, 1865-01-15

Which will leave him SIC. But II b. sells
them for SO he pays only s. lax, which leaves
him s29. Uc makes Sc by selling them at $50
instead Of s31. So th, ouyhout the scale.
4. Aga1n, suppose 1000 cigars cost tho
manufacturer SIS. The leust living proAt nj
which he can sell them Is IS. This mikes
| the tax SIS, which ndlcd, ho must, to cover
cost, profits and lax, sell for &55 por thou
sand. But suppose the ], 900 cigars cost. Instead
| Of s35, say $50, $S7, or e33, can ho sell them
| for $50, e57, or ss5S In tho same way? Not at
all, for this would compel him to pay 50 In
stead Of s15--n tax dollar more III price not
! only sweeping Oft Ills profits, hut leaving q
net loss OF 81 per thousand. What cAn he do
but to keep Ills goods or cheat tho 1awf
| Nothing.
These arc few Of the evils Of u1o present
law. Its stamping system, nlso, Is great
failure. But perhaps Its worst feature IS tnat
IL acts upon class Of our poorest people, Inc
squn1ld cigar makers, many Of thom at work
| IN garrcts and cellars, sixteen hours out Of
| tho twenty-lour, TO earn suos'stoucc-sleep-
| ing where they work. and content II able to
sretaln lifc.- It bids the assessor 60 to thesc
| pcoplc, myriad In number, often inaccessible,
50 accsctcd or so wrctchcd as to disa1m tho
law itself with pity; 1t tells him to ro-
quirc them to got permit from. him to earn
their bread, and II they go out to work, into
another district, said permit must first
be endorsed by the assessor Of tho
latter district, and on the first Monday Of
each month they must make return
Of The number Of cigars thcy have made,
swear 10 them, stalking the welfare Of their
immortal souls each time, .1ud pay the tax.
Bono viii perlure themselves, or dodge the
assessor altogether, and thus save an amount
equn1 to the tar. For II ttae poor cigar maker
Gun get them into the hands Of the retailer
without detection, ho nearly doubles his earn
ipgs. The retailer Is under no tax or survei1-
lance. The honest manufacturer can no
longer compete with these pcrjurers or SNUG
g1ers, and 30 is out Of employment. In New
York City alone IL is stated that 8, 600 poor
cigar makers were thrown out Of employment
| By Ibis law.
These are great evils, but they arise not
| from taxing tie manufactured article, but
from taxing 1t 80 absurdly. A uniform tax Of
soy fiom $500 to $1,000 per thousand on ali
| cigars, whether in the manufacturers or rc-
taile1s hands, and Of whatever values, would
cure every evil OF the system. It by
| no means follows that the remedy Is to tax
growing or leaf tobacco. The tax on the
manufactured article has had o ridiculous
not fair trial.
To cure these evils at last three bills are
before Congress. Tint Of &fr. Stevens pro-
roses to tax oil leaf tobacco on hand md
hereafter purchased, willie it Is In the hands
Of the manufacturers and before they are
permitted to manufacture or sell 1t, requir-
ing them first to send It to bonded ware-
houses for that purpose. The farmer is al
lowed nine months in which to sell or ship
| It, but 1t is not to be manufactured or dis
| posed Of for manufacture until stored In
bonded warehouse to be taxed. This leaves
| It in the hands Of the man who buys it from
the farmer.
11r. Sherman's bill taxes unmanutacturcd
| strips 50 cents and leaf 20 cents per pound in
the farmcr's hands, with further tax
Of five, ten and fifteen cents on plug chewing,
smoking and other forms Of the manufactured
article, md $40 thousand on cigars. It re-
quircs the farmer annually on the lst Of Au-
gust to return to tho assessor sworn state
mcnt OF every acre Of land planted, under
! penalty Of $500 per acre. lie shall not re-
move 1t from lis farm until tue assessor has
weighed, branded and marked 1t, and on
the first day Of the month after sale, Is to
make return mud pay tho tux.
Mr.. kasson's bill is the same rs Mr.. Sher
rnan's In principle, taxing the leaf in the
ta,mcr's hunls and tho manufactured article
In that Of the manufacturer. He provides fol
the erection Of bonded warehouses In all tobac
co growing districts. AL these bills propose
q lax Of from twenty-five 10 thirty cents I
pound on tho leaf, which Is about cqual IT
amount 10 tho total tax now levied on th
manufactured article. These being the facts
LET It's ecc whether Congress, having passc'
one foolish law Axlng the manufactured artl
Gle, arc not now asked by the two last bill
, to pass one still moro nbsurd taxing til
growing article.
ToIacco at tho North ls not rntscl 1y PUNT
era who have their whole capital invested II
. It, nor orc Our far1ncrs likc tho tobacco deal
{ cra MD manufacturers who nre confined Il
the tobacco business. It 1s one among twcnt
crnrs. the ono about as profitable as til
other to each grower. lie can ccnse raisln
tobacco without going ont Of business, an
II tho raIsing Of tobacco IL burlened by sue
IN oppressive tax 1nw, md the farmer Is buI
r dcnca with 1t, he will give up The crop M
t ra1ec others. This dslrs up thu revenue, an
~ 'uf "e 1uo wv t""eas 70 s'as,.. s - ~, ~
~ss.o ~ o"s ,,,,,rd o,,,rn.,s "a ,roro soycr
-, ~ +,nso stntrs where thc ,nfcrit
r cu,,,t,oa ri tn,mrco nre raised. m
$ titus favors the old tobacco raising stat'
. .yh,c,, f1rn,ab n greater crop anl bctt,
= article Kentucky. Missouri. Virginia. nj
Connecticut growers nroducinc nm artic
:, .rnrt,, from II IN % ccn.s might out1iye ,
n hut t,,ost, of Illinois 1ndiana. Michigan at
~ wisconsin which raise IN article aycracir
: II cents would have tu succumt. This Is ,
~. conflict Of interest between farmers a1
ii manufacturers or sellers. The goycrnmcr
ht manufacturers. retailers. auil consumers wo,
"a Mi be Injured pccuuiarilv By stopping t
ii rro1uct1on Of TOBACCO. Nouc but speculate
X holding and n,ono,olizsug the stock on la1
would be benefited. They would
he cpriclcd. We do not speak to shell
=, farmers 1rofn taSa11on, ior every lyro kuo
us the farmers would not really pay the tax, .
he would add It to their selling price. and th
o. | IN Il would rass on to the consumer. u
". where the consumer would nay one mill
~ INK the farmer would lose tlyc millions by c
nss saf an of PRODUCTION. That would add 4
no .,s,,,;ans . to fhc ,,o1nc of atocte nm hand n
u" H. tar, would ,,oc,:ct the moi,
Ta'.rs -. ~,-a,,,s h. tha sa1 no foundations
ST - t.1so,,- ~, i, ~ ~. Lila :
,le i"'me's !" e"ea. 'a =. 80 ~ ~. ~.
re- 10 tne e'sua nalse'e: ~o"tu NV 1es. .
vo.,1.x,.ost xror,a In cx,,crs;re vnxat;o
he Nortn"cst, "ono " cApcnsSe, |eAAu' ~, ,
H.