

 ry for other purposes. 



Considerable activity has been shown during 

 the year in developing a railroad system for 

 the State. A large number 'of projected roads 

 have been surveyed, and a good deal of prog- 

 ress has been made in the construction of some 

 of them. Eighty miles of the Memphis & 

 Selma road have been graded, and on 60 miles 

 of it bridges have been built and cross-ties de- 

 livered. On 30 miles of the Mobile & North- 

 western the grading has been completed, 

 bridges built, and ties distributed. Twenty 

 miles of the Vicksburg & Ship Island, 8 miles 

 of the Vicksburg & Memphis, and 13 miles of 

 the Natchez, Jackson & Columbus roads, have 

 been brought to the same stage of progress. 

 Twenty miles of the Yicksburg & Nashville 

 and the whole of the Prentice & Bogue Phalia 

 are ready for the rails, while the Ripley Rail- 

 road has been entirely completed and equipped. 



The subject of improving the harbors along 

 the Gulf coast is attracting attention, and is of 

 considerable importance, on account of the vast 

 quantities of timber along the streams which 

 empty into the Gulf. If harbor facilities were 

 afforded, a large export trade in lumber might 

 be built up. As it is, fifteen sawmills have 

 been established on the Pascagoula River since 

 1865, and during the past year 35,236,500 feet 

 of timber have been shipped from that district 

 alone. The improvements asked for are the 

 widening and deepening of the channel of the 

 Pascagoula near its mouth, the construction 

 of a light-house at the east end of Horn 

 Island, and a custorn-house at Bay St. Louis. 



The public-school system of Mississippi is 

 represented as improving in value and effi- 

 ciency, but statistics for the year have not yet 



