Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-03-02
The. Tariff.

Outside Of the restoration Of the Union, and tn
preservation Of free government there Is nothin,
which more nearly concerns the people than sucl
an equalization of taxes as shall award to each in
dividual his fair proportion Of the burden of deb
now resting upon the country. lis question
difficult Of adjustment, we admit; but there ar,
certain leading principles easily comprehended, ant
readily adapted to such a system OF taxation al
will yield the largest revenue and, at the sam,
Among these leading principles, stand prominently
forward the self-evident proposition, that each in
dividual shall not be taxed according to biz means
and that in adjusting the duties on imports, one in
terest shall be burdened that another may pros.
per. II is needless to inform The reader thatn both
these political axoms have been dsregarded in the
systea Of revepue at present in force. Tho holders
of government bonds are . favored class The
hundreds of millions Of dollars held BY them, in
this shape, pay not one cent In 10 the treasury and
every dollar Tins exempted from taxation in
creases the burdens Of the aborng millions agains,
whom the government has SO upjustly Disseminated
But greater evil than this is found in the ex-
isng tariff, which is so nearly prohibitory that the
revenue from imports is not half what IL might be-
whilst il enables the manufacturers to sell their
wares for twice their real value. The Chicago
Tunes, after making cautious and fair calculation
OF the amount of money forced out of the pockets
of the people by this iniquitous tsif for the year
1865, and transferred to the pockets of the manu.
facurers, says ii would pay all the expenses of the
government, and iquidate the national debt in four
years and half This estimate is sustained by
facts and figures and from it. the people may form
a correct idea of the great wrong done them, and
of the vast amount of money wrung from them
that bondholders and manufacturers may wallow
in wealth, as the pensioners of the government. Il
the extravagant premiums which the tariff force.
US to pay TO the "lords of the LOOM" went into thu
Treasury, the burden might be cheerfuly borne
because the result would be an immediate return tt
specie payment and an early extngushment of tn,
national debit but, IL is, millions suffer for tn,
benefit of hundreds and the government gain,
nothing by system of class legislation at once un
just and oppressive. The Times concludes by say
ing that the amount extorted from the people
last year, and paid to manufacturers was "suicien
to pay all the expenses of the Government and the
public debt in four and a half years. Sufficient tc
build two canals per year from New York to Sar
Franciscoi and twenty-five canals per year from
Buffalo to New York. Sufficient to buy all the
railroads in the United States in fifteen months
and sufficient to enable them to carry feight and
passengers for nothing and build thousands Of
miles of new road yearly If divided among the diff.
ferent companies. Sufficient to buy all the real
and persona property in the United States in eigh.
teen years, according to the valuation Of $780, A
tax of twen'y-siI dollars annually upon every
man, woman and child white and black, in the
country