Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-10-06
A Mistake.

L - u1ISldkes
1.-The planter who makes thousand hbds
OF sugar or thousand bales of cotton, anC
| SO OF any other quantity, and subscIibes tn,
| proceeds of one half of it to the Government
| will receive, in interest upon the bonds b.
obtains, two or three times the amount of tn,
war tax assessed upon him, and this calcula
| ton any one can make for HIMSELF
| The above paragraph occurs in a letter ad
| dressed by Mr.. DeBow, Superintendent of th.
| Produce Loan at Richmond, to a gentleman
| of Louisiana, and was written August 29th
| We have only recently seen the letter in
| print, and have seen it highly commended
Mr.. DeBow is an able man, but he has made
a most egregious mistake in writing the para.
| graph above, as We shall easily show.
| We will take the case of a cotton planter
| in Middle Georgia, or an average planter in
any part of this State, who produces one hun.
| dred bales of cotton. How stands the case
| He subscribes the proceeds of fifty bales, when
| sold-and the design is that it shall be sold
| during the coming winter and spring-for
| Confederate bonds, bearing interest at per
cent. per annum, payable semi-annually. If
| the cotton brings him fifty dollars per bale
| clear of ali eXpenses-estimating the bale at
| 500 pounds, aud the price paid at ten cents
per pound--he will receive $4,000 in Bonds,
| the annual interest on which is 5000. If the
Hy IL
ceive mis- first semi-annual payment in Janua-
ry, 1862. But, under the circumstances. he
cannot get eight cents for his cotton, nor, if
the whole subscribed cotton were put on the
market between this time and next July, the
blockade continuing, the war progrc ssing,
and the Government never coming to his re-
lief, could he get three cents. But putting
the price at seven cents--and teE thousand
bales can not find purchasers even at that
price in the whole Confederaoy while things
remain as at preseut-he would get say
$l,750 in bonds, the interest on which is
$40
But the war tax has 10 be paid next May,
come what will, unless the law is repealed in
November, as it ought to be, unless market
can be furnished the planter, and what
amount of that tax will the producer of one
hundred bales have to pay? Will his interest
on per cent. Bonds-his $500 or his $40
be "twU or three times the amount OF the
war tax assessed upon him.; as Mr. DeBow so
confidently but so ignorantly declares? Let
US see. To produce one hundred bales of cot
ton in Georgia, not only this year, which has
not proved very favorable to cotton, but for
an average of ten years, and on an average
of the whole State, requires the labor of thir-
ty workers, and the cultivation of two hum
dred to four hundred acres in that crop. On
plantation of thirty workers there will be
1I lCdSl HCSlOCs, WI III dUu W ne ASSESS
ed at twenty-five thousand dollars. The lands
of such planter, his carriages, gold watches,
plates, DC, will amount to ten thousand dol
lars more. His War Tax will be then SI75
very little less than his interest on the
bonds under the best circumstances, and in
II r---i-IItity - ~ cat deal rtore-and ~;
to be paid in money, before he hao touched
bis first cent of interest And if the tax is not
paid, his property is to be summarily levied
on and sold, and at time, too, when it can
not bring one fifth, perhaps not one tenth of
its estimated Or assessed value. We should
be glad to know how-not regarding the
question of amount OF tax as compared to
prospective interest on Confederate bonds
he is TO pay the tax, or buy his bacon and
clothing and shoes for his negroes unless he
has money laid up from former earnings
And planters don't usually have money boar
ded, nor even invested in anything besides
lands, negroes and mules. Still less do they
have it at this time, with a poor crop last
year. high prices for bacon all through the
season, and their pockets constantly drawn
upon to relieve the soldier and his family
Not only will planters find it a hardship to
pay their taxes, but many others, and among
them money-lenders, many of whom have
their whole property in promissory notes, and
are unable to collect dollar.
The Government aud the Congress ought
to know, and consider well and appreciate
fully the wishes and the condition and the
capabilities and the needs of the people and
act accordingly, as circumstances require.
The Cotton Loan was undertaken with the
idea, the hope and the expectation that the
blockade would be raised this fall or winter.
In that event market would have offered,
cotton could have been sold, taxes paid and
the profits of the year invested in Confede-
rate Bonds instead of land and negroes. But
the blockade still continues, and there is no
certainty, perhaps very little probability,
that it will be raised in twelve months, or
twice twelve. Of course then it becmes not
only matter of policy but of necessity to
alter our financial scheme to suit the altered
circumstances OF the case, and the Congress
should devote It's attention to this matter
Immediately upon re-assembling. If cotton
can't be exported it cau't be sold to any con-
siderable amount, and only at ruinously low
prices-consequently the scheme of the Cot
ton Loan, which was good one on the sup
position that cotton could go forward, must
be abandoned; and it will not do to delay
too long, unless the Government has more
about the matter than the PEG
pie, and more than we think it has. The
Government should buy all the cotton not
now loaned, and unless it can give specula-
tors q gerry reasonable assurance that cotton
shall go forward soon, so that they may feel
safe in buying that which is subscribed, it
should abandon the loan and buy the whole
crop outright.-A4gusta (Ga,) Chronicle.