Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1844-05-04

COulu HUI pay u ny uuupuDS anu ueOHDg 1
the present heavy taxation, which now crush
her people to the earth, Yes, double the
taxes Of Pennsylvania, and il would not
pay the interest Of her debt, let alone the
principal.
AS a Pennsylvanian, therefore, go for
the procee DIS of the public lands TO aid the
people of Pennsylvania to pay their debt.
Pennsylvania has a clear, legitimate, IN
doubted right to one-tenth part of the land
or IFS proceeds. The population Of Penn
sylvania is one tenth part Of the population
of the Union; and if we were to distribute
the land itself tomorrow among the States
of this Union, Pennsylvania would get
more than one hundred million acres of the
public lands. Would not that be an ample
fund in the end to pay off the debt of Penn
sylvania thrice told! Now, / claim, as a
Representative from Pennsylvania, her share
of the proceeds of the pulic lands; and |
hope no Representative from Pennsylvania,
who looks at the condition of his constit-
uents, crushed under this weight of taxa
ton, of unceasing and increasing taxation,
would vote against it. He thought that no
gentleman from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Louisiana, Alabama, Maryland, Michigan,
Mississippi, and other indebted States, some
of them more, and others almost as much,
indebted as Pennsylvania, in proportion to
their population and means, ought, and he
hoped none Of the Representatives of these
States would vote, to withhold from their
people their share of the land, and by so
doing, rivet taxation on them and their pos
terity forever. By the terms of the grants
or deeds of cesssion, these lands had been
coded by the States to the Union. And for
what! To pay the Revolutionary War
Debt. And when that was paid, the lands
were to 60 to the States, including the new
States, and those which had made the
cessions.
What does this Government want with
this fund? II has an abundance of reve-
nue., and if we relieve the people of the
States from taxation by giving them what
they are entitled to---the proceeds of the
public Landslide we not relieve the people
of these United States? Do we not relieve
the people of this Government from taxa
ton, when we relieve the people of the
States from taxation? (For the people of
the States and the people of the United
States are the same people.)
submit whether it is not right and fair
to relieve the indebted States of this Union
from the heavy burden of taxation which is
crushing their people, by giving them their
share of the proceeds of the public lands.
The tariff, go far as il operates as tax
upon the people, is the lightest form, and
least felt, inasmuch as the payment is en-
tirely voluntary: but the chief burden of
taxation in this form is thrown from the
people of this country upon the foreigner,
who is obliged to reduce the profits and the
prices of his goods, in order to get them
into market, wherever there is an Ameri-
can price established by American labor.
But, sir, there is another argument in ia
vor of distribution-so long as the proceeds
of the public lands come into the Treasury
of the General Government, we never can
have firm, sestled, established revenue pol
icy. The fluctuations in the proceeds OF
the sales of the lands in past years, varying
as they have from less than two millions 10
upwards of twenty-four millions per an
mum, if they are suffered to remain in the
general Treasury, we must raise and reduce
the tariff of the country correspondingly.
would take the proceeds of the lands and
give them to the States, if for no other rea.
son than to relieve the Treasury from this
unsettled policy, and to give the country a
firm and established revenue system.
In 1886, the public lands yielded upwards
of twenty-four millions, sum sufficient tC
defray all the expenses of Government anc
of course creating an immense surplus;-
then we heard the cry of ''repeal the tariff
down with the tariff-too much reve'
nue." But in two or three years the pro
ceeds of the lands sunk down to less thar
two millions of dollars; then was raised tht
cry 81 "up with the tariff" Thus, so lon!
as the proceeds of the lands, this uncertain
and fluctuating source of revenue, goes into
the Treasury, nothing can be settled or fix
ed in the tariff policy of the Government
hope, therefore, the representatives o
the indebted States will 60 with me ant
vote down this bill to repeal the distribu
> ton act, and thus relieve their tax-riddel
, people from the burdens of direct taxation
and at the same time relieve the Treasur.
from this source of revenue, which unset
ties and deranges not only the finances, bu
the trade and business of the country. Sii
this measure of distribution is equally i'm
portant to the non-indebted States; the
receive an equal proportion of the pro
ceeds Of the lands, which could be apple
to purposes of education or of improve
ment, or to whatever the wisdom of thei
0 people may direct
/ This measure of distribution is meas
e ure Of relief to the States, and | now pre-
e dict that we will have two parties in thl
= countryside 'relief party going for di;
v tribution. and the "anti-relief and tar pa