Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-07-03

partment OF political economy. Tho tremen
dous influence of the Government disburse-
ments in the distribution Of national wealth,
seems to have been overlooked by the ablest
men in Europe. until tho termination Of the
wars which grew out of the French revolution
The great distress which was produced in Eng
land by the transition from war to peace. and
| tho consequent curtament of the annual loans
and disbu, sements of the Government, to the
extent, Of something like one hundred millions
dollars, disclosed tn statesmen of that country
| the true secret of the immense financial rpsour
ces which had carried them through the war;
and which were apparently ms miraculous, as
| the military resources of the French Emperor
| They made the important discovery that the ag.
Sre2ate wealth Of a nation, and particularly its
pecuniary resources for war, arc scarcely dimin-
ished ut all by the heaviest taxation, so long as
tho revenue collected is discussed within the
country; aud that almost the whole operation
consisted, not in destroying capital and wealth.
but in transferring them from one class Of the
community to another.
Sir, am greatly within tho limits Of what
might affirm, when say, that taxes, to the a
mount Of FIVE millions of doliars, levied on the
southern States, and disbursed in distan. parts of
the confederacy, nre more burthensome and OBJ
pressve than taxes to the amount Of ten mil.
lions would I've if disbursed amongst those States
IL IS great error to suppose that the collection
and disbursement of revenue annihilates lust so
l
To exempfy this 1T us suppose that Congress
should provide for tho annual appropriation Of
three millions of dollars (as l fear it soon willy
Tor revolutionary pensioners let us further sup.
pose that the Now England States should receive
! IN pensions, three times much as they wouth
lose by the combined operation of tho State
taxation and federal disbursements Vermont
would annually receive, judging from her pre-
sent pension list, about two hundred thousand
dollars of this pension fund. Now. some body
must pay the iaxesh ny which these pensions are
provided: the Government cannot create mo.
nry, like Midas, by converting every thing it
touches into gold. Whoever they may he tina,
pay these taxes. it is certainly burthen 10 them.
nbstracting precisely so much from their annual
income. The money goes to Vermont, and is
paid TO the pensioners and the old theory as
sumcs that il is so much productive capital for
ever vanished and gone. But, it is not so. Al
most the precise sun Of money which was ia
Ken from the tax payers, is now in the hands of
the pensioners, and is just as productive as it
ever was. The pensioners may themselves ap.
ply IT to some useful and profitable bushes a nd
II thsy do not, the very first persons to whom
they pay 1t away almost certainly will. What,
then, Is the amount of the aggregate national
loss of wealth resulting from this operation d
| 1t is precisely the which these pensioners
would have produced ny their labor, without the
pensions. beyond what they now produce by
that labor alter receiving the pensions; and
cent. on the sum they receive from the Gov
ernment. Ii the pensioners should prove to be
industrious men, and apply their incomes to
some productive purpose, the national loss will
he reduced To mere trihe. 1t will consist not
indeed, of the expenses Of collecting and dis
bursting, for even these will accrue to the bene-
it of the collecting and disbursng officers, but
it will consist Of the sum which those officers
would have made IN some private pursuits, if
they had not been unproductively employed
10y the Government.
have selected this single instance Of the eff.
feet of tho Government disbursements, as an H.
iustration OF the whole. In pecnniary point
of Wow, tho nation loses, in the aggregate, only
the sum which the officers. soldiers sailors. and
other persons employed by the Government, are
prevented from making in some productive en-
ployncDt. This would not amount, upon an
average to moro than five millions of dollars,
| on revenue of twenty four millions collected
and disbursed 10y the Government. The re-
manning nineteen millions are merely transfer
red from those parts Of the Union " here the tax
es are levied, to those in which they are distri-
buted without any aggregate diminution of the
national wealth. In a country like England,
having so small territory, this oper elton e
scarcely felt The bur,hens of the taxes, and
the benefits of the disbursements are so equally
distributed every where, that the one is almos,
completely counterbalamced by the other. In
the United States II Is almost precisely the re-
verse. in South Carolina and Georgia. for ex-
ample, States which contribute probably three
times their proper quota Of taxation, amounting
to upwards of five millions, there have not been
annually expended one hundred thousand dol
La 8 for the last ten years. Almost the whole of
revenue of twenty-four millions of dollars is
distributed north Of the Potomac, principally
among the manufacturing States; adding addi-
tIoDal stimulus to their industry, already too
highly stimulated by the enormous boupties of
The protecting system. In the exact degree that
these unequal disbursements enrich the north
ern States, it is self-evident that they must i'm
poverish those Of The South. 1t is a perennial
current which constantly flows out and never re-
turns, and must Inevitably exhaust any fountain
however abundant. Ii is precisely as if the
taxes collected in one country were 1isbursed in
another and will venture The opinion, that, If
the taxes raised 10 Englan for the last twenty
years had been disbursed the continent
the whole island would have been al this mo-
ment, desolate waste.
III, sir, these views Of the pernicious influence
OF the taxation, protection, and disbursements
OF TINS Government, upon the prosperity Of the
planting States rested solely on speculative rea-
sonlDg, might be disposed to dstrust the results
OF that reasoning, however clearly made out
But, sir, live in country where the orpres-
s've influence of this system is practically felt !;
and where impressive memorials are every
where scattered over the farest region that the
sun of Heaven ever hone upon, bearing testimo-
ny to the truth of the exposition | have present.
ed. The historical and statistical phenomena of
the manufacturing and planting States for the
last sixteen years, gives the most ample and
conclusive confirmation to all that have said
on this subject.
ain, every thing in the political and commer-
changes. TPanfInU q al