"Ye Rate-makers" however "are not soe strictly tyed x x to ye Instructions of ye above sayd Committee, but yt they have a Libberty to Vary therefrom, as in theire discrescesion shall seeme meet Unto them, x x x they having the sayd Instructions as a Line for some guide of theire Judgement therein." Five men were then chosen to assess the rate.[72] At the meeting of the following March, it is ordered that notices be set up in public places stating that the rate is to be levied and requiring all inhabitants within fourteen days to bring in to the rate makers an account of "The quantity of their Land & Meadows Layd out to them, Improved & unimproved, As alsoe what Cattle of any Sort they have, otherwise none can justly be offended, if ye Raters only use what information they can get." When the rate makers have made up their lists of what each man is to pay they are to post them in public places and each tax payer is then to bring to the treasurer, at his dwelling, the sum for which he is rated. The assessors completed their lists in July. The town clerk was ordered to prepare a copy of the list and deliver it to the town constables who should collect the rate. If any refused to pay application was to be made to a Justice of the Peace who should grant a warrant of distraint against the property of the defective person. Among the manuscripts in the Rhode Island Historical Societies Cabinet in Providence are preserved several hundred of the lists of rateable estates returned to the assessors by individuals during the period of which we are now treating. The following is "The Account of ye Rateable Estate of Jon. Whipple of providence: First Sixe Cowes, and one heifer; not 3 yeares old. Secondly 2 Oxen 3dly 3 Steeres of 3 yeares old 4ly one heifer; 2 yeares old 5ly 3 of one yeares old, one a steere; ye 2 heifers 6ly 3 horses 7ly one mare and colt, beside 3 more if not stolen or alive or made bobtailes 8ly one house lott within Fence 9ly 2 shaires in ye Great meadown where I mowe 4 lods of hay 10ly 4 Swine 11ly one yeare old horse colts" John Whipple seems to have been blessed with more than the average amount of wealth in personal estate, but this list as do all the others clearly shows the character of the property which existed at the time.[73] But little if any property was owned beyond the limits of the town. Everything was tangible and could be concealed neither from the neighbors nor the assessors. It was not difficult to fix on a standard of valuation which should apply uniformly and fairly to all property owners. The method of taxation adopted was clearly the most suitable, indeed the only one suitable at all, for a community of farmers, where land was abundant, and where trade had not developed but each family produced for its own consumption. Taxation 1689-1710.