The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-02-05
LETTER
HIS EXCELLENCY JAMES L. ORR,
GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
To Hon. Hugh nrcCulloch. Secretary of
the Treasury.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE,
CHARLESTON, January 10, 1866.

lima, it becomes my duty to ask your attention to
certain subjects of very grave Importance to her
| interests, and the control of which belongs to
your Department.
It is unnecessary for me to do moro than to
refer to the Acts OF the United States imposing the
direct tax and making provision for It's collection
in the s'insurrectonary States" With these provi-
sions you are perfectly familiar; and it IS not my
purpose at present to call in question either their
constitutonality their policy Fortunately for the
State which represent, fortunately, hope you
will allow me to add, for the whole country, the
character of 'insurrectionary" no longer applies
to her. Accepting honestly the result Of the
great contest which has now ended, sho has met
the necessities of her condition, and her people
are cndeayoring, with earnest and single-minded
purpose, to retrieve the disasters and destruction
of the last five years. In this endeavor am gladt,
believe that both yourself and the Administration,
OF which you form so distinguished part, cor
daily sympathiZe and l feel confident OF your
patient and favorable consideration, when l ask
for such relief as it is in your power to afford,
from the operation of laws passed in unhappy
times and the necessity for which hns now ceased
| tc exist.
| Owing to the fact that until the surrender Of
Generals Lee and Johnston, only tho sea-board or
this State was in the military possession or the
United States, it has happened that in that Sec
ton only OF tho State have these laws been ap-
piled. Owing, alec, to this fact. and the conse-
quent fact that the forces of tho ato Confederacy
iuterposed between this section and tho rest OF
tho State, it has happened that the propretors of
this section, who were driven from their homes
by the armed occupation Of 1861, have been, dur
ing the war; entirely separated from their estates,
have neither been able to learn the proceedings
which have been instituted under the laws, nor
have been enabled to take advantage OF the Just
and humane provisions for redemption which
these acts contain. The consequence has been
that these laws have been more harshly and more
entirely enforced in this section OF South Carolina
than in any other portion Of tho South, and from
the inability Of the parties interested to receive
the requisite notice, there has occurred an
amount OF sacrifice by the sale OF property moro
enormous in character and moro universal IN ex-
tent than in any other portion OF the country. L
believe am warranted in saying that, from eau
ses entirely beyond their CONTROL not one OF tae
owners Of these estates have been able either to
pay his taxes or to avail himself OF the power OF
redemption, while, in thousands OF instances, es-
tates Of tho highest value have boen sold for the
smallest amount of tax, and bought for the most
inconsiderable sums One instance to which /!
will refer, in which estate, the market value OF
which was s24, 900, was bought IN by the Govern
ment for $780, the amount OF tax due beng even
less than this inconsiderable amount and the
Government being in possession at the time OF
cotton taken from the estate to more than hum
dred times the amount OF the tax ls one lllustra-
ton out of many. The whole property OF this
section OF country, including the entire Parish OF
St. Helena, one Of the most valuable portions of
the State and portion of ST. yLuke's, -hus COM
i,lete:y changed hands, as 1ar as these acts can
effect the change, and has passed either into the
possession of tho Government or OF third parties.
The Commissioner Of Internal Revenue, in that
portion Of his report which refers to the operation
of the Direct Tax Act uses the following lam
guage:
at is evident from what have stated, that when tho
duties of the Commissioners under tho present laws
shall be completed the burdens imposed by 1t will have
fallen unequaly upon the people of the districts lately
in insurrecton. Some will have paid little in addition
to their original dstributivc share Of the twenty millions
of dollars while others will have lost their entire es
ates Some States too, will have paid only the amount
apportioned to them under tho ACT OF August looi'
while Others for the before given will, through
tho collections and sales. have contributed largely in
excess of such apportionment
have been informed, and have reason to be-
lcve that the State Of South Carolina is one OF
those States which has contributed largely In
excess :" and that small portion OF the State has
thus been made to bear even more than the burden
of the whole commonwealth; and that at the
expense of few hundred citizens, not more guilty
than their fellows, and including in their number
very large proportion OF inotienslye not wldows'
safe them for this terrible loss. Her resources
exhausted, her new system Of labor scarcely or
ganizcd hardly remnant Of. her capital, public
or private, saved in this great wreck, more than
one generation must work and suffer before re-
turning prosperity enables her to be either just
or generous, and even then no compensation
would restore these exiles to the homes in which
they were born.
would, therefore, respectfully ask your assist
ance in ascertaining the exact condition OF the
amount of direct tax due and paid by this State,
and would earnestly entreat your cooperation, IN
order that ii it be true that this State has ovor-
paid its portion of taxation, or should that not be
case if the State will assume and secure the pay
mcnt of the very small balance that remains, that
some arrangement be made by which the lands
which, under tho necessities of war, have been
bought in by Government, should be restored to
their original possessors. The only object of this
sale aud purchase was to secure the payment OF
the tax If the payment of that tax has been, or
can be secured, there is no further object IN max
ing tho law o means Of personal punishment,
punishment not inflicted by discriminating JUS
tice against special offenders, but simply resulting
from the accidental locality OF the sufferer. ,,.
would ask your attention to the further addi-
tional extract from the report OF the Commission
or of Internal Revenue
"Of tho property purchased for the Government ut
the sales for taxes leases under section Of the net OF
June T. 1882 been madc only by the South Carolina
Commission. In South Carolina too and not elsewhere,
resalcs of lands Biz the sales for taxes have been
III de by the Commission, under section II OF tho same
stultc This section provides that purchasers 1T tho
sale who shall have faithfully served Tor the term Q! three
mouths officer. musician, or private soldier, or
sailor in the army, or navy, or marine ser'lco OF the
lIuircd States as regular volunteer, and who shall
ply one-fourth part of the purchasc-moncy shall re-
cevc certificate and shall have the term OF three years
in which to pay tile mainder. The amount which will
become due in 1867 and 1868 upon the army and navy
certificates issued above, is s20o,ye43U. In this
state also. board OF selectlou uppolucu ny TIC rfe7
dent of the United States for that purpose and COM
rsed in part of the Tax Commissioners under ms III
structons of September G 1863 selected and reserved
for military naval charitable educational, aud police
PURPOSES eighty plantations, situated on the several
sea islands OF t;st State
=" Under tho same instructions the Commission made
sale of aud twenty each to heads
of families of african descent.
since december TO- 1868 there have been GIT certii-
Gates of hoesteads of this character issued by the
Commission most of which during the last fiscal
year -
It is difficult to understand why, looking upon
these acts as intended to have uniform effect go
yery marked an exception should have been made