The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-03-14 00:00:00

PROPOSED FINANCE OF THE FUTURE.

On Tueeday the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
waited upon by a deputation composed of members of the
Working Men'. Club and Institute Union, the Westminster
Working Men's Association. the Labour Reyrementatlon
League, the Trades Guild of Learning, and the Trwies Con-
gress Perlfemetitary C nimittee. ii sy represents d the
opintou l,t the present mode of taxation in taxing food is
pernicious in its incidence, unjust in operation, repugnant
to the best interest of geoid), and injurious to trade, com-
merce, and agrimitum ; and that to a, y readjustment ot the
system for raising the Imperial revel ne, the claims of the
people for a free break' aat table' and the removal of all
taxes on their food should have the first consideretien."
'They represented a League formed tor the hurt osys—" To ob-
tain the repeal of all taxes on food, unfetter irate from
fiscal encumbrance', and revise taxation in inch or auner as
shall make it just and equikable ;" hut it was in ed in "Carry-
ing out these objects It should be distinctly understood that
the Leave has cop 'fittest aim for her than to oi tutu the
repeal of tiers Aces .4 Parlfamr fit operating in restralut
of industry." They believed thet the woraing men, as
producers, were entitled to special c distderatton, and If the
burdeu at present bins e by them could ml be removed by
reduction of expendltme, it wee urged that some other
means earring a revenue ought to cc found by GOVeru
ment. Asked by ellr S. Northcote whether it .4 intended
that the working classes shouti be wholly exempted from
taxation, t that they should contribute to the revenue In
some other than the present way, the answer was that the
principle the deputation went upon was to lax realised Pre-
perty, one of the apeaken stating that thirty -four millions
could be obtained by "a personal or household tax.- The
Chahcallor of the Eschequer thanked the depntath n, bet
declined to disclose the finahclal policy of the Government,
the interests of the classes the deputation represented
would, he added, be rely carefuly considered in any ad-
justment of talation.

