Arkansas true Democrat., 1862-01-09
Salt.
Approved Dec. II, 1881.

Tn Mr. Denton's "Thirty Years in the United States Senate" we find some views of his, in one of his speeches, upon the subject of laying tax upon salt, which may not be without interest at this day He chased salt with the free clements of air and water, for the reason that 1t 1t uni velsally difused, and insxhaustibly sup piled. It is found in al!: l!:climates es-in all oceans and seas--it abounds in lakes, ponds, pools and springs, and exists in sol i'd masses of interminable extent, in the earth. The wisdom end goodness of prov
 idence thus displayed in it's universal diffu
 sion and abundance, is still further manifes- ted in the cheapness and facility of its prep arati0n for the use of mar. In many coun- tries and climes, nature herself does the work of its preparation. The sun and the winds do the labor of man, and supply 1t ready made to his use. Such, says he, is the cheap supply of this article, which a benefcient Providence has provided for Us. The Supreme Ruler of the universe has done everything to supply his creatures with it.. Man the Aeeting shadow of an instant, in vested with his little brief authority, has done much to deprive them of 1t.
 Mr Benton, 1t will be observed, was op- posing the taxing of salt by the govern ment. He contended, that ill all nations and in all ages, at different periods, it had been the subject of taxation, because as no man could do without 1t, government was sure of it's tax, and the monopoliSt of his price It stands in the category of no other article of use. 1t cannot be dispensed with. and the wisdom and ingenuity of man can devise no substitute for 1t. 4 nations, except perhaps the Confederate States, have rid themselves both ofits tax and monop- oly. England even has statute to guard its price and common law to prevent its monoply. The act to regulate its price was passed in 1907; while the common law pun ishes all monopoliSts, foresfallers and regra- ters. In the year 1907, Parliament took cogniz&nce of reported combination among the manufacturers to raise the price of salt, and by resolution rebuked them as conspirators against the public good.
 Mr. B. denounced the salt tax as a spieces of impiety. Asa tax upon the entire econ omy of nature and art--upoh man and upon beast--upon life, health, comfort, luxury, want, 6uperiiuity, food, raiment, washing and cleanliness. It is heartless and tyrant tax, as inexorable as t is omni- present, tax which no economy can avoid, no poverty shun, no privation escape. no cunning elude, no force resist, no dexterity avert, no curses repulse, no prayers can eep- recate. It preyades the entire dominion of human operations, for salt stands alone amidst the productions of nature, without arival or substitute, the ptaserver and pu- rlher Of all things Its tax falls with its greatest weight upon the most helpless and the most meritorious; and depriving the na- ton of benefits, which infinitely excelled in value, the amount of its own product.
 IL there be, then, such enormity in tax upon salt by government, is there not equal enormity and outrage in government per mitting asmore onerous tax levied for pri- vate gain, by heartless monopolists and speculators? We congne our remarks at present to the monopoly of, and speculation in salt; for we hold, until government regu- lates the price of salt, any man who has made no attempt to monopolize the article, DOT to raise its price for purpose of specnla-