Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-12-07


IT 10 more than likely dnring this ses-
sion of Congress that proposition will be
brought forward for direct tax on the
landed estate of the country. The rev.
enue capable of being thus produced will
be very large, and the justice and equali-
~ ofthe tax We regard as indisPutable.-
The commerce of the country, foreign and
domestic, together with the trades and pro-
fessions, now pay pretty much all the di-
rect tax 30 far levied, and the landed es-
tate pays no national tax Whatever
While seeking to do Justice to the farmers,
injustice must not be done to others. 1t
has been theory heretofore entertained
aud acted upon that land will not bear d.
rect national taxation, but the experience
of the last few years shows how fallacious
this theory is. Farmers, as a rule, are so
situated as to have little or no revenue
coming within the rigid letter of the ques-
uous and answers of the Internal
Revenue law, because SO much of
Nne'F aVails finds it's way into
p"Fs and enhancements of value
'or instance, that ia raised and
leu TO hogs' and tho hOgs that are sold .n1
put into barns and other buNdings. a..
hedging and ditching; into fruit trees an
farm implements; into all sorts of CONVEX
fences and improvements-doesn not appe,
on the books of the farmer as do the pu
chases and sales of the merchant and m,
chanic, or the tradesman of any sort. Tt
same is the case with his sale of stock,
wool, poultry, fruit and other products
the farm. They all GO into something Il
productive again in its turn. but all sho,
ing little apparent net gain for the man
laud.
very careful, laborious and discre
patience ought to be employed in adjus
ing tax on real estate. The aim is to q
at the profits, in whatever shape they al
pear, of the whole people of the who
country. We have an immense nation
debt, and some body must pay the interes
and the less one class pays the mo-
another must pay. This war has ben
flied the farmers as class, in SO fl
as war can correctly be said to really ber
eft any class pecuniariIy. The prices pal
them for everything saleable have bee
satisfactory to them. Nearly all of ther
have made more money than ever befor,
Less of the burdens of the war have falle
upon them. The villages, tOwns and cite
have borne the brunt of the charities an
the bounties. 1t is in the small and lars
centres of population where the poor az
to be provided for, where suffering
mainly found, where soldiers and tbei
families are to be looked after by commit
tees and by individual citizens. The far
mers, for instance, of Ohio county, hay
had an easy time of it compared will
people in the city. Thousands and tens O
thousands of dollars are constantly beinl
raised here for some purpose or other con
nected with the necessities of the times, an
it is seldom indeed that a subscription
paper passes beyond the limits o
the city; indeed, for that matter
beyond the hands. of a very few
of the.People even of the city. OF this fac
no complaint has ever been made that We
are aware of, and we do not now adduse Il
in the form of complaint, but simply a
showing that there is rational Justice Is
etter;distributing the burdens of the war
= t.--s- .hAr-a ,rapresented hv. taxes.
=