There should be a supply of means abundantly sufficient to pay the interest and part of the principal of such loans at stated periods. To raise this amount, a tax of fifty-four cents per cent. As to slaves. These constitute the chief item of value in Southern property, and may themselves be considered as indicating an ability in the owner to pay. The origin and character of the war in which we are engaged would seem to make this species of property more particularly bound for its support.
Real estate offers the next great subject of taxation.
This naturally divides into town lots and country property. It is not practicable, however, to present a separate estimate of town property, because in four of the States no separate return is made of town lots. If it be deemed expedient, therefore, to vary the rate of taxation, the product of the tax will be conjectural. The possession of land is not as distinct an indication of ability to pay, as the ownership of negroes. Much of it is unproductive, and where it is cultivated by the owner himself, a state of war calls him away from its cultivation.