Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-26
r,r.,Iop Abroad npd n, Homo.


Underthe head Of "a Monster Evil-Can-
adams Tax-ridden People," the Gazette
publishes an article from the Dumfries (Can-
ada) Retormer, which sets forth that "Among
the chief drawbacks TO Canadian prosperity,
is the gross extravagance connected with the
government and the administration of pub
lie justice the people are oppressed by taxa
ton, and one Of the most urgent reforms
needed is a sweeping measure Of retrench-
ment.n
II docs not need to go TO Canada to find q
people that are oppressed by taxation.p
Among the chief drawbacks to Cincinnati
prosperity is the. gross extravaganza con-
nected with the government. The expendi-
lures of our governments are limited by
nothing but the fears of those who levy and
borrow. They levy all they dare, and bor-
row for everything for which they can find
a pretext. The Canadians are, in this re-
spect, favored above ourselves; they have but
one government TO tax and go in debt; while
we have near half a dozen-eaeh, if not try
ing to outdo .he others in its exactions and
expenditures, at least borrowing and taxing,
irrespective of the burdens and liabilities i'm
posed and created by them.
We pay $4,000 per Gnnun'-and seem des-
tined to DO so forever-interest on city debt
for which nothing can be shown. The re-
manning material proceeds, if offered at open
sale to-day, would not pay two years interest
upon the enormous aggregate. Two millions
of dollars, or thereabout, drawn yearly from
the industry of the city, is a fearful weight
thrown upon it to impede its progress.
We complain of hard seasons-of lean years
of trade coming one after another, disappoint-
ing the expectations Of the merchant and the
manufacturer. Hard seasons will always be
the rule, and easy ones the exception, under
such regimen as ours. We must make up
our minds to hard seasons. A million of
dollars exorbitantly drawn from the life
blood of our industry-from that which
would otherwise be capital-every year. will
make hard seasons and plenty of them. The
burden may not this year nor next year stop
the growth of the city, but it is a brake upon
the wheels of its progressswhich will, sooner
or later, wear away all its accumulated mo-
mentum, and bring it to a stand at last.
Our system of taxation is in theory equal;
let US see how 1t falls upon one class, with a
view to ascertain its general effect. He who
has his property in money at interest at six
per cent-which requires no protection by
the State, and costs the Government nothing
pays a fraction less than two per cent; one
third of his entire income in taxes Do they
do worse than this in Canada, under British
imperial oppression Do they do worse in
Italy under Austrian tyranny? We doubt
1t. We do not need to go abroad to find a
well-taxed-an exceedingly well-taxed peo-
pie. We may spare our tears for the crushed
and impoyished victims of arbitrary rule at
: the ends of the earth, and pour a few of them
over the sad case of people who enjoy the
high prerogative of governing, taxing and
running themselves.
We are taxed for things that we do not
want. and denriyed of things of real neces-
tity. We need system of sewerage; we
need an adequate and sure supply of water.
Who thinks of these without, at the same
time, thinking of the means to create a new
debt, with its eternity of interest while we
can pay thousands of ready money out of the
treasury to celebrate the Fourth of July, or
to magnify boy who happens to be the son
of the Queen of England and whose friends
desire that he shall be permitted to travel
through the country as private gentleman,
into a guest of the city, and the representa-
tive ofthe wealth and power of Great Britain
Over taxation is the hight of cruelty be-
cause, whoever may pay the taxes, they ulti-
mately fall upon labor. They come out of
tie bone and muscle of the people, and rep |
resent toll and sweat and privation. The re-
taller, the grocer, the butcher, the huckster,
the owner Of tenements, the manufacturer |
and the merchant, all expect to get their
money back, and the weight at last, with its
accumulated commissions, falls upon the
shoulders of those least able to bear 1.-THE
poor; those whose names never appear on the
duplicate. Our system of taxation is admi-
rably adapted to expedite this crushing pro-
cess; and it needs nothing but administrators,
bent--as ours appear to be-to make the most
Of it, to render it as complete and intolerabe
AN engine of torture as ever tyrants or in
uuisitors invented