The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1866-06-09
w. j. a. &C
Tax on COttOn---OppressiOn I
the South.

shs' N'ss
From the New York World.)
The r@uinous tax Of five cents II pounl
proposed to be laid on cotton, the mail
product of Southern industry, affords
good illustration of the working o
she icy American principle Of taxation
and representation, If the South wer,
fully represented in Congress, it would
be still in the power Of the other sec.
tions of the country to levy this cnor
nous tax, If, after debate. it should be
judged ~expedient. The Cotton States
are u minority; the other States, n
large majority, To say nothing of The
principle for which our fathers fought
in tho Revolution, the South is entitled
to be heard on this question, on the
same principle which acconIs to the
most atrocious criminal the right to be
heard by counsel in his own defense.
10 condemn even the vilest tclon I'M
heard, is deemed, among all civilized
people, m understandable oppression
If his defense is not good, the court or
jury are at liberty to place their own
value upon il. Bat to refuse to hear
il. to listen To witnesses and counsel
against the prisoner, and admit none
III his defense, shocks every sentiment
of equity. If five cents u pound on
cotton were even so proper tax, 1t
ought not to be laid till the represen-
~tatiycs Of the people who are to pay it,
hayc an opportunity to present The
Views OF their constituents. They are
entitled 10 This equity, eyen if wc regard
TIE South rs criminals, and the pro
posed tau as penalty. But as co
equal members Of the Union, as joint
heirs with us Of the American RcyoIu
i.ion, their claim to be represented in u
Government which taxes them, stands
ON high ground.
Five cents a pound on cotton is the
most burdensomc and oppressive tax
cvcr proposed to be laid in this coun-
try. 1t is half of the average price of
cotton, on the plantations, in ordinary
years. 1t is as bad us u tax Of forty
cents n busliei on wheat. Why should
Southern agriculture be so much more
heavily taxed than Wcsterny The
proposed tax OF n pound Of cotton is
Just the same rs the tax Oh "A ton ofcoal.
The South, unlike the Pennsylvania
coal interest, has no Thad. Stevens to
dominecr ovcr Congress, and press the
interests Of his constituents. \ peo-
pie who cannot he heard by rcprcsen-
tatiyes with sufficient local knowledge
to understand their affairs, are sure to
be oppressed in the distribution of pub
lie burdens.
The two industrial interests which
suffered most severely by the war, were
cotton growing and navigation-both
among the main pillars of the national
prosperity. W. destroyed cotton-cnl-
ture by the blockade and the South in
revenge, drove our shipping from the
ocean by her remorseless privateers.
Each party to the war struck the most
crippling blow possible al. the interests
Of the other. But the moment the war
ended, and the country became again
one, it was for the interest of both par
ties that these great branches OF the
national industry should be speedily re-
viyed. But what would be said of
Congress, if, in the broken and Grip
Pied condition Of the navigation inter
est, II should burden it with tonnage
duties more enormous than were ever
beforeii a dofi in any part orthc world Z
1t would he Ike laying a double task
on a sick laborer during the first days
Of his convalescence. hut the nayipa-
ton interest, having representatives in
Congress, is saved from any such Old.
preston; while the more important
and far more crippled cotton interest.
having no representatives, is to be SO
bnrdcncd and weakened that it will
probably never revive. Already, in
apprehension of the tax. the South Is
pegin,ng to deliberate whether it viii
abandon the crop. frs