New-York daily tribune., 1861-07-16
TILE PUBLIC nEyKNUE.


The public revenues Of both France aud Britain
now exceed s 100000 per day, while our finan
cial minister would be most thankful 10 any one
who could make him certain Df being able b
collect even ODe-ffth Of that amount; and yet,
we have population that is larger than that of
Great Britain and ireland, and almost as large
as that Of France.
why is this Is it because of any inieriOrity in the
productive powers OF our country or Of those whom
Providence have placed upon it Certainly not
there being no country in the world so admirably
endowed as regards the character of ts various SOILS
the abundance Of it's mineral wealth, or the means
that has been supplied. in the form Of schools and
school libraries, for developing the latent powers Of
its people. Allowing for all these thiags, power
to contribute in time Of war to the support OF Gov
eminent should be far greater than that Of tie people
Of ENGLAND or Of Fnnce; and yet. then is no ap-
plcation Of financial skill that can enable the Trea-
suD to collect even One-third as much as is regu-
larly and readily paid by tho peops Of both those
countries This is great fact, the cause Of which
might readily be understood by fnanciers, could
they bat be persuaded to inquire into the nature OF
the taxation, other than that for Government sup
port, that is imposed upon our farmers, brief
notice Of which We propose now 10 pnce before our
readers.
In the for West ten cents viii often purchase
bushel OF corn, 10 be afteTward exchanged in
Massachusetts, for seventy eeuts. or in Manobes.
ter for q dollars worth Of gold. The Iowa farmer
thus gives seven bushels for the same quantity
tains for one, and ten for as. muca as tho Ian
| cashire farmer receives for ope--50 per cent, as
compared with the former, and 90 per cent as
| compaIed with the latter, being paid by him as
his share Of the terrible tar Of transportation 10
which our farmers are subjected because oil thcir
dependence on distant markets. This tax it is which
mus, first be paid-it taking precedence of all other
claims, whether for the pay ment Of rent of for
the maintenance of Government; and hence II Is
that Russ 0, Turkey and We ourselves fad 30
much difficulty 10 obtaining sufficient public
revenue, while France and England, aud NIL
other countries that have brought the market 10
the farmers doors, and have thus relieved theu
from the payment Of this grinding tax, raise
with 40 much ease the enormous sums they ueed.
|
what has thus far ben exhibited being only the
fret and least important portion of the cont1bu-
tiOns lowed upon farmers by means of revenue
system, whose especial object woDld seem to have
! been the separation Of producers lrom consumers,
and the consequcht increase Of dependence upon
distant markets. The Iowa farmer returns from
market with On empty wagon-tbe load il bad
/ carried having beeu intended for consumption Ia
! towns and cities tbat nre separated from him BY
| perhaps. Thousands Of miles Of distance. HIS
Lancashire competitor, or the one OF Nassachu-
setis, on the contrary, brings back load Of
manure, to be given to tue earth in exchange
Tor the corn it hnd itself given hun in return
for biz labor-the place of consumption, in both
! instances being close at hand. As a necessary
! consequence, tho Iowa man finds his land declin-
ing steadily in its powers, while his competitors
| fud theirs as steadily i0creasing--the one goirg
down to 80 or 40 bushels an acre while the
others obtain from their acres variety of crops,
the equivalent Of, perhaps, thousands of bushels
! Of corn.
Counting now the loss thus sustained with the
tax of transportation that has been paid out Of
the farmers pocket, we obtain the following re-
suits:
The Iowa farmer gets so bushels an sere, the
| product Of which. at 10 cents, is......-... s5 90
| The Massachusetts farmer has 20 busbels, the
| market price of which may be valued at
! generally little less than. 20 %
| TIE Lanelshire man has the equivalent Of
hundred bushels, il not even of hundreds,
! T-.,",5 .:@ ,se inst named quantity, we obtain
as the product Of acre..........-....... 100 90
As compared with this last, the Iowa farmer
suffers loss the whole OF which consti.
tutes the real tax of transportation of no
less than aineiyJfUs dollars per acre. As CON-
pared with bis competitor in Massachutetts, he
pays .jonyJf~ dollars an acre. His power TO
IA fha auano.f of Iuorarn,na.k L.