OFFICE OF MISSISSIPPI CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY, June 9, 1864

Grenada, June 9, 1864.

Maj. Gen. S. D. LEE, C. S. Army:

DEAR SIR: I find it almost impossible to keep this road in safe running order for want of shovels, axes, and some framing tools. The recent heavy rains north of this place has covered the track with sand in some places to the depth of two feet, and I can with difficulty obtain shovels to supply the few hands I have in removing it. I am compelled, therefore, to ask again for permission to send out a few bales of cotton to obtain railroad supplies. Twenty-five bales would purchase all I could hope to get out. Cotton is sent toward Memphis almost daily, and for every purpose you can imagine, yet I will not move a bale except by authority. I need labor on the road north of this place, and am willing to pay for it. I want twenty hands for two or three months. After the press of the farmers is over would you impress them for me, we paying them? Icannot hire them. ThisI have tried in vain to do. This road may or may not be of any benefit to the Government. This you must determine. If it is or is to be, I must have labor to repair it and tools for them to work with.

Yours, respectfully, W. GOODMAN, President.

AN ACT to amend the laws relating to the tax in kind.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the act approved seventeenth February, eighteen hundred and sixtyfour, entitled ‘‘An act to amend an act entitled ‘An act to lay taxes for the common defense and carry on the Government of the Confederate States,’ approved April twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three,” be, and the same is hereby, amended as follows: After the word ‘‘wool” in the first proviso of the fourth paragraph of section ten, the words ‘‘in the aggregate,” shall be inserted; and in the

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same article and section, the word ‘‘eight” shall be substituted for the word ‘‘five,” so as to read: Provided, That post quartermasters shall direct such delivery to be made at any time within eight months after the date of said estimates, &c.

Src. 2. In all cases where crops, subject to a tax in kind, have been, or may be destroyed, in whole or in part, by fire or any other accidental cause, or by the enemy, if before assessment, the assessor shall regard the part of the crop not destroyed as all that was produced by the owner; if after assessment, and the destruction be satisfactorily proven, the post quartermaster shall also regard the portion of the crop not destroyed as all that was produced, and the proof relieving the producer shall entitle the quartermaster to a credit on his return for the property thus lost.

SEC. 3. In cases where the quantity of corn reserved from the tax in kind is not sufficient to supply the actual wants of the producer, without any default on his part, upon satisfactory evidence of the fact, the Secretary of War is authorized to allow the money value to be paid for the tithe to the extent thus required.

Src. 4. The law imposing a tax upon the assessed value of property shall not be so construed as to impose a tax upon the products of gardens intended for the use of the family of the owner, nor upon fruit raised for domestic use and not for sale.

Sec. 5. That the account of slaughtered hogs required by the first section of said act shall be rendered on or about the first day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-five and eighteen hundred and sixty-six, for each year preceding said date.

Approved June 10, 1864,

AN ACT to raise money to increase the pay of soldiers.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That upon all subjects of taxation under existing tax laws, there shall be assessed and levied a tax equal to one-fifth of the amount of the present tax on the same subjects for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, which tax shall be payable only in Confederate Treasury notes of the new issue, and shall be collected at the same times with the other taxes on the same subjects, under the laws now in force.

SEC. 2. The money arising from the tax hereby imposed shall be appropriated, first, to the payment of the increased compensation of the soldiers under the act passed at the present session.

Approved June 10, 1864.

AN ACT making appropriations for the support of the Government of the Confederate States of America, from July 1 to December 31, 1864, and to supply a deficiency.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the support of the Government, from’ July first to December thirty-first,

eighteen hundred and sixty-four: * * % *% * * *

Wak DEPARTMENT.—For compensation of the Secretary of War, Assistant Secretary, chief of bureau, clerks, messengers, and others employed in the War Department, two hundred and five thousand dollars.

For incidental and contingent expenses of the War Department, one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

For salary of Commissioner, chief clerk, and incidental expenses of Indian Bureau, nine thousand two hundred and fifty dollars.

For contingent expenses of the Adjutant and Inspector General’s Department, twenty-five thousand dollars.

For incidental and contingent expenses of the Army, one hundred thousand dollars.

QUARTERMASTER’S DEPARTMENT.—For pay of the Army, seventyfour million two hundred and forty-nine thousand nine hundred and fifty-one dollars.

For disbursements for the public service of the Quartermaster’s Department, one hundred and twenty-five million seven hundred and fifty thousand and forty-nine dollars.

COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT.—For the purchase of subsistence stores and commissary property, in addition to the unexpended balance of the last appropriation, one hundred million dollars.

So much of the appropriation for the Quartermaster and the Commissary Departments as may be necessary may be transferred from one to the other

by order of the Secretary of War, for the purpose of

paying for supplies impressed or purchased according to the exigencies
of the service.
ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.—For the ordnance service in all its
branches, twenty-five million dollars.
For the niter and mining service, four million three hundred
thousand dollars.
ENGINEER DEPARTMENT.—For the engineer service, ten million
dollars.