The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-10-02
Tks Cotton Tax and the Planters and
MECHANIC.

The Cotton Tax and the Planters and
Merchants.
The Now York Mercantile Journal contains
an elaborate article on the cotton tax which
bears oppressively upon tbs interests involv-
ed. If possible we shall oondense it for the
benefit of the readers Of tn 9 Day Book. The
tax amounts to nearly one half the price Of
cotton before the war and is exceedingly ouer.
Gus. 1t is required to be paid for before it is
removed from the revenue districts Not one
planter in hundred has the money to pay
the tax. When the money is raised the AS
SCISSORS are not always on hand to value the
staple and receive the tax. When absent
they havs to be sought and found, which in
wolves delay and expense. In many districts
no Assessors have been appointed, and if the
cotton is removed, without paying the tax, it
is liable to confscation.
Railroads and other transportation compa-
MES are prohibited. by law, from removing
the cotton until the tax is paid. Such are the
consequences which the South is now suffer-
ing, and which will be felt by the North.
The law imposes q barrier between the cotton
crops and market 1t will be month be-
hind time in reaching the seaboard. All
classes will suffer. The freedmen will have
to remain without their pay not knowing the
causes, they will become DISCONTINUED, and
less disposed to make contracts for next year
The planters are not able to lie out Of their
money. The brokers and Southern mer-
chants will suffer in not realizing the advances
mads to the planters. The law is peculiarly
onsrous upon the Southern people in their
transition state--the new experiment Of la
hoE in which the freedmen are interested, and
whom Congress processes desire to encour-
age. The law is an obstacle to their progress.
Ii is stupid to have imposed burdens upon
tie South, when craftsmanship and policy
demanded the removal Of every restriction
from labor. The cotton tax will fall heavily
upon the freedmen and poor whites. who
went to work on shares, and whe need i'm
mediate returns for their labor. Heretofore
cotton has been gold to its owners. bnt the
tax prevents the realisation OF the value of
the crops. The tax should never have been
imposed, and the first duty of Congress should
be to repeal 1t. And the Secretary of the
Treasury should rnitis~ss ;ss severity by a
liberal Interpretation Of the law This he
can do in response to the New Orleans me-
mortal, which recommends the Secretary to
arrange all the cotton growing States into a
g: 40 iIaof;nrs cf in To nn1Iort
the tax which it is shown tie has the power
80 do. The reasons are set forth in the me-
mortal. 1t is signed by the leading mer-
chants and cotton factors in New Orleans
The same feeling in reference to the tax, pre-
walls in Mobile, Savannah, Charleston and
Memphis, and the Inconvenience is generally
felt throughout the entire Gotten region.
The Northern farmers and consumers would
not tolerate men who taxed their corn, hay,
or other products. and interposed needless re-
strictions upon its sale and transportation.
Similar burdens, therefore, should not be
imposed upon the Southern people. 1t is
more injurious than excluding Southern re-
presentation for a generation. The true and
scientific method is to tax consumption by
imposing slight duty Of one or two per
cent on sales of all commodities The entire
s. stem of taxation in force is erroneous The
planters want the cotton buyers to pay the
taxes. They are too poor to pay them in ad-
vance. This is the true principle, aud the
legislators must come to it. Southern indus
try does not alone suffer. There is no. a
branch of Northern industry that does not
feel the injurious results. The poverty Of the
South forces complaint frat, The Northern
turn will come sooner than imagined. 1t is
represented to the Secretary that unless some
relief 10 Devised the diminished new crop
cannot reach market for year. The sub
jest has been referred to the Attorney Genera
for his decision as to the authority to change
tbs present system, and convert the cotton
growing districta into single collection dis
trict 1t is sail the decision will he fagora-
bic.
Such IL tbs substance of the burden COM
planned of, A burden which is seen to be
most oppressive
Judge Holt aud the Conspiracy.
Judge Advocate General Holt has written