The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-02 00:00:00

RAGS AND TAXES.

In all our vast and variou3 processes of manufacture
there is scarce such a thing as waste. The most precious
as well as the rudest materials have every filing, paring,
shred, and picking swept up, preserved, and either re-
produced for the original purpose or worked up into
some inferior or special manufacture. The floors of
the silversmith are brushed and washed, and-
every glittering grain sent back to the crucible. The
bookbinder's rags with which he rubs the lettering and
gilt-edged leaves are burnt to give back their gold. Glass
broken into a theusand pieces rises from the melting to
use again. Our worn-out pots and pans give what of
tin hard scrubbing has left them to the chemist in the
shape of stannate for the use of calico-printers.
The dipping' and parings of hides go to the glue-
maker, and his refuse in its turn is boiled for tallow.
The bones of our roast beef of Old England are
saved and burnt, and ground either to paint black
for us or scattered on the land to send up more grass for
beef. Even the suds of woollen factories and cotton-
printers are made to restore the fat that made their soap.
The sweepings of our woollen-mills, silk-mills,and cotton-
mills are all preserved and used; the very cleanings of
flax can be turned to good account; there are no rags
too murky or old or worn for the paper-mill; the beggar's
tatters that even unwashed can be worn no longer come
back to my lady's boudoir a beautifully-printed, hot-
pressed, fashionable novel.
Our present purpose, however, is not to trace the suc-
cessive uses and transformations of materials, but to
call attention to the fact that rags, flax, and cotton re-
fuse can only be raised to the dignity of paper by pay-
ment cf a tax. There is no tax on cotton, flax, silk, or
wool; no matter where they are grown, we have them
clear of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; they Pa"
through spindle, and loom, and print works, and the
hands of sempstresses and tailors, untaxed. There is no
tax on the old clothes man's bag, nor the rag-gatherer's
black doll—no tax on the bale of rags
France; but lot them, or any other sweepings or savings,
eome under the steam and water of a paper-mill, no
sooner are they seen with a clean face than forthwith the
excise officer claps his paw upon them. In their new
form they must pay for air their past exemptions. Rags
and refuse, by virtue of machinery, on the way to make
boxes or buttons, pin-papers, teatrays or wrappers for
goods, envelopes or letter-paper, drill-boards for pressing
cards for the jacquard-loom, or the raw material of
books or newspapers, must pay three-halfpence for
every pound.
Fling the rags in the street; let them rot and breed
pestilence; they pay nothing! Pack the cotton waste in
mill corners until it take fire, and burns the factory
down; it pays nothing! Litter your horses or thatch
your cottages with straw; it pays nothing! But make
paper of them, whether it be as a wholesome caution
agains
• t the exercise of ingenuity and skill, or as pre-
ventive of the over-cheap circulation of useful
knowledge, we don't pretend to say, but the Chancellor
of the Exchequer must have his rags, and refuse to tax
his three-halfpence a pound avoirdupois on the paper, be
it of linen or cotton, silk or straw, peat or woollen,
thick or thin. There is no rest for rags in the regions
of paper unless they pay the Charon of the Exchequer
the three-halfpence to ferry them over the oblivious
waters of the paper-mill.
We beg of all British exhibitors that they show no
paper of any sort at the Exhibition; or, at all events,
that, if they do, they be careful not to expose the chief
of our Exchequer to the derision of all nations for set-
ting up his excisemen to preside over our rag washings,
to tax every pamphlet, paper, tract, and book, on which
any one dares to send forth knowledge to the people.—
Expositor.