The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-24
LouisIana sugar Ta.ed TO pealh

Sugar raised in Louisiana now paws
an excise duty of from Is TO 2j per
cent on its gross market value. No
other farm products, save cotton, pay
any duty. Against this tax the cutlery,
from all classes in Louisiana, is loud
and universal They say it is ruinous,
and they state facts enough TO show
the truth of what they affirm. We be-
lieve their assertion, that this tax will
extlngulsh the sugar culture, now try
| ing again to rear its head in Louisiana,
under all the discouragements growing
out Of transition state in the labor
market
That part of Louisiana called the
Delta is suitable for raising sugar, and
not well fitted for the cultivation Of
cotton or even corn Probably there is
no better use 10 which it could be put,
other things being equal, than the Gull
tiyatlon of sugar cane 1t is probable
that even with free labor, sugar may
be raised there at profit without any
increase of the tariff The present
tariff is high enough and we shou d be
averse TO raising il higher, for the BEN
eft of a home sugar interest, which
could not live without the protection it
receives from the tariff as it stands
now. We presume the Louisiana sugar
fields may be cultivated with some
though no inordinate-proft, without
additional protection, but the internal
tax they cannot stand. If that is con-
tinued, the sugar cultivation has got to
cease Is this desirable2 We NAV
ask, indeed, if the plain short method
OF preventing such misfortune should
not be applied ct once
In this subject all men in Louisiana.
of all shades of opinion, are agreed
Nobody dissents. They believe, too.
that when the matter is fairly present
ed to Congress that body will act in il
as good sense and a prudent regard for
the interests of the country, North as
well as South dictate Ii is for the in
terest of the whole country that sugar
should be grown in large quantities in
Louisiana and Texas; and a. least no
obstacles should be thrown by Gov
Government in the way Of its cultiva-
ton. The less we grow in the United
States, the more we have 70 buy
abroad and we agree with those who
insist that, for whatever We can suita- /
bly, rsise on our own soil, under our
own skies, we should be as little de. |
pendent as possible on other countries.
The tax is an exceptional one. n Is
such IS no other farm product is made /
to feel, save cotton. In behalf of the /
tax on cotton, it may be very plainly
urged that this country, having in GER
tain aspects monopoly Of that article,
imposes the tax on the consumer st
home and abroad. The cotton raiser
can shift it of his own shoulders. Not
20 with the sugar raisers; because the
sugar consumer will not pay the added
tax when he can get foreign-groTn
sugars cheaper, as is the fact
Nobody IN Congress, we charitablv
believe, can be senseless enough 20 ad-
Tocate the continuation of this tax As
/ punishment for disloysltv. No man
n that body can be so ignorant as net
o have heard, in some one Of his in
antile days, something about the folly
# cutting OIL ones nose to spite his
ace The majority in Congress. ike
II political melorities in ali times so
factious as the present. NAV
10 many outrageous things under the
osding Of the party whip and spur.
'ut here is 8 case where there is mani
astly not the smallest imaginable pre-
sxt for invoking the spirit Of faction. Z
ne alternative is taxing the Louisiana >
igar interest to death, or. by wholly
moving taxation, giving it a chance