Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1845-03-05
POLITICAL.

auCe tue fiteS vi postage, &C.
Mr.. McDuffie. after few remarks, in
distinctly heard, said ne regarded j, as his
solemn duly not only 10 record his vote,
but TO protes, against this measure. 1t
was-in vain 10 disguise Its ultimate effect,
whatever might be its object. He look ii
for granted and could safely say, that
whatever ingenious specula,ions had been
heard upon this subject in support of low
rate Of postage as producing large in
crease Of correspondence, it was very diff
Ierent from the theory which prevailed
with the same Senators upon another sub
iect, (the TayiiT) He. ialtered himself
tha, there was not Senator here who
really believed that the post office estab-
lishmenl could he maintained under the
operation of this law, without being annu
ally thrown upon the national treasury 10
the amount of al least from one to two mil
lions of dollars. He would not discuss
il as a question Of maintaining the existing
system under such notifications as would
mitigate the burdens Of the community,
withou, destroying the revenue of the de-
partment. But he should discuss i, as
measure which would throw this depart
menl ultimately upon the national treasury
for its support. Insignificant as it might
appear TO some, Ill this respect, he resar.
ded it as one Of the most radical and revo-
lulionary movements in our fnahcia! sys-
tenn, ever attempted in the United States.
And what was the preteSt-what was the
ingenious disguise under which gentlemen
had presented this question to the Senate =!
To relieve The people from their burdens
the burdens Of postage. He would ven
iure 10 say that, Of all The burdens impo
sed on the people by this government, this
was one Of the least felt, and the Feast
complained o.. But how-viewing this
as question of paying the expenses of
the department out of its own income, or
paying them ont of the treasury-how was
it 10 relieve the people +! You relieve a
citizen from paying postage, aud then col.
lcct the money from him to pay iuto the
treasury, to indemnify the government
from loss. Wha, dclusion If the
amount saved to The person by THE reduc-
lion of duty he equal, fully equal, to The
tax which he pays 10 the government, in
order TO enable il 10 defray these eXpen-
ses, he receives no benef'. What was the
benefit of taxing man to pay money into
the treasury, in order 10 exempt him from
paying postage? What did he gain .
What could any body gain by such poll
cy as this! ltwas obvious that if the ben
eft of this reduction were to accrue TO the
same individual who paid the money into
the treasury, he could not gain by the re-
duction; but if the individual who was thus
benefited was not the person who paid
the money into the treasury, then ii was
unjust. You give the officers of The gov
c.nment The benefit Of The profitable agen
cy of collecting money, and paying il inIo
The treasury, that it may be paid ou again
10 the persons that it was collected from in
another shape, but curtaled by all Tie cx-
But the view or this subject which Struck
him mos, forcibly was, that. contemplating
the effects as they naturally were, this bill
was intended to exemp pi one larger class of
the community from the burden of postage,
snd to subject another class to the burden
Of taxation in order 10 effect this reduction.
lie did not know the existing condition
of things in the West. He presumed that
they were very similar to what they were
in the South but he knew this-that his
constituents. so fur from regarding their
postage as a burden to he complained of,
regarded il as almost the only benefit they |
received from the financial or general ope-
.alions Of this governmet.
Iu the whole region Of the West and
South the population was comparatively
sparse; and in those ,hinly populated por-
lions of the country the distribution of III
,elliseuce was matter Of vast importance:
fIe thought The Senate had heard some
thing in the early stage Of this debale,
about the Importance Of Communicating
and intelligence TO the people
of the Uunited States. The create, Pail
of The correspondence in this country was
carried on by the commercial aud manu-
facluring community. All the agrcullu-
raj portions of,he United States were made
up, particularly in the South and South.
west, Of 4 population who wrote very few
letters, and received very few. lie could
10, imagine an asricullurist who would
feel the burden of postage at a!I-cven If
doubled; and he believed he had not a
constituent who did not pay larger duty
upon the salt which he used annually than
upon his postage. He spoke of the asri-
cultural portion. Amongst these were the
cotton planters; and he would venture TO
say, speaking for himself, that if he were
10 pay the postage directly upon every let
ter which he received annually, the duty
that he paid upon his cotton bags would
be one hundred times greater than his pos
tase.
Now, were The people to be taxed on
the first year of this experiment Two mil
lioas, and then four millions; and, in The
course of fifteen years from this time, ten
millions of dollars thrown upon The public
treasury, TO increase the favors conferred,
aud swell The magnitude Of that oppressive
burden which was now thrown upon The
agricultural portion Of the community, for
the supppor, of the manufacturers Of The
north? Was this to be thrown upon the
people row to relieve those manufacturers
II