State, showed most activity. The manufacture of
turpentine and rosin was not important prior to
the last decade of the nineteenth century, but
made large gains during that period, as will be
seen from the above table below.
Comparative Summary of Eight Leading Industries
INDUSTRIES
Year
Number of establishments
Average number wage-earners
Value of products, including custom work and repairing
Total for selected industries for State
1900
3,205
20,072
$31,372,422
1890
963
9,584
12,638,534
Increase 1890 to 1900
......
2,242
10,488
$18,733,908
Per cent. of increase
......
232.8
109.4
148.2
Per cent. of total of all industries in State
1900
67.2
76.0
77.6
1890
56.7
66.3
67.6
Oil, cottonseed and cake
1900
41
1,521
$6,681,121
1890
13
891
2,406,628
Cotton, ginning*
1900
1,901
2,422
2,214,949
1890
130
547
130,387
Cotton goods
1900
6
1,675
1,472,835
1890
9
1,154
1,333,398
Flouring and grist mill products
1900
225
208
932,816
1890
408
777
1,249,669
Lumber and timber products
1900
844
9,676
15,656,110
1890
366
4,427
5,770,387
Lumber, planing mill products,
including sash, doors and blinds
1900
34
748
1,315,775
1890
8
92
136,450
Cars and general shop construction and
repairs by steam railroad companies
1900
9
1,534
1,326,401
1890
5
1,076
1,329,549
Turpentine and rosin
1900
145
2,288
1,772,435
1890
24
620
282,066
*Does not include many ginneries operated in connection with saw, grist, and cottonseed oil mills,
or for the use exclusively of plantations on which they are located.
Transportation. The railroad mileage
increased from 862 miles in 1860 to 1127 in 1880;
to 2470 in 1890, and to 2934 in 1900. Among
the important lines are the Illinois Central, the
Southern, the Louisville and Nashville, the
Mobile and Ohio, the New Orleans and Northeastern,
and the Queen and Crescent. There is a board
of railroad commissioners which is empowered to
revise, fix, regulate, and approve the rates of
charges of railroad companies. Having a
considerable Gulf coast line and being bordered upon
one side by the Mississippi River, the State has
the advantages of navigation afforded by these
waters. Of the two customs districts, Pearl
River and Vicksburg, the former only is important
in regard to foreign trade.
Banking. The Bank of Mississippi at Natchez
was chartered in 1809. In 1818 it was created a
State bank, with a capital of $3,000,000, the
State participating in its management, and
pledging to it a monopoly of the banking business
of the State until 1840. In 1830, however,
the Legislature broke the pledge by establishing
the Planters' Bank of Mississippi, with a capital
of $3,000,000, and making it the financial agent
of the State. This forced the first bank into
liquidation. For a few years the Planters' Bank
had a practical monopoly of the banking, but
from 1835 new banks followed in rapid succession.
The most daring venture was the organization
of the Mississippi Union Bank in 1838,
with a capital of $15,500,000, which made it the
largest State bank in the United States at that
time. These bold undertakings in the very midst
of a financial crisis could but lead to one result.
There were numerous failures in 1838-45; in
1855 there was but one chartered bank in the
State. A revival came in the eighties, when
national banks were introduced. Stringent banking
laws have given to the State banks the confidence
of the people, and their number has increased
tenfold since 1888, In 1902 there were 17
national banks with a capital of $1,530,000,
surplus $549,000, cash, etc., $561,000, loans $4,957,000,
and deposits $5,257,000; 92 State banks with
capital of $5,468,800, surplus $971,857, cash, etc.,
$1,550,929, loans $19,467,101, and deposits
$16,297,325. There are no savings banks in the
State.
Finance. The early financial history of
Mississippi is closely connected with the organization
of the banks in the State. A large State
debt of $2,000,000 was created in 1830 in order
to acquire shares in the Planters' Bank and in
1838 $5,000,000 for shares of the Union Bank of
Mississippi. The financial crisis of the thirties
brought the banks to insolvency in 1840; this
involved the State in an enormous debt. Infringements
upon the Constitution in the floating of
the debt led to its repudiation by a popular vote
in 1852, which was finally disposed of by a
clause in the Constitution of 1875. The Civil
War again involved the State in serious financial
difficulties and also reduced the general economic
condition of the State. The ‘carpet bag’ régime
which followed aggravated the situation: the
expenditures grew from about $500,000 in 1867-69
to more than $1,500,000 in 1871-75, and the tax
rate was increased in these years proportionately
from 1 mill to 14 mills. An organized protest
from the taxpayers in 1874 was the result, and a
gradual diminution of the State debt, expenditures,
and rate of taxation followed. In September,
1901, the payable debt was $676,799 and the
non-payable debt, for the interest on which alone
the State is responsible, was $2,210,227, making
the total indebtedness $2,887,026. Total receipts
for the year ending September 30, 1901, were
$2,436,048; total dislmrsements, $2,229,996, leaving
a surplus of $206,052, and the cash balance
was $828,453. The main source of income was
a direct State property tax which yielded almost
85 per cent. of the total income; of the disburse-
