The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-09-08
WHOLE NO. IS.
Correspondence from the 7th Dist.
NEAR New MARKET, BALTIC. Co., Nd. |
August oath 1866.


crime and taratios could be considerably dimin-
ished. a
Taxation is high in cities in direct proportion
to the vicious character of the population. II
intemperance and idleness prevail, person and
property cannot be safe, and the seed is thickly
sown for theft, robbery, murder and arson AS
these crimes increase the greater becomes the
necessity for the establishment of vigilant po-
lice system and the multiplication ofcity officials.
This increase of the guardians of person and
property requires augmented taxation, which
presses again with increased force upon those
least able to bear it, and gives new incentives to
the crimes which civil authority must suppress
Thus, cities fall into fatal circle, the law OF
which may be expressed in the simple statement:
the more crime, the more taxation-the greater
the taxation, the more the crime. Municipal boz
dies emerge from the fatal circle by decrease of
population, and decay of their splendor
Doubtless, Incidence and intemperance are
sources of crime, for which individual character
is mainly responsible, in society at large but
in cities, they are not the proximate canse. Ex-
IRENE poverty-in one word. Want, is the chief
source of crime and Incidence, improvidence,
intemperance and prostitution just astruly spring
from destituton as that condition. arises from
those vices. This may be shown in few words.
The means Of comfortable subsistence, in all
civilized societies, are always to be obtained BY
the exercise of some calling, some social func-
ton The nett income from the exercise of such
function will either exceed the means of a COM
Portable subsistence or fall below them; for, it
Just equal to that want, it can hardly be called
a nett income Now, if we distribute social func-
tions or industrial pursuits on scale represent
ing the proportionate gross amount Of nett in
comes falling to each, we shall lind them to IN
crease upward in the following manner
lst-Hireling Industry; s'
i 2d-Agricutural Industry;
3d-Construction Industry
4th-Transit Industry
5th-Manufacturing Industry
6th-Mercantile Industry
7th--Banking Industry ;
8th--Landlord Industry.
Hireling industry being unable to employ IT.
self. and subject to immense competition, must
necessarily produce the lowest ofall nett incomes
agricultural industry when resting on the pos
session of freehold being able to employ itself,
and subject TO less possible competition, than
hireling labor and indeed, this income will
! generally more than exceed the necessary means
Uncomfortable subsistence. The capitalist, again,
who is a builder, or the manager of rail-
road, stage or shipping interest, being sub
iect to less competition than the independent
farmer even though he employs more hirellng
| labor enjoys a greater nett income than he.
And so may ascend in the scale till come TO
that class whose sole function is to lease proper
| ty and collect rents, which may call, for con-
genience landlord industry. Here the nett IN
come is greater than all others, to those who fol-
low this function as sole avocation. AS
branch of industry, it is checked By less compe-
tition than any other it hires less Labor and is
subject to less current expense. The only serious
! limit to the nett income of this business, is the
destruction of property by accident and hard
usage, and taxation.
These different branches of industry may 1t Is
true, be all exercised by the same person at once,
- 49,. ad 0f
society, and nett incomes do adjust themselves
| on scale as above.
tits plain that hireng industry is completely
at the mercy of all the other branches for the
possession of any nett income at all. Four-hfths
of the families Of the United States, whose heads
are employees, it is probable, never more than
meet the current expenses Of food, clothing and
housing And large proportion OF that four
fifths get most miserable supply OF those essen
j tials, both as regards quantity and quality,
1t is the nature of man, when compelled to la"
Dor with no prospect before him better than
/ crusts, rags and a freeSs hearthstone, to grow
desperate to curse his destiny, and society along
with it, and ifnot fortified by high moral in
stincts to resort first to the petty crimes OF inert
and burglary, and then to arson and murder, 10
better his condition. That arrangement OF So
ciety which puts adequate employment out OF
his reach and makes the procurement OF ordlna-
nv comforts a mere game of chance, bedevllS and
demonizes him. Thus crime is engendered In
the whole hireling class 1t does not always
limititselfto g strikes The next combination
below that of strikes, is that of MODS, and when
individual crime is not perpetrated, property IS
always rendered unsafe by the possibility OF such
combinations.
Il The comfort which of all others the la6orng
class most needs, and the absence OF which must
conduce TO dependency and desperation, ana
thence to sulIen Incidence, then to intemperance.
and finally TO crime, is the possession OF decent
home. sg's aoae -,
i We have seen that the nett profits OF the land
lord class, put it in their power, more than that
ofany other. to supply this want. And OF ali
classes this should really bear the responsibility
of alternating the condition Of the laboring class
cs These two occupying the two extremes OF
the social scale, the greatest want should oe re-
4 liefed by the greatest abundance. But II land
lords choose not TO investigate a remedy for the
i troubles of their poorer brethren, let them not
complain that taxes are high. Enforced poverty
causes crime and social disorder and disorder
necessitates vast police system, and great po-
i lice requires great taxation. We have not yet
arrived at that happy state of things In this
country, where one portion of the poor can be
brought through their poverty to keep the rest IN
order at the point of the bayonet. Before things
come to that pass, the pressure of rent Will de-
populate cities. t.g.L,
But would it not be better to diminish crime,
by devising some system by which the whole
hireling class can earn freeholds within cities
Owning property, they would become interested
in the protection of property. Safety to persons
would follow in proportion, and thus two great
sources Of crime, and consequent taxation, would
be measurably extinguished.
+ The best way in my Judgment to further the
laudabe object, would be to begin the erection
of spacious and comfortable dwellings for the
poor, to which ownership should be given after
a certain number of years. rent had been paid
The amount thus apparently given away would
in short period be made up in diminished taxa
ton. But it will be long, suppose, before mu-
; boring IS good economy. Aside from this sub
, iect / would say that the young people of this
section assembled last week in the woods of my
~ neighbor { James G. Harris, Esq, J and
/ neA Svuleasant time, nothing but good will
had a ve,, walled, which must be attributed
and hilarity pre-. tue gentlemen nSglng lns
in great measure to es' w Y. " n .1vo.Ia
affair in charge, viz Mes "s'ASH N tin:t
and Aquila Mcdonald these gel ~ n.y.
do honor to any society-all returned -
homes delighted with the manner in which tn>
day was spent. must confess | approve very
much of neighbors meeting together occasionally;
it has a tendency to cement good feeling and
drive dull care away. Yours, &C., j. H.
A PETRIPIBD SoLDIER-Some laborers exhum-
ing bodies inferred in the Potter's Field in Mo-
bile, Ala, recently broke open a coffin, in which
to to their establishment, appeared the remains of
Union soldier that had been completely turned
to stone. He had only been buried nine months
The ground in which he lay is very low, and,
most Of the year, very damp. A new coffin was
procured, and he was inferred in the soldiers
burial ground aas1..os iaala
tssl 81 IL -4-----.a .--.-.4----4--s-+--