The Woodville Republican. [volume] (Woodville, Miss.) 1847-1853, 1850-09-03

'dht up tdtu OF lhtst points separately, tiiat
you may Judge how far YOU are practically
free and protected under the Government OF
the United StStes as now administered
And first, are you free in the imposition OF
the taxes You now pay to the General Gov
eminent! There are no people IN the world
who ought 50 thoroughly to understand, or
as highly appreciate the great principles OF
freedom involved in taxation, as the people
OF the United States. Its vindicaton was
the one great cause of our Revolution Our
fathers boldly asserted that for people TO be
free IN the imposition and payment of taxes,
they must lay them through their Represen-
tauves. If they were laid by any other au-
thority than their own, they were political
slaves. Hence, when they were called up.
on by the Government of Great Britain To
pay taxes laid on them by the Representa-
tlves OF the people of England, in Parlia-
mcnt they refused pay them. Nor could
they see any difference in the principle be.
tween no representation and representation
inadequate to protect them IN the paying OF
the taxes. Great Britain offered them
representation in the British Parliament. but
as the representation would be minority, it
could not control the legislation by Parlia.
ment; and, consequently, the taxes laid on
them 10y Parliament would still be PRACTICAL
ly taxes not laid by their Representatives.
They would still be ruled by others, aud
would not rule themselves in the taxes inn
posed They would, therefore, not be free
! and rather than submit to the political slave
ry ihe payment of sUch taxes established
over them, they drew the sword of levou-
ton. Now, III what respect do the taxes
you now pay to the General Government,
dllier IN principle from those our fathers re-
) sisted. Did yoW Representatives lay them?
And II II was III their power or yours to
repeal them, would they remain day on
: the Statute book The tariff act of 1916,
is but modification of the tariff of 1910,
: passed, in Congress against the vote of ev-
cry Representative from South Carolina. 1t
} contains, from beginning to end, dlscrimina-
tons IN the taxes imposed to benefit nothen
manufacturers and productions and differs,
therefore, iii this principle, in no respect
whatever from the tariff of 1910. 1t is ten
per cent. higher in its cxactions than the
tariff of Great Britain, or the tariff of 1888.
: coerced by South Carolina. Such tariff,
it was and rs the unanimous opinion OF your
Representatives, in Congress, is unconstitu.
. tional, and You are nearly unanimously of
the same opinion. Here then, are taxes
, laid upon you by the Representatives of 9TH
er States not only against your will but
: without any warrant i'll the constitution
, Are you any better off than your fathers
would have been, had they been represented
p III Parliament, and the British Representa-
| tives, to further British interests, lad passed
the taxes imposed upon them? Are YOU
} free in the payment of such taxes! Doyou
: rule yourselves in these exactions? And
when you come to analyze the purpose for
: which the high taxes are laid, they are in.
fnitely worse than tie taxes our fathers re-
fused to pay They refused to pay them, al.
though they were laid i'll part to discharge
the national debt incurred, to defend them
ia the war Of 1856.
But what interest has the southern man
or southern planter in the duties laid by the
act OF 1916 to benefit the Northern people in
: their pursuits ofludustry! So far as the law
! accomplshes its object and the consumption
ofnorthern productions is forced on the south
, ern consumer, by excluding the foreign
+ commodity, it is just so much money taken
from him and given to the northern producer
, 1t is naked robbery. II is real repubcansm
/ on far more flagtious scale, than is de-
manded in France. There, all that is rcquir.
/, ed of Government, is bread, or employment
to labor, which will give bread Poverty
and starvation afford some sembance of
night, for extorting a support, through Gov
+ eminent, from the property of others. But
> here, it is not bread the people of the north
require to be wrmg out of us by the taxes
} Of the government they impose, but wealth
: and power and dominion. We are their col.
I onles III more obsolete and oppressive
= sense, than the colonies of England are to the
y mother country. For whatever may be the
, prohibitions on the trade of the colonies i'm.
f posed by England she in fact furnishes to
r her colonies the cheapest manufactured com.
d modtes in the world, whilst she is the best
y consumer Of all their productions. The
= prohibitions, therefore, on their trade are
r almost entirely nominal. The case is wide.
c ly different betweent the Northern and South
e ern States. The northern people do not
= and cannot consume the productions of the
l. south, whilst they compel us, by the Tarf
S of the General Government, to consume
y theirs. Onr natural trade is thus interrup
ted. or broken up, to the immense loss o
S the south. Are you free under such sys
a TEN of taxation! Do you enjoy that liberty
t, in taxation which your fathers bequeathed t
e You in the constitution, and to.obtain whicl
e ahey toiled through the seven years war O
l. our revolution ?
d But let us turn to the next great test O
y liberty in taxation-the expenditure or tn
ir taxes. Asthe taxes should be laid by TIN
Is tax payer for his benefit, SO they should b.
l. expended by him for his benefit So far a
If the Civil List and the Army and Navy o
4, the United States are concerned, the take
y may be sad to be expended in conformity t,
a. IL L.