The Empire County argus. [volume] (Coloma, El Dorado County, Cal.) 1853-1857, 1853-12-31
Prosperity of the United States.

OF all the pacifcators which the present warlike
crisis has called into action, the difficulty Of finding
money is undoubtedly the most potent The Chan
cellor Of the EXchequer is, as Mr.. Gladstone truly
observes o6ico mari of peace. The difficulty of
making both ends meet renders the prospect of war,
appalling as it is at all times doubly appalling to
Financial Minister. That which cuts off the ways
and means while it enormously increases the cxpcn
diture-whch dams up the sources Of taxation at
the very moment when it is draining them dry
that which can convert surplus into deficit and
deficit into bankruptcyisa a legitimate object of
: financial adherence. Austria cannot keep the OK
! cess OF expenditure over income within the mon
strous amount fifty millions of horins In France
| Imperial omnipotence cannot cocrce the budget
within reasonable dimensions; and even we show
too much pride at our surplus for persons who re-
gard 1t rs durable and permanent possession But
there is one man iii the world; and that man FL
nance Minister, who is troubled with none of these
difhcultiesnay is ust now suffering under difficult
ties OF precisely contrary character The Ameri-
can Secretary Of the Treasury Mr.. Guthrie, is per-
secuted by an obstinate surplus, which cngs to him
like the Old Man o the Sea to the neck OF Sinbad,
and is perpctually claiming appropriation where no
means exist of dey0ting to the public service the
perabundant riches of the revenue This comes of
double system of taxation, of central govern
mcnt, confined to certain enumerated functions
which it cannot exceed anda local Government for
hidden to raise a revenue by means of custom hou-
ses on the frontier. The authors of the American
Constitution, when they considered and minutcly
defined what should and what should not, be left
to the central authority, never dreamt Of the diff
Guilty which the rapid increase Of capital would in
troduce in adapting the to the wants of the
State. 1t never occurred to them that the Central
Government would be too rich, and that Of the
most embarrassing problems for future statesmen
would have been easy; but the difficulty arises in
the peculiar nature OF a revenue from customs. 1t
is because that revenue has two-fold operation,
protective as we'll as financial that the difficulty has
arisen. Nobody is fond Of paying taxes for their
own sake and the resources Of the General Govern
mcnt would long ago have been cut down to a level
within its expenditure, if the question had not been
embroilcd by the fact, that large classes of Amcrl-
can citizens claim an interest in the imposition Of
taxes which the state no longer wishes to receive or
the people to pay. In other words, the question Of
Protection supercedes that of the duty OF the Gov
ernment to its subjects and requires that rev.
enue than is wanted should be raised, in order that
one part Of the community may levy a tax on the
other.
The advent Of free trade doctrines into America
has dismissed this apparent difficulty and the peo
pie are beginning to learn that raising revenue has
no necessary connection whatever, with showing
particular favor to any branch of industry. 1t does
not appear, from the tone OF the American papers
that they have yet acquired very clear or accurate
notions of the true limits extent Of the doctrines
of free trade One ofthem protests with much ear
nostness, against what he calls, in language more
expressive than accurate, a blind horizontal tariff
and another is eloquent ON the enormous evils which
fall upon country whose imports continually cx-
coed its exports. Still, however, if the theory be
not very accurate, the conclusions dcduccl are toll
erably sound. The dread of English competition
is much allevated by the increased cost of produc
ton, resulting from the effects of emigration tt
Australia, and confidence is telt-and that witt
great iustice-in the rapid increase OF capital, ant
the advance which has taken place of late years il
the management and application of machinery
Moved by these considerations, the great maorltJ
of the American people is prepared to second the
efforts of Mr.. Guthrie and to dvest him of that
perfuous wealth which he finds so grievous bur
den.
This is indeed a singular spectace-a great ma
ton voluntarily rerquishing Its revenue because it
has more than it knows how to spend and seeking
. to pay off their debt terms eXtremely beneficial
to the holders of stocks in order to be rid Of some
portion of the treasure which is poured into its LAY
against its will. We heartily wish Mr. Guthrie
, success in his undertaking. AS concomitanl to hi
free trade principles he is about to substitute sys
tenn of specific for al rul0rem duties. The fraud
that were committed under the former system seen
to have been barataced and innumerable, and We
doubt not that the revenue will be Il considerable
perhaps inconyenient gamer by thus transferring
the power of taxation from those who pay to those
who receive the tax
AltOnetucT, tIlc prospects vi inc iAC VA
cccdingly gratifying, especially as it can it would
seem, be effected without dispeasins any political
party. or making the repeal of the present duties a
portion of the capital Of any class OF politicians
is fortunate that the change comes in the shape OF
an mperious necessity and that in order to contin-
ne the present system, the American ProtcctlonistS
would have to require that taxes utter superauous
and in no degree whatever for the welfare Of
the State should be raised merely to enhance the
gains of the community.
1t is refreshing to turn from the contemplation Of
the worn out and etfete despoism of the Old World
where the revenues of the State absorbed by
!, prottless standing armies and squandcred in the
-, maintenance of II police employed to suppress
thought and spies organized to detect it-wherC
the annual deficit threatens to absorb in its ponder
Gus jaws ALL and more than ALL which can be wrune
from the exhausted peasantry-to this new and
I vigorous country actually bowed down by the weight
of its own prosperity, and embarrassed in selecting
those burdens which it is actually compelled by the
force of circumstances to remit. With us, when a
little surplus gives the opportunity of remission
there always so many njustices to remedy, SO
many grievances to redress, that the difficulty ofse
lection is extreme, and every remission gives almost
as much pain as pleasure, by the disappointment it
inhicts the advocates ofother remissons. In the
United States the difficulty seems not to choose
which ola number of pressing is most urgent,
but to find any pressing at all. We congratu-
late our transatlantic brethren on the exuberence
of their resources, and sincerely hope that the diff
cultV of finding tax remit. be the only one