Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-01-28
For the Standard.
AID VALOREM TAXATION.
No. 6.

mer" after showing that in his opinion, the over.
seer paying sc to the State out of salary of $500
had no right to complain, because his employer paid
SGT on a gross income of s., 900, and proper
ty worth at least S37 900, very complacently at
tempts to prove that four-fifths of the taxes paid
into the Treasury, are paid by shareholders, and
that if it were not for holders nimetenths of
the merchants would be compelled to shut up shop.
If this were so, and deny it. it does not prove
anything against al ral0ren. system of taxation
The advocates of present system have fallen into
the great that al the slave-ownerS are oppos-
cd to taxing property according TO its value. The
most violent opponents of the adj valorem system,
that we have as yet found, are non-slaveholders
and many men We know, who are in favor of it. own
large slave properties, and are foolish enough to
think that they have no right to ask discrimna-
ton in their own hvor-and that contending that
such discrimination is right is a poor way to
pOpularize the institution itself
We DENY that four-ffths of the taxes arc paid by
slave-owners, and submit the following figures from
the last census, and ask your readers to make up
their own opinion
In 1850, there were in North Carolina %, 303
slave-ownerS, owning 2Ss54S slaves. The total
white population was 553, OPS: consequently there
were 524, 725 people in the State not slave owners
However, say the families Of the latter should be
deducted, and take from the number 100, 600 men
this would leave 424, 725 nOn-slaveholders. Now |
ask any one, who has even superficial knowledge
of society in State, and of the stains of our
population in regard to property if they believe that
the 42f I2J white people only pay four-ffths of the
taxes and that their custom worthless to nine ont
of ten of our merchants? Under our al ralorem
system they would pay infinitely more than that
Again: in 1850, there 81, $3.50 farmers in the
State, besides whites engaged in the mechanic arts
and variOus other branches of productive industry.
Deduct Saye-OwnerS as being all farmers, and they
not, would leave j3, ISL farmers. They employ
on an average one labOrer beside themselves: there
could not he less than 125,0oO grown laborers-
WorkiHg-Nen. Yet, in the face of these facts, the
"BtRHer' argues thus:
Let us look a little more infinitely into this sub
ject. EdgccOmbc county, with slave labor, pro-
duces 10000 bags of cotton annually, worth, at the
estimated price put upon cotton by the Address,
million of dollars. Now, if EdgecOmbc yields one
million from slave labor we think it will be con-
sidered moderate estimate to say that all the other
counties i'll the State yield twenty-nine millions
morc-thirty in all Now, will any pretend that
free labor exclusively, in North Carolina sends into
market as much two millions of dollars worth of
produce? 1t certainly falls short of this amount"
This conclusion we repel; and ask your readers
if they believe that the 424 725 free laborers the
"BRRer" calls Them only produce for market one
fifteenth part of the articles sent there and that the
2SS, 54S slave laborers produce the remaining four
tcen-tiitcenths? Is not bare statement Of the
proposition enough to prove the entire llacy Of the
Banners" conclusions
noticed satisfied itself that the % 1903 Slavcowners
paid four-hfthS of the taxes, very naturally, in its
contempt for the 424, 72J white citizens who paid
only the other fifth triumphantly adds:
I'VE ask again, what grievance Expresses the
working Men " of the Wake Association How
much taxes do each and all of them pay? The ex-
tent of the grievance can only he measured by the
amount of taxes paid. We challenge these gentle
men to produce list of their members, with the
amount of taxes paid ny each. Let the public see
it, as in this way only can they see the extent of
the grievance complained Of Will the list be forth
coming:'
We most humility ask, if the doctrine distinctly
enuncated in the above, that "the ertent Of the
qierdncec dn only be ncasUredby hedmOuRtof tdres
pdid" is to be the platform of those opposed to dd
CGlOrem tLratiOR--docS the Register and the Press
of this city, in copying the article with SPECIAL COM
mendaton, endorse it Our only answer to such
an Gntirepubiicaa scntiment-worthy of the min
listers of Charles | in their most violent assaults
upon the rights and liberties of the peoples the
following extract from the message of Gov Swain
to the Legislature in 1884:
1.-The poll tax on the day laborer and the capital
list is precisely the same and it sometimes happens
that the latter like the former subject to other
species Of contribution. In the one case it is an
onerous imposition; in the other, tax thousand
fold greater might occasion no sensible inconven-
ience."
Sec. ] of our Declaration of Rights, which we
commend to the special attention of those who have
so far forgotten the principles of our government
to advocate the doctrine above quoted reads thus
That all political power is vested in and derived
from the people only" Yet we told because
they pay but small portion of the taxes, they
have right to complain as to the manner i'll which
that portion is assessed.
The Banner further says:
"ThiS Address assails violently both of the last
Revenue Laws-both of them being the work of the
Democratic party, and for which that party is re-
sponsible TO the public. On this account We defend
them. They not perfect, it is true, such laws
rarely are-but perhaps they the best that could
be formed under the circumstances. They do not,
however, contain the garing defects charged by the
Working Mems" Address"
This we deny positively. In the Address occurs
the following paragraph, and every one who has
read it, knows that there is not one word in the
whole of it inconsistent with the declarations con-
tanned in this paragraph.
1T is not our object to CAL in question the nten-
tons of those who first gave to North Carolina her
present revenue system nor to arraign before the
public those who, adhering to the unjust principles
upon which that system is founded without mate
rial notifications in the several tax bills heretofore
passed, have inconsiderately, are willing to al
low, grievousy oppressed large class OF their TEL
low-ctizens. The former, we shall ever venerate
for their patriotism, their many sacrifices and their
unSelfsh devotion to their country's good. Nor is
our respect for their wisdom essened in the small
est degree by desire to reform financial policy,
which, to say the fathers of State intended to
be for all time and the same under all circum-
stances would deract much from that foresight and
wisdom we have been taught to believe peculiarly
characterized their acts of legislation. The deter
mnaton of our legislators in the recent sessions of
the General Assembly, to preserve the faith and
credit of the State under all circumstances and at
all hazards, we cannot too much admire however
widely we may differ as to the and the man
ner from and which the necessary for
that object can be best and most easily raised"