Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-07-25

. elected attorney general by the h publican par
tY. He was one Of the genuine Buchanan and
, breckenridge men. It is true he never held an
Office by appointment from Buchanan, but thai
was no. his (Dickinsons) fault He WAS, in
days gone by, great worshiper Of those now
in rebellion He has expressed regret that he
was not born ia Virginia and if you can call
to place 50 responsible as that of attorney gen
ersl of New York such a man, think it does
not become you to speak or write abOut Bueh
anan and BreckinTidge men here or elsewhere
/ being called to power You WOuld not hesitate
q moment to call Buchanan himself to any po-
sition in this country, if thereby you could ed
vance your own selfish ends and purposes.
have rot alluded to these appointments to
civil and military offices, and to the election of
an attorney general in New York for the pur-
pose of finding fault. I have no complaint to
make; none whateverS and if | had It would
be unsYsiling and ussle g. l do not complain
and shall not l have called attention to these
appointments to relieve the address from sn nm
just imputatiOn sought to be cast upon it. ST,
it is said the address maets with buE little pub
lie iaYori that it is not popular. About tha. we
viii see hereafter. l. IS what I conceived, es
did each one who signed it, TO be right and
proper; that it asserted eeuect principles to
guide cur course. It is the path of duty, and |
shall endesYor to walk it, though / have to
trUdge it alone.
Popular favor generally comes to correct con-
clusions sooner or later. 0n its march il often
cOnsgns the hsrO Of to-day to eIile tomorrow.
In passion it sometimes condemns to the blCck
or scaffJld the guilty and the innocent Rspa-
ration for the wrong done to innocence is made
in the page of faithful history.
One other ground of objection is urged; that
the address is guilty of the reasonable act Of
calling attention to the necessity Of economy in
public expenditures. Il is rue This is more by
insinuation than by direct charges. Il is intim-
ated or insinuatsd here aud elsewhere, that no
man is loyal who complains Of speculation or
extravaganza in the expenditure of public
money. [ had supposed that the reports of the
committee Of tins House, of the Senate, of the
commission appointed by the President, com
posed as It was Of men eminent for ability, In
tegTity, and patriotism, was intended to sup
press pecSlstion upon the treasury, and that al
men were doing public service who aided IN
bringing the public mind to condemn such prac-
tees. F.om the course Of deba's here, ana from
the tenor Of newspaper articles from toe press in
your interest, 1t seems that doubts are enter
tanned of the loyalty Of men who expose and
denOUnce laTcenies from or frauds upon the pub
lie treasury. My young and eloquent flied
from Indiana has been suspected because be had
the audacity to charge that thelss had been
committed upon the treasury, and that CTR eZ-
PendituceS were enormous each day. Neither
the Democratic address nor the speech of Mr
Voorhees, charges one half Of what is alleged BY
the Holt commission, the Van Wyck COMMITTEES,
by Republican members upon this floor, aud in
the Senate. Both here and in the Senate it has
been said by Republican members and Rspubli-
can Senators that we'were in more danger from
those who were plundering the treasury than
from the rebels in arms.
Believing that it was wrong to plumber the
public money in this hour Of my country's need,
and that economy was necessary, have said SO,
and still adhere to that opinion.
sm grieved to think that all this ado on (he
part Of Republicans abou: prodigaity and 70
prevent fraud was a mere sham TO deceive the
public. confess do not comprehend how we
can embarraas the administration by exposing
aud denouncing fraud and peculation upon the
treasury, by bringing the government back to
rigid economy. had supposed, until recently,
that this was the proper way 10 AID the admin
istTssion, to help them to pus down the rebellion
aud preserve the government. l am mistaken
if you do not fad this the trU3 and indlspensa.
bic policy 10 control your actions in future.
There IS one single other point to which 1 wish
10 allude, and 1 viii then take MY seat. 1t is
ssid, both here OF elsewhere, that no member is
loyal who did not support the tax bill as it
passe this House l am Tesdy 10 defend thR.
vote here or elsewhere l feel no Uneasiness
upon tha. point To-day nigh. content my
self in defense By saying that, if the statements
a. TO cur indebtedness and e1pe enditures as made
By the Secretary of the Treasury, by the gentle
men (Mr Dawes and Mr.. McPhersOn) arc true,
we do not need the vast amount that will be
raised under ihis bill. If the Secretary Of the
Treasury has not made truthful statement in
this rega-d he should not have control of the
amount, vast as it will be, which you propose to
raise
But, sir there existed reasons that were sat-
isfactory to my mind for the vote given that
shall hereafter elaborate and only briefly Allude
to now. The amendments made by the Senate
in some respects greatly improved the bill, in
others made it more Objectionable. The princi-
pie upon which the bill is based is erroneous and
wrong By your tariff as now arranged, and
your TAX bill as il passed this House, the sup
port Of tho government falls mainly and heavily
upon the lsborer and producer, not upon capital,
which is capable to pay and shsuld be made to
pay. Under the operation Of the tariff az it row
exists, the poor laborer, with a dozen persons in
his family pays into the treasury, indirectly, it
is true, moro than the richest man in New En-
gland. Under the tax bill as it passed this
House, and against which l cast my vote, some
persons in my district will pay three times as
much into tho treasury as tue man worth his
many millions in the city Of New York. Wealth,
in great emergencies ike this should pay the
taxes; individuals fght the battles.
The burdens Of the tax bill fall most heavily
upon the section from which l come, and une-
qually upon persons residing there. The tax
bill, as it passed this House, levied tax on each
hog slaughtered of ten cents; head Of cattle,
ffty cents; sheep, five cents, unless killed for
domestic use. The census does not show the
number killed, but the value. In 1860, in Ill
inOis alone, the value of animals slaughtered
was over fifteen millions. In the six New Eng-
land States together the value was less than IF
teon millions and one half. The entire tax upon
this head would come from the Northwest and
none rom the East. Under the bill as It passed
this House, the tax upon policies Of Insurance
falls heavily upon US. Upon transfers Of real
estate, as that changes hands frequently in new
settled cOuntries-and in old seslled communi-
ties the changes are but seldom-the burden
again is with US. l might occupy the House in
citing similar cases one other is deemed sufi-
cient at this time. Undsr the bill, "a it passed
this House, you levied duty Of fifteen cents
upon each gallon of whisky manufactured, with
out regard 10 its value when manufactured. In
Illinois, we raise of cern nearly SIX times as
many bushels as you raise in all New England
together, and nearly three times as much as the
SIX New England States together wish New
York; in the six northwestern States of Indi-
Minnesota, about six times as much. A part Of
this is manufactured into whisky, and it finds a
market at home and abroad il is a cheap ar
ticle, selling usually at from twelve to twenty
cents per gallon. By the bill as it passed the
House. no drawback was allowed for that sent
abroad. The tax as fxe by this House destroy
ed the manufacture in TIE northwest, and would
have driven into Canada every manufacturer
from that section.
Sir, in the six Northwestern States that have
already named, with population of over FIVE
million people, we have no member upon the
committee of ways and means, while New Eng
land, with population of little over three
millions, has two members; New York with a
population of less than four million people has
two members on that COMMITTEES. The committee
of ways and means originals and report the tax
and tariff bills, and venture the assertion that
where any tax is assessed upon an article manu-
f,.f,,rsd in NApy EnolaDd "a dufxr oousl h, Al,