Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1856-02-20
Taxation

Gov Wise is true TO the promises OF the campaign
Upon the stump. he told the people he was in favor
OF taxes until they grodaei, grodRed, grodned =
He sticks 10 that doctrine in the last message of his
which we have published He says:
'Can Virginia bear more taXationl
al maintain that her taxes not great as they
ought be, in proportion to her wealth and her
cessites for taxation"
There are always two sets of people in the world
those who produce and those who spend. His Ex-
celency takes rank with the last He knows nothn;
about the labor necessary to produce. He probably
never spent an hour in his life in what the Political
Economists call productive industry" He is by
habit and occupation of the natl consumer,
.fruges-born to eat other peoples bread. plea
SAINT occupation A large tax, therefore, is to him
n source of enjoyment and augmented vitality. In
fact his very existence is dependent on the amount
Of burdens laid upon others shoulders. If the la
boring people of the commonwealth were not taxed,
he would Starve His meat and drink extracted
from their sufcrings He then, is consistent in
ging increased taxes, on principle And as soon as
the class to which he belongs the unproductve
sumers shall become the majority of the cOmmuni-
ty he will be able to carry out his principle into
practice That is taxation of the industrious for the
benefit of the idle.
His proposition with respect to the oyster funduH,
though absurd in itself, probably had very dine-
rent object from that which it Processes its face.
BY his position, rs already stated he is the natu-
raj advocate Of large taxes and large cxpendi-
lures Crazy he may be in two corners of his
mind the sanity that may exist in the other two,
would teach him the fallscy of making revenue by
scheme which would cost more than it would come
to Possibly scheming in the interest of the non
producing class, he may have thought that by To-
raw upon the oyster f'igdIH he might get the s..
yeral industrial interests of the State by the ears
involve them in n quarrel among themselves, and
thereby get his tax-itching palms upon some other
items that would yield far greater than the
bivalves. Suppose, for example, the representatives,
of the Piedmont and Valley regions should be deu-
ded by his itdlicissd logic into combination with
the trans Allegheny section to impose tax upon
the tide water people. What natural than that
these indignant ichthyophasi should retalate upon
the Piedmont and the Valley, by uniting with the
trans ALE yhanans in imposing excise upon wheat
corn tobacco and all the other products OF the far
mery Is that the object of our tax-oving Cover
nory If il he, the representatives Of the people
cannot be too much their guard. They cannot
be ignorant Of the fact that there IS not tutoring
and iHits'ri9u' man in the State who does not
think he pays enough tax now. II may be willing
to submit greater burdens to preserve State ere
dit; but not because he loves to be taxed Il is on
ly the loaerS the unproductive consumers VINO low,
taxation for it, own sake. Tiey pay little or non,
OF it-and enjoy the greater portion of it,
While the Governor is content to amuse him>el
and exercise his logical and financial ingenuity in
stirring up the ''fundum and tickling the catasro
phe of oysters people would have laughed and
shrugged their shoulders just as the people of Vi
emma did when the late Emperor would betake him
self to mis- Palace, and spend hours in catching hcs
The occupation would be harmless and divert
ing the other And as some of the Yiennes,
disposed to aid his Imperial Majesty in hi,
pleasant and profitable pursuit, by presenting him
with patent tly-fap; some goOd-natured Virci-
mans may not be to abetting our Sovereign
Lord and King by suggesting subjects for charging
the area Of his "fundum." Why should ne 'confne
his tender mercies TO oysters? Why not embrace
wild-ducks, wildgeese, herrngs, shad, deer, phea-
SAINTS, partrdgesal the fishes Of the water all the
birds Of the air, all the beasts Of the woods? They
are quite noxious a. the bivalyes-extend over a
much wider surface and would require much lar.
ger number of inspectors to have the tax collected
word to the wise. We presume His Excelency
will send in an extraordinary message to-day on the
subject and thank us for the suggestion which
however we could find il in our hearts to excuse
If he would only forbear so free q use Of i'alics
which bother compoHtors and cause the up. u. -
to exclaim against Gubernatoral missives. A. con
shutting the quintessence Of the style usually de-
nominated "forcble feeble"