Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1862-06-16
The Tex Bill and the sastrup, Law.

trloul the new folk Evening EOst, une Ia
{ We may bafeIY assume that the tar bill @ill
nov boon become law. That It will be nope
ratfve for some tine 70 come In ten States Of the
Union, ID goedsreason why 1t should bsmsde
fearful Ia fhs other States, aud to this End II Is
essential tsat CsaSre1s should pass general
bankrupt l<@, thst trade saay be reorganised and
lstot restored to healthful activity. II this be
not duhe, we appfehebd that the Secretary Of the
Treasury may experience at a future dayA similar
disappointment TO that which "turned nwithin
toe last year in the revenue from imports, which,
IL we remember rightly, fell thirty millions short
OF the estimates. We cannot, certainly, calculate
On receiving from the tax bill az much, by a.
fesst third, as4t would have yielded Tn 1853.
Let Congres, therefore, take this matter 10 heart.
and not talk Of adjournment until It has passed
the only measure that give life and success, 10
its final p6liey--a general bankrupt law,
The condition Of things In this city calls loudly
for relief and there II no other. door to 1t than
this Il Is est nated that at least ohe-third Of on,
merchants are fnsolvent. So large proportion Of
the most active and snsespfising class Withdrawn
n ,n thc general work Of society must necessa-
FLY leave shings In state Of prostration. We
have seen a list OF over nine hundred flew York
houses that failed In the year 1861. Many Of
these rad ksm two to six partners Ia the firm,
ana some as high as eight: Their affairs are
mostly IN the hands Of assignees What their
ledgers might possibly yield by careful man
agemeut and negotiation, II they were allowed
to resume charge or them before all channels
OF correspondence with debtors are entirely OBJ
liberated, may be very unceriain; but II will
he much len! f1r the creditors uader the COM
sined skinning operation OF lawyers and sheriff
81.
Is passing away; he sees Els property, WASTING
gradually into no:hing; his friends, who yester.
day would have given. him fresh capital to set
him going again, are doubtful to-day, and vii,
refuse It tomorrow. What i. .,ec5. OF one 10 true
o: the mass; derc c,alitaton of faculty fellows OH
tie heela OF dependency; a man siinK. Into an
inferior position while yet. Ia the v'gor of life,
ana ins'e-u OF help to the community, becomss
scarcely Less than an incumbrance upon u. why
not give him chance 10 retrieve himself, before
the blood dfies out Of his bones and leaves him
walking skeleton In the very Efees that his
former enterprise built up with costly sna meg.
nifcent houses .'.' a'- ---.-''. 81. '-~''
But are ths present owners OF these houses any
retter on, than pBaEpum With his slephsn. {, .Ss
plough They must be kent ~ repair; and the
taxes must be paid, or very questionable look
Ing ospcs.! parsonage win take possession In the
lame Of the law. Without tenants, or with ten
ants who pay no rent, SO far % the owner 10 con-
cerned, he had better not be the owner. His ele-
phant lie eating him up. And directly another
tax-gstherer, Congress. knocks OF his door, and
tells him that thc. &at has brought on debt Of
thousand millions of dollars, more nr less, on
which the interest must be paid--no getting out
of that The patriot must then forget That he, too,
IS victim Of the wal, and let Congress have the
tax, or take 1t. But may he not, with great force
and justice ,sy' '%Ee-tesiea, Senators and Rep
tesentst-sa, am IN a more unfortunate position
nam the National Treasury. I have no fixed
property to fall back on, as you fall back on me-
NY only property now Is my opportunity, my
character, my business faculties, nv commercial
kaowledgei let me use there, ana i-NiE cteeer-
fully pay YOU the war tai. You have IN your
hands the p6weI 20 pass a bankrupt law, which
w.ll take from my SHOULDERS the burden Of dis
ability under which / am now lying PROSTATE
You talk Of being tired with a long, pfotracted
sessiOD; but doubt whether you are a. tired IA
am with ny long compulsory Inactivity. Be
sizes, Is not this tax which you have just lsyied
10 pay your own salaries2 And do you eIpect
me to do that with cheerfulnem while you are
Indifferent to my call for relief What ask OF
you NJ lnuttQ very like InatteT IL 10 not favor
to myself much as IL is a benent to you In
truth, 1t is a duty which you owe to me, and for
which have already paid you a regular salary,
notwithstanding TIE destruction of my own prop
efty and income SSA
This Is tbs language which every merchant has
a tfghtto address to every Congressman 1t 10
the voice Of our great commercial city, and Of all
the cities towns and villages in the North. 1t IL
the voice Of the fields and Of every laboyes In the
land; for activity enterprise, prosperity and every
good thing in society depends on commerce.
/. Is not only the income OF the merchant that i,
al stake, but the wages Of the laporer, whether
farmer, bricklayer or mechanic, and likewise the
salsry pfthe senator ~! :" - rniv'4. s'E
We are told that near one hundred thousand
petitioners have respectfully asked the present
session Of Congress for a national bankrupt law,
and that scarcely voice has been heard against
IL Nearly every jOurnal In the country has spoh.
en- In its favor. What, then, 10 the dIfneuIty |,
We have heard but one ebjection--not to law
but TO the passage Of law at this session az, 10
too late-iet II go over another year." &c. But Il
is Hot too late. Never was more idle excuse for
putting Oh an important MEASURE, than that It has
already been put of II Il 10 not too late to pass
atsx bfil 1t is surely not too Tste to pass mea.
sure without which the tax bill will be com par
lively RnprOdnctive. e. $50. go - /