The New York herald., 1862-03-09
The Tax Upon Newspapers.

ny the present war;
The Tax Upon Newspapers.
Our city contemporaries are very greatly exer-
cised about the taxes upon newspapers. When
they come to count up the amount of money
they will be obliged to pay to support the 60
vernment they feel decidedly like backing out
and letting the government support itself. The
blank pages of their ledgers and the bare bot
toms Of their cash boxes admonish them that
from nothing nothing can come, and that if
they cannot pay their present expenses they
will hardly be able to pay the increased ex-
penses which taxation brings with it. In fact
when journalists come to consider that every
department. of their business, every article they
uso in the manufacture of newspaper-their
telegraphc news, their annual receipts from
advertisements, and their annual income from
every quarter-will be taxed, we do not wonder
the. the war elephant seems to them very costly
to keep, and that fighting looks like spending
money foolishly. They have, at least, the salts
faction of knowing that they caused the war
which is so expensive.
Consequently the editors of several journals
are going down to Washington to arrange the
Tax bill to their own satisfaction. Brooks of
the Express, il already at the capital, button
holng members of the committee and getting
treated by congressman generally. During his
absence his paper has had to drop one or two
of its ninety-nine editions, and daggers, stars
dashes, exclamation points and notes of interro-
CATION are sprinkled over its columns with
perfect recklessness, to make up for the lamen-
table deficiency Of news, and dOubly aggravate
the disguised reader. The "Little Villain" of
the Times intends to leave his lobby for while
and follow Brooks example at Washington, by
spending as much time and as little money as
possible to get himself excused from taxation.
The Tribune has strong force working hard for
the same patriotic object, and poor Greeley is
nearly crazy at their want of success. We won
der if it ever occurred to these gentry that they
might cut down their taxes, and save money
much more easily, by coming home and SO con-
ducting their silly papers as to diminish the
expenses of the war, by making it of shorter
duration and more certain result!
The war must 60 on, and we must all help to
pay for it. This pecuniary question is one there
is a, noogine or shirking. Rich and poor must
Jay, and IL is perfectly right they should
io 90. If thsr sannot pay the taxes, as their
businsea ssano. a. present, then their business
must be alrargsG so that they can pay. There
Is no possible help for it. Greeley and
bis anti:taxation friends might just as
we'll attempt 10 catch the moon with hook
and line as to try to get their taxes reduced
On the contrary, now that the President has
suggested an admirable mode of disposing of
slavery in the border States, it is more than
likely that the taxes upon newspapers may be
doubled. We sincerely hope they may. The
only way to touch these reasonable agi-
tators and abolition fanatics is through their
pockets and we desire to have them touched
deeply. But what are they to do, then! 1t is
like getting blood out Of a stone to get money
from tie impoverished Tribune, the poor, job
bing Times, or the World, which started upon
nothing, and has held its own very we'll ever
since. They must combine into one concern.
Three zeros do not amount to very much; but
they make better show than a single zero at
any rate We think that by combination, pru-
dence, economy and diminished expenditures
this pl,ribus unonn paper might be made to
pay. At least, like the triple alliance in Mexi-
CO, it might try. If it follows our advice
we will insure its success, and we will
advise it gratuitously. The wisdom acquired
by our long and successful experience in jour-
nalism is at the service Of our poor contempora-
ries. and we will deal it out to them in such
morsels as we think they can remember and
digest. Our first bit of advice, then, is-Com-
bne.
But as for reducing the tax upon newspapers,
that is not to be thought of. The Express re-
ceives about twenty thousand dollars a year
from the public treasury, and ought to be both
able and willing to pay half oft back again. The
Tribune, Times and World have done too much to
cause the war to reasonably ask to be excused
from paying its expenses. Besides, If one class
of papers is exempted, or if evening papers are
taxed lightly, or if any one paper is favored then
away goes the great principle of taxation-im-
partialty-and we might as we'll have no taxes
at all. so endless will be the disputes and liti-
cation involved. A good heavy tax will weed
out great many silly, trashy papers, which
now subsist by black mailing or prurient medi-
cal advertisements, and break up bogus papers
devised by City Hall politicians and municipal
legislators to draw money for Corporation ad-
vertising; and thus both the government and
city treasures and the morals Of the people
will be greatly benefited. Therefore our motto
is-Tax and spare not.
------------------------
A LITTLE MORE FALSE PRoPHEoY.-In one OF
his recent letters to the London Times tho hero
of Bull run again makes himself superbly ri.
diculous by another string of false prophecies
.u5 arrouaoua assertions Sneaking of the