Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-06-21
DISTRIBUTION AND TAXATION.

Distribution AND TAXATION.
The Franklin RsUis5g joins in the general cry that
because distribution would necessarily increase the
already heavy tariff taxes which the people pay, is
no sufficient argument against the distribution poll
cv for the reason as the RsUisU alledges, that the
eR under the operation Of the tariff, pay the taxes
and support the government. The following is its
language:
Every man has to pay more or less tax for State
purposes but every man does not have to consume
the articles on which tariff is levied. The rich who
use the articles Of jewelry, wine, silks and broad
cloths can afford TO pay to support the government,
but the poor who own but little land and who sub
sist on the products Of their own labor, and have
10 content themselves with jeans and inseys cannot
afford to pay The former, under the operation Of
the tariff, pay the taxes and support the govern
ment.
The rich, who use the articles of wines, jeWelry,
silks and broadclOths, under the tariff system, pay
the taxes aud support the government, says this
Know Nothing Federal organ What an insult to
the common understanding Of the masses, and es-
pecialiy of the South.
The tables show that the single State Of Massa-
chusetts does a manufacturing business equal to all
the agricultural States of the South put together,
Maryland excepted. And nothing is more univer-
sally known to every man who has the least under
standing Of our revenue system than that the plain,
industrious farmer and mechanic Of Tennessee, pay
towards the support Of the government, byrevenue
duties more than the wealtbiest lord Of the loom in
Massachusetts,.
That the burden Of Federal taxation falls chilly
upon the Southern States, one will deny-the
South being the great consumer of the article taxed
She produces the raw material-oOttOn, tobacco,
hemp, and breadstufs These she exchanges for
manufactures. These articles chiefly constitute the
exports of the country. None Of them are imported
and no tariff protects or encourages their prOduc-
ton here On the contrary, the articles which she
purchases with these raw materials bear the burden.
What we produce receives no encouragement; what
we buy, we buy subject to high tax. Examine
the names Of the articles upon which this tax is
levied and it will be seen that manufactures consti
tute the burden Of the song Manufactures Of wool,
manufactures Of cotton, manufactures Of fax,
manufactures Of hemp, manufactures Of hats, bon
nets shoes, &C., manufactures Of copper, Of brass,
Of tin, of lead, of pewter, of glass; of paper, Of
books manufactures of china, of saddlery, SC, sc.
But few things in their raw state, and nothing that
is manufactured abroad, come free Of duty into
Tennessee-nothing that is prepared for use from
the raw material. The millions paid into the fede-
raj treasury every year are many millions Of
bounty to the manufacturing interests No man
who buys a calico dress for his wife, or yard CT
flannel for his children blanket to sleep under,
OF hat to wear, OF q trace chain to pillow with, CT
an axe to cot WITH but what pays tax for the trea-
sury in the way Of an increased price which the
government duty imposes,
And yet, the Know NOthings, to escape the unan-
swerable argument that to distribute any OF the
funds Of the treasury among the States to pay rail-
road or other debts would necessarily, to that e1-
tent increase the tariff duties-make the ridiculous
and insulting reply that it is simply he rich, who
the articles Of iewery, wines, silks and broad
cloths who under the operation Of the tariff, pay
the to support the governments" and that the
laboring classes, who 10 not use these articles Of
luxury, are lining upon the bounty Of the rich. Such
an argument is not only contrary to common expe-
rience, but presumes upon the ignorance Of the
people. and is insulting to their republican char
ncter.
These Know Nothing distributionists may well
srg,e with themselves that if the rich pay all the
money into the treasury support the government,
that therefore the rich may claim portion Of it
hack bv means Of the distribution policy, to re-
Iisve them Of their railroad debts, as members Of
railroad companies If the laboring classes pay
nothing into the treasury, say they, then the labor
iDr classes have no right to complain Of its dstr-
hutton. and that they may not do so, We will feed
them upon pleasant promises Of building school
houses upon every hill and in every valley that
every sbright-eyed boy and daxen-haired girl" msy
have a seboel-master in their reach.
There never was humbug so transparent, so
contemplate, so insulting to the plain understand
;Dg of the American masses. They should put their
feet upon it with that indignity that will teach those
who advocate it 3 lesson for all future time