574 



MISSISSIPPI. 



that, whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment 

 of the President, to use military force for the purposes 

 aforesaid, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, com- 

 mand such insurgents to disperse and retire peacea- 

 bly to their respective abodes, within a litnitea time : 

 now 



Therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the 

 United States, do hereby command said disorderly 

 and turbulent persons to disperse and retire peace- 

 ably to their respective abodes within five days from 

 the date hereof, and that they refrain from forcible 

 resistance to the laws, and submit themselves peacea- 

 bly to the lawful authorities of said county and 8tate. 



In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-first 

 day of December, in the year of our Lord one thou- 

 sand eight hundred and seventy-four, and of the in- 

 dependence of the United States the ninety-ninth. 



U. S. GRANT. 



By the President : 



HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. 



The condition of affairs above described led 

 to the appointment of a Congressional Investi- 

 gating Committee, composed of Messrs. Con- 

 ger, Speer, O'Brien, and Williams, who pro- 

 ceeded to Vicksburg, and, after taking testi- 

 mony there, went to Jackson. The committee 

 was engaged in these duties at the close of the 

 year. 



The committee appointed by Governor Ames 

 to investigate the condition of the State Treas- 

 ury, reported the following financial transac- 

 tions for the year : 



RECEIPTS. 



Uncurrent funds, in sealed box, consisting 



of Confederate, cotton, and other notes.. $795,936 48 



School-fuuds, currency 66,865 56 



Coupons paid, canceled, and not audited, 



because series not complete 46,410 00 



United Slates currency, Teachers' Fund 5,148 40 



Bond Tax and General Fund, United States 



currency 29,197 47 



Certificates of indebtedness 74,269 00 



Currency in drawer 156 80 



Balance, January 20, 1874 906,352 05 



Receipts to November 30, 1874 1,321,84557 



" from that date to December 9, 1874. 27,626 76 



Total $2,255,824 38 



DISBURSEMENTS. 



From January 30 to November 30, 1874 $1,231,049 67 



" November 30 to December 9, 1874 7,091 00 



Total $1,238,140 67 



Balance, accounted for. 1,017,683 71 



The Legislature, in session in the early part 

 of the year, did not adjourn until April. One 

 of the most important measures passed was the 

 funding bill. This provides that when war- 

 rants for $50 or a multiple thereof are pre- 

 sented, the Treasurer shall take up and cancel 

 the same, and issue therefor a bond or bonds, 

 bearing the date of the January or July pre- 

 ceding the issuance and bearing eight per cent, 

 interest, payable semi-annually in currency. 

 Six series of bonds of $250,000 each are to be 

 issued, and a special tax of three-fourths of one 

 mill on a dollar will be levied each year till 

 and including 1881, and an additional tax of 

 one and three-fourths mill on a dollar is to be 

 levied in 1876 and subsequent years up to and 

 including 1881, or until .the interest and prin- 

 cipal are paid. 



Section 9 of the law of 1872, to fund the 



floating debt of the State, was amended so as 

 to provide that the special tax of one and a 

 half mill therein levied, to pay the principal 

 and interest of certain bonds, should be col- 

 lected in full only for the years 1874 and 1875, 

 and should be reduced to one-half of one mill 

 for the year 1876, after which no tax should 

 be collected under the provisions of said sec- 

 tion for the successive years therein provided. 

 The act in relation to the State Board of 

 Equalization provides that it shall be composed 

 of the Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, 

 Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Su- 

 perintendent of Education. The Governor is 

 an ex-officio member, and the action of the 

 board must receive his approval before taking 

 effect. The duties of the board are prescribed 

 as follows : 



1. They shall add to the aggregate value of the 

 realty or personalty, or both, of the property of 

 every county which they believe to be valued below 

 its true value in money, such per centum in each 

 case as will raise the same to its true value in 

 money. 



^ 2. They shall deduct from the aggregate valua- 

 tion of the realty and personalty of the property of 

 every county which they believe to be valued above 

 its true value in money, such per centum as will, 

 in each case, reduce the same to its tiue value in 

 money. 



3. If they believe that right and justice require 

 the valuation of the realty and personalty of the 

 property of any town or towns in any county, or the 

 realty and personalty of such county not in towns, 

 to be raised, or to be reduced without raising or re- 

 ducing it in the same ratio, they may in every such 

 case add to or take from the valuation of any one or 

 more of such towns, or of property not in towns, such 

 per centum as they believe will raise or reduce the 

 same to its true value in money. 



4. They shall not reduce the aggregate value of 

 all the property of the State as" returned by the 

 county assessors. 



5. Said board shall keep a full record of their 

 proceedings and orders, and four members of said 

 board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction 

 of business. 



The valuation of property, according to the 

 United States censuses, has been as follows : 



The diminution in the value of personal 

 property is chiefly due to the emancipation of 

 the slaves. 



The State debt,' January 1, 1874, amounted 

 to $3,558,629.24, viz. : Due school-funds, $1,- 

 157,415.69 ; certificates of debt, $294,150 ; Au- 

 ditor's warrants, $1,083,682.57; bonds, $634,- 

 650 ; .interest on bonds, $73,436 ; interest on 

 insurance deposits, $15,294.98. Of the bonds, 

 $100,000 were payable on January 1, 1874, 

 1875, and 1876 ; $150,000 on January 1, 1875 

 and 1876; and $34,650 on January 1, 1877. 

 This statement of the debt does not include 

 bonds to the amount of $7,000,000, of which 

 the principal and interest have remained un- 



