646 



MISSOURI. 



and if all county officers in the State should 

 make up their minds to go to prison rather 

 than obey the orders of the United States 

 courts, these courts would be put to some 

 trouble. But the ready obedience of the Knox 

 County Judges, alluded to, shows that volun- 

 tarily going to prison can not be relied on to 

 become epidemic in the State." The Treasur- 

 er's bondsmen paid the judgment after three 

 months of his imprisonment. 



In Scotland County, the County Court, in 

 obedience to an order from the United States 

 Court, levied a special tax to pay the judgments 

 against the county on their railroad bonds. 

 The tax-payers by common agreement refused to 

 pay this tax, and the collector levied upon and 

 seized some sixty or eighty horses and adver- 

 tised them for sale. The sale came off in Mem- 

 phis ; but, although the town was full of peo- 

 ple, there were no bidders for the horses ex- 

 cept the owners thereof, each man bidding for 

 and buying in his own animals at five to ten 

 cents a head. The proceeds of the sale at this 

 rate amounted to next to nothing not enough 

 to pay the collector's fees and so the judg- 

 ments remained unsatisfied. The people had 

 agreed among themselves on this course of ac- 

 tion, and it was successfully carried out, there 

 being no outside bidders for the property sold. 

 Eecognizing that another seizure of property 

 would have a similar result, the county cred- 

 itors have abandoned this method, and now 

 bring suit against sixteen substantial citizens of 

 the county who were members of the " Tax- 

 payers' Association," to recover from them the 

 judgment and $3,000 damages besides, on the 

 ground that they, by intimidation and threats, 

 prevented persons from bidding at the sale and 

 thus defeated the process. 



The amount of this indebtedness of counties, 

 cities, and townships in the State outside of St. 

 Louis is estimated at $30,000,000. 



A difference has long prevailed in the coun- 

 ties of the State relative to the assessment of 

 crops. In some counties they have been as- 

 sessed and taxed; in others no account has 

 been made of them. This has led to confusion 

 in the minds of assessors and complaints of in- 

 justice on the part of the farmers. To secure 

 uniformity in the assessment, the State Auditor 

 on August 2d issued a letter of instructions in 

 explanation of the provisions of the Constitu- 

 tion and the revenue law. By the law all prop- 

 erty, real and personal, is to be taxed, except 

 such as belongs to the State, counties, cities, 

 towns, cemeteries, churches, schoolhouses, and 

 agricultural societies. The term " property,'' 

 wherever used in the law, is*declared by it to 

 mean and include "every tangible or intan- 

 gible thing being the subject of ownership, 

 whether animate or inanimate, real or personal." 

 Even crops, whether growing or secured, are 

 not exempt ; they are to be assessed and taxed, 

 but with this important difference, that grow- 

 ig crops are part of the land, and are to be 

 valued with it. Thus, if the naked land is 



worth $5 per acre, and the growing but imma- 

 ture corn or tobacco crop on it on the first of 

 August is worth as it stands $1.50 per acre, 

 then the land with the crop is to be valued at 

 $6.50 per acre. Crops that have been secured 

 from the ground are no longer to be regarded 

 as part of it, but are to be treated as personal 

 property and assessed accordingly, due allow- 

 ance being made for the unmarketable condi- 

 tion they may be in. Thus, wheat, oats, and 

 other grain, threshed and in shock or stack, 

 must be valued lower than grain in marketable 

 condition at the mill. All assessments are to 

 be made on the first of August of each year, 

 and the condition crops are in on that day must 

 determine their values respectively. As a gen- 

 eral thing in Missouri small grain and hay are 

 severed from the land on the first of August, 

 and would therefore be taxed as personal prop- 

 erty for what they are worth ; while corn and 

 tobacco, the other considerable staples, togeth- 

 er with cotton in the southeastern counties, are 

 immature growing crops, still attached to the 

 land, and therefore to be assessed with it. 



The railroad assessment made by the State 

 Board of Equalization includes buildings, roll- 

 ing-stock, and other materials of the roads, 

 and amounts to $26,270,096. The bridge as- 

 sessment amounts to $27,852,350. 



The number of pupils in the Deaf and Dumb 

 Asylum is 177. The average cost per pupil for 

 the two years 1877-'79 was $196.85; number 

 of teachers, 9 ; average salary paid, $714.28. 

 Sales of articles manufactured in the institu- 

 tion foot up $927.02. Total value of the build- 

 ings, personal property, etc., $138,342.50. 



The receipts of the Missouri Penitentiary 

 for the first quarter of the year were $40,346, 

 and the expenditures $33,889. The number of 

 convicts was 1,332, and the cost of each was 

 $26.86. 



The sum of $39,000 was appropriated to the 

 State University, which has between 300 and 

 400 students, representing from 60 to 70 coun- 

 ties and 13 States. They are of both sexes. 



Some attention was attracted to silver-min- 

 ing in Madison County by its favorable pros- 

 pects. 



The latest agricultural statistics of the State 

 yet compiled are for 1878, and are as follows: 



Missouri stands first of all the States in num- 

 ber and value of her mules, second in oxen and 

 cattle, third in hogs, seventh in horses, and 

 eighth in sheep. Its chief agricultural prod- 

 ucts were as follows : corn, 93,062,400 bushels ; 

 wheat, 20,196,000 bushels ; oats, 19,584,000 

 bushels; potatoes, 5,415,000 bushels; hay, 1,- 



