Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1866-06-19
THE TAX ON COTTON.

Congress will persist in its attempt
to fasten tax of five per cent. on
cotton. There is evidence of q wa
vering on the part Of that body which
would indicate a disposition to recede
from its original position on this ques-
ton, and to modify somewhat the
grinding features of policy which
threatens, if adopted, to nullify the
cotton interests.
The petitions and remonstrances
which have gone up to Congress
from the commercial, manufacturing
and planting communities, have not
been without their effect. Northern
men who know and understand the
serious jeopardy in which the many
interests dependent on cotton are
placed by the vindictive schemes Of
mad politicians, have become thor
oughly aroused to the dangers i'm
pending in tax of such sweeping
proportions as that entertained in the
proposition Of Congress, and are be-
stirring themselves individually as
well as through their press, their
Chambers of Commerce., and every
other active and potential means they
can bring to bear, to temper down, if
not defeat, the radical measure.
A petition was presented in the
Senate on the 9TH inst, by Senator
Morgan signed by number Of ex
officers Of the Federal army now in
Alabama. The petitioners represent
that they are from the Northern
States, many of them ex-officers OF
the Union army, and always loyal to
the Government of the United States.
That 5000 out of 5000 of their class
are engaged in the cultivation of cot
ton. They have encountered pecu-
liar difficulties in accustoming the
Freedmen to new system of labor,
etc, and they now see with alarm
the result of their labors threatened
by an overwhelming increase Of taxa
ton, an addition Of one hundred and
fifty per cent. on the basis of which
their labors were begun. That a
tax OF five cents per pound on cotton
will make the raising of that staple
no longer remunerative. Accompa-
nying this petition is a letter from
Col. A. /. Quincy, late of Second
New York Veteran Cavalry, who
confirms the above statements, and
adds, that from the large number of
these men engaging in the business,
many Southern men were encouraged
to resume the cultivation of their
plantations, and the new enterprise
OF cultivating cotton with free labor
has thus far been a success. Accord
ing as Northern men have been more
or less engaged in that business in
each community, he finds that they
cannot engage their cotton into mar
ket for less than twenty cents per
pound, and to this must be added the
five cents tax and commissions and
insurance. At this rate no man can
afford TO raise cotton, and Northern
men of enterprise, loyalty and intel
ligence will not engage in a business
that cannot yield them reasonable
compensation.
The New York Mercantile GJour-
nal refers to the subject in this wise$
| There Eeye" was time when it was
more desirable to promote the cult
/ walton of this staple. ,ape exhaustion
of the South, and the want Of capital
render it a matter of necessity for
the planters to obtain bs quick re-
turns as possible, and the opposition
of this tax will render sales depend
ent on the necessities of the mark ct.
Capitalists will not advance the
heavy tax of $21 per bale anless
they see prospect of immediate
sales. Cotton, which was formerly
almost as good as gold, may remain
for months in the hands of the pro-
ducer awaiting the changes Of the
money market and the wants Of the
| Al Al l.