Miss. Code Ann. § 69-1-17

In order to facilitate the collection and collation of the accurate information of the resources of the state along all lines, the heads of the several departments of the state government and of the state institutions are hereby required to furnish accurately such information as may be at their command to the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce when called upon for same; and the commissioner is hereby empowered to enter manufacturing establishments chartered by the state, in prosecution of this work, and the corporations operating the same shall furnish such information as may not be injurious to their business, when requested to furnish same by the commissioner. The commissioner and his clerks shall have the right to accept and use free transportation over steamships, steamboat and railway lines.