The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-01-26

catalogue Of goods and bads that men buy and
sell. All complain, but all feel that they mus.
endure for the good Of the country.
But now Congress Is asked to mako . clear
and distinct exception In favor Of one particu-
lar branch Of industry. It Is asked to reduce
to nominal figure the duty on paper And
whyf Can any one urge any good reason why
Congress should make change In favor Of %
per and leave the duty a. It IL on all other ari-
cles! No; there il not single fact In relation
to paper that entities It to distinction from the
articles with which 1t Is classed In the Revenue
law Congress d asked to reduce this duty be-
cause It Is oppressive to publishers, and Is .
burden heavier than tho press can bear. Sup
posing for an instant that this Il true, Is It
reasoni Taxes are necessarily more or less
oppressive always; and in our own case, as we
have said, every branch Of industry regards the
tax on its own commodity as more than 1t can
safely bear. Consumers Of every article could
make the same complaint that the consumers
Of paper do, and quito as honestly. Is Con-
gress to lend willing ear to all these COM
plaintss Then brush away the whole system Of
duties at once, or otherwise leave all alone
II, indeed, Congress felt called upon and author
lied to exercise the national magnanimity in
favor Of any one article, is paper even the
article on which that magnanimity would be
most felt by those who have most necessity to
feel its Certainly not Reduce the duty on
tho single article Of coal, and every cent lost
to the treasury by that reduction would do
moro good in the country than dollar lost in
the same way by paper. Reduce the duty on
that article and you effect at once favorable
change in the price of heat and light that
every man, however poor, is compelled to buy
and pay for more or less directly.
But it is a movement in favor Of the press
"to relieve the newspapers" Docs the press
make room for o more vigorous growth that
can flourish without such assistance. The press
that is not able to stand unless the national
legislature exempts it from burdens that fall
upon general business ought to fail; and the
Congress that gives it shove downward will
be the true friend Of healthy press Is this
appeal to Congress indeed but another appear
ance of the shameless dead-head abuses For
years newspaper men have gone free where
others had to pay. They have ridden on tho
cars with free tickets, and they have gotten
better staterooms on the steamboats, by
"courtesy" than others could get for honestly
paid money. They have had their dinners free
at the hotels, and the very walters, down to the
bootblack, exempted the miserable devils from
the customary fee. They have had free lodgings
free drinks, free tickets to the theatre, and
have, indeed, been free everywhere. All that
disgraced and degraded the press, and was
moreover an open imposition upon the people
for every tender Of free ticket was bride to
induce its receiver TO tell the public lie and
keep the truth out Of sight. The free ticket
was price. Now, then, shameless press
wants to be dead-head on the Revenue law, and
goes into Congress and is enabled to openly
tell Congressman its price almost in plain
terms. Down with such q press and shame on
the lawmakers that listcn to it's mean and
miserable appeal.
We have above, in allusion to the assertion
Of the Western editors that the tax was heavier
than the press could bear, supposed that asser-
ton, for the sake Of argument to be true. But
it is false. We are subject to the same law and
use more paper than any one or two, or even
three, Of those who complain; and we can bear
the tax as well as any other manufacturer bears
the tax on the commodity he uses. Moreover,
the assertion is not even true Of the papers
whose editors make 1t; for we see by the re-
turns Of the income tax that one Of the most
clamorous Of those who make this beggarly
appeal pays tax ON an income Of forty thou
sand dollars. And that is the kind of men that
Congress is asked to "relicve" at the expense
Of the nation.