Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-07-27
-CoEUMBUs. oIIIo,.
THtRsDAY MORNING, JULY ~
The Way Justice May be Done.

The Way Justice May be Done.
90 Few men, who are -noT directly interest,"
ed no matter what the complexion Of their
n political views may be-, win, upon proper
.flrefleetion, be rash enough to say that there
y Is Justice inaexempting the millions that
have been invested id Government Bonds
,stfrpm State, County and Municipal taxa
slltion, which adds from one to three per
1iteent. per ahpum to their value" There is
neither the Substance nor the shadow Of a
4, reason why this capital or any other capi-
o tai should be exempted from contributing
to the maintenance Of the various Govern
,ments- State. County and Municipal. 1t
slmay be answered that the Government
q needed money to pay the interest on the
public debt, which now, while 1t is weigh
SlI ing downIu the energies, industry and
enterprise Of the people with tremendous
7 force, is pronounced by the jobbers in
Bonds as 4, apublic blessing" and that to
4 secure this money it was necessary to offer
= this premium. Did not the Government
o need men as much as money! and yet the
men who responded to the call OF the
4 g Government, and rendered their lives
4 stoi' maintain and yindicate the author
ity of the Government, are required
I, I, to pay estate, County and Municipal
i ltakationy on whatever property or cap1Faf''
they may, have, that is not invested in
. Government Bonds. This factsuggests that
Y Y the party that for the past four years has
{ ruled, this country hold the money Of its
q capitalists, when invested in Government
Bonds, to be more precious than the prop
4 erty r and capital Of the men who,, through
b bdreary and exhausting marches and on
/ fields Of desperate battle, served the Cow
/, ; ernment, II it shall not have been invested
in Government Bonds. The injustice stops
not here. The woman who has lost her
4 husband on the field of battle, or through
disease contracted in camps or on the
march, if she shall have succeeded to scrape
together little property, is necessitated to
bay taxes-State, County and Municipal
!, on that property. The life of him whom
/ she loved and to whom she looked for the |
support of herself and their children, by
this species Of legislation is placed
subordinate in Importance TO money
invested in Government Bonds. ii..i!
Is not this injustice self-eyident, and isits
enormity hot sufficiently great to demand
adjustment? Doubtless, the question is nat
q urai, 'How can the adjustment be made
'dWittiout breach,of faith, you cannot tax
Government Bonds?" Granted that you
:. cannot tax the Bonds, can you not tax the
income derived from the Bonds sufficiently
to properly adjust matters? This will not
: be a breach of faith, will it? Even, Negroes
who may have property, or who hereafter
may, acquire property, are interested in
having this matter adjusted satisfactorily. |
Z If tie interests of White men do not de- |
serve consideration, perhaps the interests of
, the Negroes; which are identical with the !
interests of the Whites in this matter, do.
Will it not, therefore, be well for the great
mass of the people, who are not Govern
ment Bond holders, but whose toll is put
under tribute for the purpose of sustaining
the various Governments, and to cancel the
indebtedness caused by the improvident use
of the public money by the Abolition State
officials throughout the last fouryears, and
to pay the high salaries the late Abolition
Legislature enacted should be paid the State
officials, to be careful not to vote for any
men belonging to the Abolition party? |