New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-09-28


and extensive Men of active minds and known
capacity electioneer with much zeal to obtain 1T,
and it requires great popularity to be elected to
hold it. The emolnments are so large that can
see no reason why Justice of the Peace within
the corporate limits of the City Of NewOrleans
should be excepted from the general provision OF
article 1876.
The amendment by Mr.. Castellanos was laid
upon the table.
The article was adopted without amendment.
TAXATION.
s Article 127. Taxation shall be equal and
uniform throughout the State. After the year
1S4S. all property on which the taxes may be
levied in this State, shall be taxed in proportion
to lis value, to be ascertained as directed By
law No one SPECIES ofproperty shall be taxed
higher than another species Of property of equal
value on which taxes shall be levied. The
Legislature shall have power to levy an income
tax, and to tax all persons pursuing any occu-
patton, trade or profession"
Mr. ST. PAUL offered the following substitute
ssArticle 127. Taxation shall be uniorm
| throughout the State, and all property shall be
taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascer-
tanned as directed by law, and no one species of
property shall be taxed higher than another
species Of property Of equal value, on which
| taxes shall be levied Provided. however, that
property holders whose whole estimated taxable
fortune amounts to less than three thousand
dollars, shall he entitled to a deduction of one
fourth; those whose whole taxable fortune
amounts TO less than two thousand dollars, shall
| be entitled to deduction of one-third; and
and those whose taxable fortune amounts to less
| than one thousand dollars, shall be entitled to
| n deduction Of one-half the amount Of taxes for
which their property may be assessed. And all
corporations authorized by law to lay and levy
| taxes on real estate and slaves, shall be bound
| to adopt the same rule in the collection thereof
| The Legislature shall have power to levy an in
come tax, and to tax all persons pursuing any
occupation, trade or profession -
| Mr.. ST PAUL-In presenting this substitute,
\ ! advocate the insertion in our Constitution OF
a clause which will be the first step taken in our
| country towards the physical melioration of the
social position of large class of our fellow
citizens, but feel confident that the haste dis
played by the high pressure-steam Constitution
making Assembly will not suffer them to pause
and weigh deliberately the great Importance of
the principle which it involves. 1 foresee that,
in discussing this proposition, l cannot expect
even so much as a fair inquiry into the motives
! which have impelled me to bring before you, in
q practical and practicable form, the realiza-
ton of one of the noblest dreams of modern
philanthropists. | know, sir, that even many
Of those whom / now address will not hesitate
in stamping this substitute resolution as the off.
spring Of the Socialist idens which, it is alleged,
are now convulsing the old and rotten States Of
Europe. But without accepting, unqualifedly
the odum which they think ought to attach to
every measure savoring Of social reform, will,
at once, repel the aspcrsion. by placing the pre-
sent resolution under the auspices of some Of the
greatest and noblest thinkers of this and the
| last century, and invoke as shield against any
| farther misconception. the names of Smith,
Ricardo and Say, the immortal leaders of the
science of Political Economy.
| 1t would seem from the manner in which the
proceedings Of this Convention are conducted
that each one of the members composing the
majority has received from his constituents a
special mandate. to the solitary effect of hurry
ing through the fundamental principles of our
| social compact, in order to reach and volunta-
rily tear and uproot the noxious barriers which
the Constitution Of 1916 had raised in the way
| of stock -jobbers and bank-scheme- concoctors
to the glory and still greater profit of certain
leading capitalists 1t is true that, here and
| there, as we have gone along, we have Topped
off every political restriction which stood in the
| way of street politicians and party agitators
and that we have rendered the road to civil
honors as smooth as could suit the ambitious
designs OF the great manufacturers of public
opinion. But | hold it as a truth that the
sources of the happiness of mankind do not all
lie within the limited compass of the exercise OF
| political franchises and that if, on the one
hand, man, as the noblest creature of God, has
a right to preserve unimpaired the sacred de-
posit OF independence and personal freedom, he,
az member OF the great family of mankind,
must also have a share in the enjoyment Of
those blessings of domestic happiness, which it
is the object of organized society to secure for
all. 10 attain this end, society must throw
| open to him the avenues to comfort and indie
pendence, and foster and encourage the innate
thirst of man for the acquiring of property
Thus encouraged, this desire to possess will Gre
ate competition and lead to the parcellng out
Of that common property of all men-the soil of
their native land, and thus make each happy
possessor interested in the preservation of the
political institutions of his country
1t is the boast Of this great Republic that, in
the majority of our States, a law has been
| passed, which, had it existed in Rome or in
| France, the names of Cataline and Robespierre
would never have come down to us-a law, sir,
which would have saved torrents of human
blood, and forever prevented the starting of the
wild schemes OF the agrarians of every age and
cline, and which, by securing to the many, n
portion, however small, of the necessary COM
forts of home and family, would ever have pre-
served permanent basis for society: l refer
to the homestead exemption bill, which protects
every head of family in the enjoyment Of such
movable and landed property as will, at any
time, afford shelter to his wife and children
How could we, for instance, expect the poverty
| stricken operative of Manchester or Liverpool
to desire the perpetuaton Of an order of society
which, at the same time that it proclaims him
+" a free son of Great Britain cooly decimates
his ranks by starvation, and leads through
shame and misery, his daughter to prostitution
and his son to the felon's Jail. The proposition
which l now lay before this Convention, con-
slider as the necessary corollary of the Home
stead Exemption bill passed by the last Legsla-
ture, and calculated to stimulate our working
classes to the acquiring of real property, by
| tightening, as much as possible, the burdens i'm
posed upon it. The idea of progressive taxation
is, as have already observed, the beloved child
of the great school of political economists, and
will at once show what line Of division there
exists between them and the socialists
| The political economist carries the progress
sion up only to what may be termed the 's mean
point OF domestic happiness; that is to say, up
to that amount Of property which may, on an
average, be considered as placing q man above
| want have, for instance, found, after mature
reflection, that any one head of family possessed
OF over $4,000, or worth that amount of property,
was with the addition of his own personal in
dustry, enabled to support a family of the ordi-
nary number; and there | stopped my progress
sion, as it would be odious to attempt to punish
man for being, by superior industry, talent or
even chance. richer than his neighbor And
here, precisely at the point where the economist
stops, commences the folly of the socialist who,
regardless of equity and justice, continues his
progression ad fnfnitum, thereby inHieting an
actual penalty on what l called before, superior
industry, talent OF even chance
But the real philanthropy Of this mode of