The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-22 00:00:00

d attic element. We must look to these points, toi
the mental diversion of ;the manual worker, and to I
the proper habitation of himself and his family, be-
fore we can hope to break the fatal spell of the gin
palace, and to see a sensible:diminution either in the
revenue derived from alcoholic liquors, or in the
£7,000,000 or £8,000,000 cost us annually by our

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pauperism.
Mr.paxTEß, at the close of his analysis, finds him-
self face to face with some important questions. In
their direct action the taxes do not bear heavily on the
working man ; but he asks whether indirecty they do
:9W I not press hardly on him ? To this we may answer
- all the more readily in the affirmative, as undoubtedly
)AI IMr. BAXTER'S estimate of the consumption of tea
and sugar among the working classes, is far too low.
The taxation of the United Kingdom is unques- Tea is their great domestic staple, and if the men are
tionably a subject which interests us all, and very not always contented with it, they take their share,
of ten when the public has been vainly appealed to on while their wives and families as a rule take tea two
grounds of reason, humanity, or justice, its attention or three times a day. Even accepting Mr. BAXTER'S
has been successfully aroused by an argument ad- estimate, the £5 a year paid in the form of taxes,
dressed to the taxpayers. Taxes are never popular, direct and indirect, by the working man out of his
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, even in the income of £7O, is a far heavier burden than the £960
richest country in the world, has often an ungracious ' which he allows to be paid by the fortunate owner of
task. Just now economy is the order of the day, I £lO,OOO a year. As regards occupation, again, the
but we apprehend that although the British taxpayer direct rating of the poor, which Mr. BAXTER admits
will find a very satisfactory diminution in the nominal I to be too often higher in amount than the suburban
number of clerks, deputies, and other official super- rates of the rich, presses very heavily upon the poorer
numeraries, there will be very little actual decrease in householders. Amongst the remaining topics, upon
the ministerial demands upon his purse and his pa- which Mr. BAXTER invites discussion, are the gnu-
deuce directly and indirectly. tions regarding the inequality of licences or taxes on
It was certain then that Mr. DUDLEY BAXTER'S trades, and the doubt whether any injustice is in-
paper on the taxation of the United Kingdom, read flicted on the professional man or trader in the rela-
the other evening before the Statistical Society, I tions between land and personalty.
would attract a fair share of attention. Mr. BAXTER We have to thank Mr. BAXTER for so thoroughly
says that we all pay taxes, but scarcely one of us examining a matter of such importance, and, whether
knows how much we pay, and how the money is or no we accept his conclusions, and agree with the
taken ; he therefore endeavours to fathom some of inferences which be draws, we must acknowledge the
the secrets of taxation and to allot the share each in- fair and candid spirit in which he has conducted his
dividual has of the burden. He begins by dividing laborious inquiry. The questions raised by the con-
it into four beads, taxes on income and capital; sideration of the facts and figures which he has laid
licenses or taxes on trades and professions; taxes before us are of national importance, and it will be
on food and stimulants ; and lastly, rates or local for the benefit of all classes if they receive the atten,
taxes. These four points correspond with four great tion which they merit.
controversies, and as a general rule we may conclude
that wherever there is heavy taxation there is
controversy. The sum total of our taxation,
according to Mr. BAXTER, is about £83,000,000.
The total amount of all taxes on income and pro-
perty is £17,671,000, of which 3 per cent. is paid out
of income and 14 out of capital. Mr. BAXTER'S
theory on this point is that taxes levied on capital
ought to be applied to the reduction of the national
debt ; they ought not to be devoted to the current
expenditure, because they diminish the capital of the
Country. Coming to the consideration of the taxes
on trades and professions, Mr. BAXTER informs us
that it was a maxim of Government in the olden
