Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1860-03-29

in favor OF the native products of State and the in
dusria pursuits OF her citizens" as the Opposition Con
Iention suddenly found the 22d day of February
after our present large debt had been contracted II
debts to be contracted the known conditions OF their
payment if to be altered at ALL ought to have been al
tered before they had been contracted To alter
tn I'm afterwards is bad fah-it, in reality, inpars
the obligation of contracts aud destroys faith between
aud MAD. We Put the case to our fellow-citzens
of the Wes-the West, if you please-say the
citizens of Buncombe Macon or Cherokee Ashe
Wilkes who may desire State assistance to forward
the construction of work works in which they
interested This or that senator or commoner might
be willing to vote for granting the required aid willing
give the and Influence of bis county to the works
in question: willing to pledge such county to her quota
proportion of the amount of taxes required but if
after such aid has been given, such quota has been
pledged such debt has been incurred that proportion
is to be changed amount never barganed for Is to
be required, there is at end OF all confidence
will no longer vote, since they know not for what
they VOTE to what burdens they commit themselves
and their constituents. For ourselves, willing
to be what is called liberal willing to the
great works already begun pushed forward to completion
just the and credit of the State will
admit. We appreciate the wants and respect the wish
es of western tellow-cizens, but could not go
for any appropriations to be made under understand
ing under constitutional guarantee, if, before the
debts created by these appropriations paid this
sttutional guarantee is to be destroyed. How Is 1t
that the party most prominent in urging the State to
contract her present det never before doing dscov
er'd the injustice and inequality of of the constitu-
ona provisions which entered into the contract and
must also enter into the terms of payment and assist in
determining the proportion of obligation incurred by the
parties contracting the debt? The fact is that that par
ty assened to all these things believed or affected to be-
leve those things right of which they have or affect
to have such ho horror Cannot any one see through
the thing? 1t is mere claptrap,-a mere effort to get
into power, stimulated by hope called into existence
by certain at the centre already referred to-
The ad Uaiorem thunder upon which the opposition
convention relied is stolen thunder, ptered tor a
temporary purpose, and ratified like sheet iron thea
ter to makebeleve. 1t will have served its end if it ef
fecs the election of Mr. Badger to the Senate, and gives
offices to certain hungry expectans at the cost of
disturbing the peace OF the State and arrayng sections
and classes against each other the mutual detrmen
of ALL
That slave property or labor is somewhat unequay dis
trbuted in this State will be apparent from few facs
and consideration of these facts will readily suggest why
it that certain sections OF the State possessing the
greater number negroes together with the smaller num-
Der OF white persons, anxious before going into
venton Tor readustment of the balance of power to Oh
tain such would assure them that the power
so to be readiusted should be made to bear Oppres
sively upon the class Of labor which their prosperity
so largely depended This anxiety long deferred the
holding of any Convention for r,modeing the Cons-
tuition of the State and admitting the West to that par
ticipation in public affairs to which her growing wealth
and increasing population doubt justly entitled her.
That guarantee is contained in the provision Of the Con
sttuon which fixes the taxable status OF slaves as per-
sons polls, but makes them subject to poll-tax
which in practice amounts four and half times the
amount of similar tax collected from the same free
white population while in the benefits of certain taxes
that for the poor, school, Insane Asylum and Deaf
and Dumb Institute, the slave population cannot par
ticpate
Let US look at the distribution of sast slave labor
We refer to the census of $50 from which find that
the following counties to wit AnsOn Beaufort BERTHE,
Bladen, Brunswick Camden, Caswe, Chowan, Craven,
Cumberland, Currituck Duplin, Edgecomb, Franklin,
Gates, Granville, Halifax, Hartford, Hyde, johnson,
Jones, Lenoir Martin, Mecklenburgh, Nash, New
Hanover, Northampton, Onsow, Person, Pitt, Rich
mond, Robson, Rockingham, Sampson, Wake Warren,
Washington and Wayne, with white population of
1882 contain slave population of 205 O26, leaving
to the remaining counties white population of 81 g.
2O9, and slave population of 80 522-that is to say
the counties enumerated contain three times as many
slaves in proportion to white population the
other counties OF the State do. 1t is evident then
that this being the manner in which particular class
of labor is distributed, the burden of an increased
ratio OF taxation upon that labor must fall I'M
equally and uDjusty, since such burden would be i'm
posed in the proportion of three to upon the counties
emu lerated as compared with Others This unequal
dist ibuon of this class of labor also affords the face
Oft the for the anxiety of the savehodng sections
to have their labor protected from oppression the
part of sections with interests, comparatively speaking
different and with different bases of labor in certain de-
partments. Neither it be urged that these largely
avehodng sections do not already pay their full share
of taxes into the Treasury of the State the fact being
that they come within fraction of paying twohirds of
all the public taxes of the State We have examined
the Comptrolers report careuly-have footed up the
figures, and find it to be as We have stated. -
This then, is part of the exhb-part of the showing
presented by examination of the position of the State
viewed with reference to the distribution of peculiar
kind of industry. That industry fad to be 50 dis
tributed that attack upon tan attempt to saddle il
with and unbargained for proportion of RESPONSE
bity-must fall with treble force upon some portions o.
the State from what it will do in Others, and will tend
to lay fresh burdens and collect larger proportion
taxes out of counties that with not more than half the
federal population already pay within fraction of two
thirds of the taxes of the State
With additional taxation would in due time, az
the basis of representation stands additional power
in the Senate, in which body the comparatively non