Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1863-08-21
re- The man who has money hates /,

part with it, without visi.le equivalent.
Hence mankind in every age and country.
has abhorred the payment Of taxes. But
this well known and inyariable trait Of hu-7
man nature heter had more curious Illus
tration, than that which it is now receiving
ID the Southern Confederacv. Everybody's
hands and pockets are full Of paper curren-
scy. This currency is deprecated in value
Is will buy less than the value which is de-.
clared on its face. It is not dear. money
Is not difficult to get--and .one might sup
pose, would be more willingly parted with,
than money made Of the precious metals
The cause Of its depreciation is perfectly I'M
derstood BY all people, rich and poor, learn
ed and unlearned. It is too great album
dance Of said money. There is vastly more
of it now in circulation than the common
operations of buying and selling require.
| Money is the representative Of property. -
There is more Of it than Of the property the
value Of which it represents. The Govern
ment is always making more of this money,
because its manufacture has cen, until late
lly. its only source of revenue.
/ If the quantity Of this currency could be
! diminished By three fourths. and if, ano her
source of revenue than its manufacture
could be found for the Government, the pa
per money would become scarce and yalua-
BILE. If from the hands of every man who
has a hundred dollars, seventy five could be
taken, throughout the whole country and at
the same moment, the remaining twenty.
/ FIVE would then be worth as much as the
whole hundred; that is to say. it would buy
as much property as the hundred All
persons understand THIS simple proposition
Now. the operation Of the Tax. laid by
Congress, is something like this. It is
nominally heavy Tax. It will FIJI The
Treasury with Confederate notes, and the
Government will not be forced toissue new
notes. It will diminish the quantity Of thai
money 10 circulation. aud must, in exact
proportion, increase the value Of what re
mains in circulation.
This Tax, therefore, takes nothing, alb
solutely nothing, from any man. % the
contrary, it confers on every taxpayer a
real, direct benefit, inasmnch as It stops the
further depreciation Of the paper money re-
naming in his pocket. by preventing the
further issues of the same which the Gov
eminent would otherwise be compelled to
make. Ifmen could ever part with money
cheerfully, itmight be supposed that the
Confederate notes now to be paid to Con
/ federate collectors, would be that money IS
If any taxes could ever be regarded as tol
cradle, certainly these ought to be those ex.
ceptieuM taxes.
Yet it is otherwise. From al quarters
comes the old, well known, accustomed how
of pain and roar Of rage at the epormou.
amount Of the tazes-their iniqnity, their
inequality, their hatefulness. People cal.
culate how much they will have to pay,
double it In Imagination, and invoke tht
sympathy of their acquaintances. Two o.
three houses will have to paysa million; Out
Of the many millions they have netted in {
year, &c. Thus, taxes are taxes still, ane
man is still man, in these as IL other times
But no one who has two grains Of common
sense, can fail to see that the. only chance
of the Confederate currency Row rests on
on these taxes Even those who raise this
antique cutlery, KNOWN their hearts its emp
tiHess. The sole fault the country really
finds with the tax and It's collectors. is their
long delays and slow operations. Tll+tbe
t. xes are collected. the Confederate print
ing press must still work mischief. Rich
paond Examiner.