Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1854-05-11
REMARKS OF MIR. CREsWELL,
OLE RLAIR COrNTY.

Mr.. SPEAKER Il ask the attention Of the SEN
ate for short time, that I may give some of the
reasons that induce to support and vote for
the measure now under consideration. The pro-
position now before us, is to my mind so reason
able and just, if properly understood and regard
ed in its true light, that it is difficult to con-
ceive how there can be heard in this place a dis |
senting voice.
The argument so frequently used, and that |
has become familiar to all, against the repeal of |
the entire tonnage tax the Pennsylvania rail- |
road, that thereby the public works Of the State
would be impaired, and Cur revenue decreased,
docs not reach apply to the partial repeal
on coal and lumber, provided by this bill. Con-
siderations of local, and probably general
character, render the proposition different and
| distinct. Gentlemen who hostile to the one,
can, without subecting themselves to the charge
| Of inconsistency Of action give in their adhesion
| to the other.
The imposition of this tax upon coal and lum-
Der, amounts to almost an actual and absolute
! prohibition on the trade in those articles, where
they found too remote from the public works
to be accessible to them, but sufficiently conve
nient to the Pennsylvania railroad. Only small
intended for special object, am told, have as
yet been carried on this road. Lumber is not
seen upon it, except to be transported for short
distance, no tax being chargeable under twenty
miles. This being the fact, these articles re-
main and will remain in the state that nature
has left them, so long as the trade on them is
restricted by the means that it now is. The
coal will be left to slumbcr in the bowels of
the earth and the timber to be broken by the
storm, or decay the stump.
The State now reaps no benefit from the tax,
for the reason that there is no transportation of
these articles. She can derive no rcveaue, be-
Cause there is no trade. That which she has
never yet had, she cannot lose. She cannot then
be injured in the least, by the abrogatiOn of this
restrictive measure. / contend, and will
deavor to demonstrate that the adoption Of the
present measure will enure to the benefit of the
State-win promote its interests, and increase
its revenue
In this connection, speak Of the local inter
ests that l represent, and in which many of my
constituents are deeply concerned. There are
other localities doubtless in the State along the
line of the Pennsylvania railroad improvement,
to which the same reasoning will apply but
am unacquantcd with their geographical posi-
tions, will confine myself for the illustration of
the position assumed, to my own district. The
construction Of the Pennsylvania railroad has
been of more advantage probably to the district
; that represent, than any section of country
east of the mountains. 1t wends its way mme-
diately along side of the canal from Harrisburg
until it reaches Petersburg in Huntingdon coun-
ty. At this point it diverges from the canal and
traverses portions of Huntington, Blair and Cam
bria counties, that have been heretofore too re-
mote from the public works to induce 4 devel-
opment of their many resources, or TO afford
cheap and easy facilities to market for their pro-
ducrs. The sections of Blair and Cambria so
trayersed by this road, abound in bituminOus
coal, and the more useful varieties of timber
As revenue to market is ready for them
and local enterprise IS waiting the opportunity
to see this prohibition removed, that it may
gage in the work of developing the resources Of
this country-that is opening and waken-
ing up to life, and considerable portions of which
are now and have been heretofore considered al
most valueless.
If the repeal now asked for is accomplished
and the resources of this almost virgin country
arc developed, as they invariably will be, by a
rule created by the necessities of trade itself the
coal and lumber produced by this region will
seek the cheapest channel of transportation to
market as soon as it finds it. This will be the
Pennsylvania canal to Petersburg, in Hunting
don county, or some point near there. The ca
nal will then come in competition with the rail-
roads for the trade thus created 1t being an
} admitted fact that heavy tonnage, such as coal
and lumber, be carried by water at lower
rates than by railroads. it will of necessity take
; the canal at the point mentioned. Thus, trade
will be brought upon one hundred and forty
five miles of our canal that is now unknown to
it, and our treasury receive an increase that it is
: now deprived Of Admitting, however, for the
sake of the argument and for the purpose of
placing the subject in the worst possible aspect
that no transhipmcnt will take place at the point
designated and that the tonnage of that region
will find its way market i'll The cars OF the
Pennsylvania railroad company, still it is the
interest Of the Commonwealth, by removing the
burden of this tax, to allow it an outlet as, to
reach that market. it must be carried the
Columbia railroad seventy-one miles, and pay
toll over that portion of the State improvements,
and thus made to yield revenue where now none
is received.
Again, as result consequent upon the devel-
opment of these resources and the creation of the
trade referred to- the country itself will greatly
advance in intrinsic value, and another source
of freyenue is afforded to the State by the en-
hansed value of property that will be taxable
for State purposes. Property that is now of no
apparent worth for this purpose, and paying
nothing, will be so improved as to yield revenue