days that dealers in taxable commodities must them-
selves be taxed for selling articles of such increased
value, while dealers in untaxed commodities might
escape. To this distinction must be ascribed the
licenses imposed on wine merchants and tea dealers,
while ironmongers and drapers needed none. After
an analysis of the total of £4,869,000, or more than
per cent. on the gross income of the nation, raised
by these taxes, our statistician proceeds to subdivide
the taxes on food and stimulants into three parts. 1.
Taxes on necessaries, which consist nowadays of the
shilling duty on corn, producing £870,000. 2. Taxes
on semi-necessaries, such as tea, coffee, sugar, sago,
&c., Mich produce £9,470,000. 3. Taxes on alco-
holic liquors and tobacco, which yield the enormous
sum of £29,120,000. Taxes of this class return
£89,560,000, or nearly half the actual taxation of the
United Kingdom. This view of the subject naturally
gives rise to very serious considerations, more espe-
cially as we apprehend that Professor LEONE LEVI is
right in objecting to Mr. BAXTER'S division of the
expenditure among the three classes of the commu-
nity. Unfortunately there can be no question that
the sum which the working man pays to the Exche-
quer, through the medium of the taxes on alcoholic
liquors, is altogether out of proportion to his income.
Of course, we are speaking of the working men
as a class, to which there are honourable
exceptions. Professor LEVI, on examining this ques-
tion, declares his conviction that if the working men
would be but sober they would pay but little to the
revenue. He attributes the increase of pauperism
and crime throughout the country to the excessive
consumption of spirits among our working classes,
and, although this is one cause among many, there is
some truth in the charge. Mr. BAXTER admits that
there is a wide margin left after all his calculations.
He tells us that the result of his examination tends
to show that the actual distribution of taxation in the
United Kingdom bears upon men of temperate habits
iu nearly the following proportion :—A wealthy man
with £lO,OOO a year pays £960 ; a professional man
or tradesman with £5OO a year, £52 ; a workman
with £7O a year, £5. But besides this portion of
the taxes, which provides for temperate indulgence in
alcoholic drinks, there is a residue of taxation —more
than £10,000,000—derived from these drinks sufficient
to supply 15 additional gallons of beer, and nearly
two-thirds of a gallon of proof spirits per head to
22,000,000 persons" This, adds Mr. BAXTER, is the
liquor fund of the intemperate, which it would not be
fair or possible to allot in averages over the population.
It is the fine on intemperance imposed by the State.
If, however, it were possible to divide to each class
of the community its share in this vast aggregate, we
apprehend that the result would considerably affect
the percentage of 7 per cent., which Mr. BAXTER
allows for the pressure of taxation on the work-
ing man's income. The system of taxation does not,
in Mr. BAXTER'S opinion, bear unjustly on tem-
perate men, but the victims of the gin palace
make a dark side to the picture. " Out of their folly
the nation draws ten millions of money—an eighth
of her whole revenue, almost sufficient to support her
army, more than sufficient to support her destitute
pos." We may add to this the question how much
this revenue of ten millions costs the State in the
form of pauperism and crime? We may very much
doubt whether there would be much profit out of
this important contribution to the revenue if we had
the power to trace accurately the relation between
cause and effect. No Legislative enactment will suf-
fice to repress this growing evil. We must, in the
first place, amend our workmen's homes, both in town
and country, for the thronging population of the
city, and the scanty supply of cottages in the fresh
open fields, tend to the same result. So long as we
have the present fearful system of over-crowding, of
close air, foul smells, bvl and insufficient water, and
all the attendant evils, moral and physical,
we must inevitably have our gin palaces
crowded, and our labouring population
Fuffering in mind, body and estate. Physical
and moral degradation go hand in hand, and
the exhaustion consequent upon the vitiated atmo-
sphere, and the depressing surroundings of the man,
whose frame is wearied with constant toil, is a more
powerful agent than any temperance missionary can