The Times of Wednesday, in a leader, makes the
followins remarks upon the objects of the above
deptitattioll
The idilltnium is evidently near at hand. With a COI -
servative Government in c nice and a stumble uncalculated,
if not Incalcuble, to dispense, aid at least amounting to
millions, there is not a class in the country which does not
look to receive some immediate and startling benefit, except,
perhaps, those criminals who have added to the original
sin of humanity the imolai offence of owning preperty.
Yesterday the last of the Deputations—Vie lest In audacity,
if in nothing else, for in this respect they cannot be
excelled—waited on the Coancellor of the Exchequer
to urge on him the remission of all Indirect taxa-
tion. For the present, indeed, they colliene their attedtion
to the abotition .4 the duties on tea, sugar, and o flee; hut,
while restricting their demands this year to the repeal of
these imposts, they are good enough, with a frankness we
cannot ton openly ackuowledge, to explain their ultimate
object.. Not tea and coffee a one, but beer and gin, wine
and brandy, whisky and rum, are to be freed from the
burdens which now Impede their contempt] in, The grand
prieciple of the finance of the future is the removal of all
Impows which affect the position and enjoyment of the
WOI k!nig man, or, as It is otherwise expressed, which it-
ter fore with the trade and Industry or the cruntry. Cur
readers may be [swore that the doctrine is not absolutely
mew, though we believe few ventured to proclaim It as a
prtocipleoi legtslatiou until a very few weeks ago. At the
Shenk- Id Conference of ilderatives, on the last morning of the
meeting, it was hurriedly resolved that henceforth the code(
maintaining the poetic cervices of the cone try ought to be
he rue by a tax on realised property, and within the lest
fdrtoight Mr. George Potter has addressed to us tome foto
or flee letters, in which he has used smeary covjecrural, not
to say imaginative, statistics in support of the same pro-
position It was almost a matter of course that Mr.
Potter should rave headed the Deputation which waned on
Sir Stafford North rote yesterday. He explained at
length to the new Chancellor o the Eine quer the
views he had obligingly condensed out of respect, as •e may
hop-, for the limited extent of our commo., and he was
supported with equal amplitude by sumer friends who appear
to be emulons of his distinction as the eel ositor of the new
doctrine Sir Steil ord Northcote herald thern with gravity,
and promised that proper attention Would be paid to tittle
arguments; and no one can quarrel with this conclusion,
provided that the attention paid to them is oulv " proper "
—that Is proportionate to the value of the representations
made to him.
A few such Deputations as have waited upon Sir Stafford
Northcote Miring the last we. k will make at. look back with
regret to the days when Mr. LIMO would scatter their
itoputsma and send them away with a nnnalliating, but truth-
ful. Impression of their shortcomings In economic knowledge.
It is very wen to be civil, but it is 110111etitaa5 better to be
kind. Mr. Fitter and his friends are understood to declare
that they possess a new financial doctrine which will put the
antiquated teaching of tree tale Me Mill, and of other atoc.alled
sclentine PCOI,IIWWS, to shame. "Let the producers of the
country be untaxed" is their prime dogma, "nail, in ceder
to carry out this pshariple to Its legltimase couclustop,
let nothing the producers commas be subject to any im-
post." Apart nit, gether from the question of justice In the
repartitildn of taxation 11.111,11 a all tex,ayare—apon which, we
may duress, we lay great store—lt may be easily shown,
first, that the principle of the I eaguers who went to
Downing-street to wholly Impracticable according to Its
true construction ; secondly, that the method of applying
it recommended icy the League is tot in cool ,rmity
with 14 even according to tire false construction they
tut upon It , and, thirdly, that it w, uld not realize the
financial results they precise, "Let the prom:hems of
the country be uutaxeu," they rage, and we ask, in reply,
who are there producers? late the case of the Cd-opers-
live Mill of the Rochdale Plot eery. Production IN main-
tained In that mill; and who work toaether to keep It up?
Are not the men who have contributed their savings to
build its waits, to buy Its macjilnery and infix it in the li eors,
to procure the raw cotton, and advance the wi rkmen their
wages while they are ergaeed In converting the raw material
Into he manufactured article, as much producers as the
workmen themselves? Are not capitalists as welts. operatives
mceseary agents In productlim ? Workmen can produce
nothing unless capitalists join them, for, if they could, they
would not stole producing when they go out on strike;
mid no capitalists can do 'lacing without workmen, or
they would not stop producing in a lock-out The
amassing of yeetcrday's Deputation was not let producers
be met, zed." but let operatives he untaxed." This dialler.
floe goes to the root of their principle, because their argu-
ment Is that oar taxes chock the development of industry,
dud, ori Chi, account, producers— ley which they understand
I peratives—shoulii be relieved. But, it cspiteliste are pre,-
outeers as well as operatives, we do not free indust-y by
shifting the burden of taxation upon them and let It be re-
mem meted that all capitalists aro producers, the shareholder
or bondholder of • railway as much as a shareholder in a
mill ; the mortgagee of a farm as much se a coaluwner
three only not beteg producers who hoard their wealth iill
,pecia. It Is an obvious conclusion that the principle
of freeing protection from the hernpering it finances of
taxat I en Is to:possible, for taxes must, a ith scarcely an ex-
cept on, be levied ors capltaliets or workmen, both of whom
are pr elucers and It most be added that, since the migra-
tion of capital is mire easy than the en 'grail-en of labour,
au attempt to saciele can't:via • with the excluaive burden
of the national expenditure would be most injurious to
labourers, whose interest it is to keep capital employed
at home, Mr. Potter's plan of taxing reallvd pro-
perty exclusively would simply tend to deprive work-
men of the means of work. But, secondly, It must be
observed that Mils new League do not follow out their
own principle, even as they falsely understand
When Slr Stafford Northcute asked them how they
proposed to replace the deficiency of Lie 04 000, or
thereabout,—the egnres are so large that we steed not he
particular to a milieus or two—that would be occasioned by
the sholltinn of the Customs and Excise Duties a •tenkes-
maa—hle Briggs—replied that be would raise £34,000 000
Vey a h useholoers tax, begluelog at the lowest range with
the eccupants of Mules under £5 • year 1,1 value. Are not
workmen householders Do they not, at least, occupy lodg-
ing.? Anti would not this 11,W tax be In either case •
burden upon them? We do not dwell on the cost or feasibi-
lity of collecting it ; we are corder t to insist that the tax
would be • tax on workmen as truly as ia the tax on Tea
or en Sugar, on Beer or on Gin, The "shackles" on work-
tog am would be shifted, not removed, and the 'apposed