The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1854-09-20
A Few PIufn Facts, for the Hon
est Masses I'm Relation ~ the
state Debt, Whlg PecuItttOEl
Rank Taxation, &C. ~ 81

eNt MASSES I'm HclatiOH ~ tme
state Debt, Whlg PecuIlttiOEi,t
Bank Taxation, &C. 4
We have heretofore shown, that netwlth-
standing the cry raised BY the-Whig press
and Wing leaders, in regard to high taxes,
that fOr the legitimate purposes OF State goE-l
ernment the levy, has been steadily DE-
CREASING under Democratic rule. We
now propose to show that large portion Of
the State Debt has been liquidated, to have
done which, under Wing rule, would have
fequired large increase in the levy
the simple reason that sccordihg 10 the poll |
-cy and iavotitism OF the Whig or Ension par=
ty, over twenty millions Of taxable yaluables
now on the duplicate and which pays a tax
Of over three hundred and ffty thousand dol
lars per annum would have been exempted.
About the time the Wing party was turn
ed out Of power in the State, the public debt
amounted to nineteen millions, one hundred
and seventy-three thousand, two hundred
and twenty.three dollars and twenty-five
cents. THIS DEBT HAD BEEN CREA.
TED BY THE WHIGS payable st differ
ent times, but not yet due. When the
Democratic party came into power, they
found portion of the State debt about to
fall due, and no means had been provided by
their Wing predecessors to meet it, The
portion falling due was promptly paid, to-
gether with the interest on the remainder,
and on the 18th of November, 1853, the
public debt remaining unpaid was only fif-
teen millions, five hundred aud forty-two
thousand, FIVE hundred and ninety-nine dol
lars and eighty-seven cents-having been
REDUCED BY DEMOCRATS since the
Wings were turned out of power, the snug
little sum of THREE MILLIONS, SIX
HUNDRED AND THIRTY THOUSAND
SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTYTHREE
DOLLARS AND THIRTY FIVE CENTS
and if the same policy is continued, and
It is, as shown by an article from the Chill
licothe Advertiser in our last paper, in a few
years this incubus on the property of the
State will be entirely removed, and our tax
es then will be but rs a feather in the scale
compared with what they are at present.
But the reader may be ready to enquire
how have you been able to pay off SO much
of the State debt, and carry on the affairs of
our government without increasing the levy!
We will frankly answer, that-as has been
heretofore frequently intimated-it has been
done by an economical and faithful applica-
ton of the money collected in the shape of
taxes, and the further fact that wealthy ar
istocrats, who had their money invested in
corporations, and who shielded by Wing
| legislation, had only been taxed on their
profits, were compelled to pay taxes on their
property and money at interest the same as
| the Farmer, the Merchant and Mechanic
The Whlg party has always presented uni
ted front in opposition to this method Of tax
ing the lordly banker, but acquIesce in it as
the proper principle by which to tax the poor
man and the laborer. And, we charge,
plainly and unequivocally, that the present
bitter opposition to our State government,
and more especially to the present manage
ment of our fiscal affairs, arises entirely
from their innate hostility to equality Of tar-
alton, and which we claim to be the Demo-
cratic doctrine. '"
The Wing and Fusion press of the State,
bought up by the Bankers and Brokers, are
busily engaged in assaultng this principle,
1 and defending Bankers in their course OF
opposition to the laws of the State and de-
Tending with their utmost zeal the despotic
and aristocratc doctrine of "uested rights"
But no one ever heard them advocating that
doctrine except where it was necessary to
defend the special privileges Of the aristo-
cratic Bank nabob. .E"ou>Inf.
A few years ago Wing Legislature pass.
ed 2 "a" iul the organization of volunteer
military companies. 1t provided that where
companies were organized and uniformed
and performed military duty certain num-
Der of days in the year, they should be ex
empt from the performance of their two
days labor OH the public roads, and if they
thus performed military service in such com
pany for specified number of years, they
should forever be exempt from the perform
ance of said labor on the public highways
Here, then, is case having in it more tht
elements of a contract than bank charter
and certainly the culture of a military spir
it is more in accordance with the genius o
our institutions than the fostering oc specia
privileges, and certainly better as a, matte
of financial policy than the bartering away
of the right of taxation. We know of ma
nv companies organized under the law abov,
referred to, and who performed military du
ty for about two years, They accepted th'
terms of the grant--or the contract, as th'
Wings would call it-proyided themselve
with uniforms, and strictly complied will
the conditions on their part, and yet at'th
end of about two years a Wing Legislature
repealed this law, or in this language o
Whiggery, "with ruthless hands violate
the provisions Of this solemn contract"
Were the Wing papers then clad il
mourning at this want of faith on the par
of the, State! Did the Whig leaders an
bankers then step forward and raise, fun
; for the purpose. of testing the constitution
: atty Of the repeating act! No, and for tn
Il simple reason that the interests of capita
were not affected-it only operated upol
the brawny hands of the hardy sons of toll
and not upon the pockets of Wing aristo
Gratis But after Wings had attempted t,
! barter away portion of State sovereignt
(which the right OF, taxation unquestiona
bly, is-and Democratic Legislature, il
order to do equal and exact justice to all
3 reclaimed the right-a right to tax all prop
erty according to its TRUE value-then Viii
LEADERS, aided by venal press, become el
oquent in defence of what they term .'ves
ed rights" and bitter in their denuncia
tions Of the democrats, because an attemp
s was made to compel these pet monsters {
Wing creation to pay portion of their i'll
gotten gains towards the support of law an
government, and they raise by subscriptio
an immense fund for the purpose of settin
e law at defiance by any means-even to tn
: corrupting of the fountains Of justice. z,
n And what are these "vested rights" tn
. Wings SO zealously defend! The right
: have the use of our county jails in which
keep persons at the expense Of the count
twho counterfeits their deceitful prom
ises # to pav--the right to have our She