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LOA DON, FRIDAY, JAN. 22, 1869.

THE new Ministry has hastened to redeem one of
its pledges. On no point of policy had Mr. GLAD-
STONE been so decisive, on no issue had he so
directly challenged his opponents as on the reduction
of expenditure and the consequent diminution of the
national burdens. On none has the Ministry
displayed such anxiety to justify the confident
challenge of its leader. There is now no reason to
doubt that the question of " What-will he do with
it ?" will soon confront Mr. LOWE in the form of
the surplus which Mr. GLADSTONE declared the late
Ministry had needlessly lost, but which their succes-
sors would not fail to regain. Nor are signs wanting
as to the probable issue of this economy. Mr.
BRIGHT'S declaration in favour of " a free breakfast
table " was not so much anterior to his assumption of
office as to be without great weight ; it was repeated
at Birmingham in the immediate prospect of an
electoral victory, and received in substance the public
support of the PREMIER. When the economic
policy of the Government has produced its natural
effect, there can be no doubt that the taxes on
useful articles of consumption will receive the most
serious consideration. Scarcely less formal than the
pledge of the Ministry to reduce the expenditure of
the nation is its promise to attempt a diminution of
the burdens which are common to all classes. The
arguments why any surplus should be applied to this
purpose are many. Such a course is in accordance
with Mr. GLADSTONE'S successful policy : he
has never yet been able to deal fully with the chief
items of indirect taxation, but he has rarely left them
wholly out of consideration. The reduction of the
taxes on food is decidedly the means by which
economy can be of the greatest advantage to the
greatest number. The burden presses upon all alike,
and the benefit of a diminution is experienced by all,
especially by the poor. The working man is not
taxed upon property, but the levies upon food and
the local rates press most hardly upon those who
are least able to bear them. Taking all imposts into
consideration, it is certain that the weight of taxation
increases in proportion as the income diminishes. If
the classes which live by manual labour escape all
charges on property, the percentage which they pay
on articles of food is much above that contributed by
the rich, and considerably in excess of those levied
on the middle classes. With regard to local rates
the comparison is similar. The rich family pays,
according to Mr. DUDLEY BAXTER'S estimate, 35.
in the pound ; the middle-class family 3s. ad., the
poor family 4s. Add to this the enormous sums paid as
fines on indulgence, chiefly in the form of alcoholic
liquors—a burden which falls most heavily upon the
working classes, and which presses on the innocent
and guilty alike—and the calculation is complete.
The poor contribute the greatest proportion to
the revenue. And, in face of an ever-increasing
pauperism, a policy which shall lessen the taxes
on food must, other things being equal,
be of the greatest advantage to the nation, as it is
most in accordance with the well-established prin-
ciples of economic science. The taxes on tea and
sugar are most unproductive, because the cost of
collection is greatest ; and they are most oppressive
because the price of the articles taxed rises,
as we have previously shewn, more than the
amount of the imposts. The cost of maintaining the
collecting establishments comes from the taxpayer,
whilst the interest on dutieoaswell as theprofits on cost
price, is charged to the consumer. Nor is the amount
derived to the revenue so great but that a consider-
able reduction may be made without danger.
Taxes on food and luxuries produce half
the revenue ; but luxuries bring twenty-nine
millions ; necessaries not ten. Without realising all
that is indicated by Mr. BRIGHT'S free-breakfast-
table project, much of this burden on food might be
taken off by a comparatively small surplus. The
fines upon intemperance, as Mr. DUDLEY BAXTER
calls them, neither can nor ought to be removed ;
the fines upon industry are precisely in the reverse
case.

hope to be.

If we could provide more rational amusement for
the mass( s, if we could open cheap and entertaining
reading-rooms, lecture-rooms, panoramas, or dio-
ran is views, concerts, and public readings, we should
be doing something towards redressing a monster
evil. All such entertainments should be made at-
tractive and interesting, such as a man withouu much
preliminary knowledge, or a special taste for study,
can really enjoy and not have too much of the di-

THE " PRESENT" PERIOD.-Of late years many.
corporate bodies have adopted the practice of issu-
ing an annual, ordinarily with an almanack com-
bined. One of these periodicals has just been cir-
culated by the Royal Insurance Company, and may
be had at the head offices in Liverpool and London,
or at either of their twelve branch establishments
in Great Britain and America. In its " getting up"
this almanack is a specimen of typography, with its
eleven chromo views of branch offices of this
wealthy company ; and its carefully-compiled calen-
dar is faced by blank pages for memoranda. The
accompanying annual report will gratify every-
one interested in prudential progress generally,
while the numerous tables on fire and life in-
surance will guide lingerers on the path to provi-
dence. The concluding pages contain a brief biog-
raphy of the late Lord Brougham, and an obituary
of Mr. Percy Matthew Dove, one of the founders,
and a ruling spirit of this distinguished company.
The cursory notice of this good and able man's life
will be read by many thousands with a sorrowing
interest; but his useful career and the lasting crea-
tion of his active mind will continue a monument
of the man and an incentive to others to benefit
their age and posterity. Allusion to this elegant
diurnal companion for the desk and the domicile
offers occasion to notice the progress of the Royal
Insurance Company. Its foundation, in 1845,
was during a year of political and financial excite-
ment, and its upward development has continued
through many trying commercial periods. To have
been so well founded and built shows that its eleva-
tion is the i csultof directorial prudence and the exercise
of great technical knowledge by the principal officers.
Fortunate in an undeviatingly able administration
the Royal has gone on, until in its twenty-fourth
year (as stated in the i?Vort) it never stood higher
in public estimation nor 11,•cl so large a constituency;
whilst its life bonuses are recko 2 ed amongst the larges t
ever continuously declared by any company, its pro-
gress being almost unparalleled in the history of in-
surance institutions. By very satisf.:ltory figures
it appears that the present yearly increasing income
approaches £BOO,OOO, the security for fire and life
claims resting'on a capital of two millionssterling and
a large reserve fund. This increase being over £2,000
daily, including Sundays, proves that society's po-
pularity and influence. A main pillar of the Royal
is its unquestioning certainty and promptitude in
satisfying all its just claims, few institutions being
readier to fulfil the duties and purposes for which
they are designed. So long and honourable a
career is a pledge that the Royal will gather
further renown, and be remotely remembered as a
commercial glory marking the unrivalled reign of
Victoria.— (Aso ver.