The Plymouth weekly Democrat., 1867-07-25


were three hundred and ninety millions
You pay one hundred millions more than
England, and one hundred and ninety mil
lions more than France. Do you want
this excess still greater?
France has property, real and personal,
as taxable basis, amounting to forty thou
sand millions of dollars. Great Britain
has property, real aud personal, amounting
to tb rty six thousand millions. France
and England pay no more local taxes, while
the people of the United States, in add,-
ton to the sum [ have stated, pay for
State, county aud municipal taxes nearly
two hundred and fifty millions. VIII this
change reduce our taxes?
Do you believe our financial system Will
be improved
The national debt exceeds twenty-five
hundred millions-and the annual interest
is not far from one hundred and forty mill
lions. Each sixteen years the amount of
interest thus paid is almost as great as the
whole debt. Will it be reduced?
The capitalists have two thousand mil
lions of Government bonds. They paid
for them at an average OF scarcely more
than fifty cents on the dollar They re-
ccive interest in gold at six per cent. on
their face; and yet they arc exempt from
taxation Minnesota taxes the land, and
houses, and horses: and money, and labor
of her people, but she dare not touch with
the prclaning hand Of her tax-gatherer
the fortunes Of these gentlemen. Will
their numbers be dimshed, or the amount
Of then non-taxable investments be reduc-
ed?
Three hundred millions and more Of
these bonds are in the hands Of the own
ers Of National Banks. They deposits
them at Washington, and draw, semi-an-
nually. the interest in gold. They receive
from the Treasury an almost equal amount
Of Bank notes, and these they lend oft to
! the people at six. or eight, or fifteen per
cent, as the necessities of commerce or the
condition Of the borrower make him a fit
subject for such demands The manifest
interest of the people is, that these bonds
bc redeemed in legal tender notes Tie
interest of these bonds would thus be saw
ed, and the currency, if any is/ needed,
would thus be furnished free of cost to tho
people Will this be effected
Such consolidated government as I
have described would furnish the hey-day
of the speculator, the stock jobber, of all
those walters on fortune who live by their
wits on the labor of other men. But leav-
inc these considerations and rising 10 q
higher level of argument, [ ask you is
this policy worthy of our country? VIII
it extend the liberty and increase the hap
piness Of the human family? VIII it lay
deeper and broader the the foundations Of
the Government?
The wounds of the war are still! agape.
In the North they are not yet healed. In
the South they are fresh and bleeding
There the industrial system is destroyed.
the social fabric Is shattered, the CONNER
cial prosperity is utterly gone, families are
broken up. neighborhoods are depopuleted,
agriculture is torsaken, fields laid waste,
and famine-actual tarvation--carrying
many to their graves. The tracks of the
charots of war are worn so deep that
century will not efface them. The North
las conquered their armies; shall it nor
conquer their hearts? The highest duty
Of patriotism, the cheiest aim of states
manship, should be to calm the passions
and allay the evaporation and, If it were
possible to chace the memory of the war.
This policy Of reconstruction adds dishon-
or to defeat adds the sting Of degradation
to the bitterness of submission. A radi-
cal New England Senator refused to per-
nit the trophies of the war or the paint
ings of victories to be pat up in the Smith
sonan Institute, lest it mig ght keep up the
unhappy memories. and nourish bitter re-
sentiment, but with refinement of cruelty,
he exhibits them in the laws, and perpet-
yates them in the institutions with which
he would govern the people.
They tell us We need strong govern
ment that we need to clothe the nation
with power TO execute Its will. Strong for
what? Has not the Federal system been
strong enough? Has it not waged success
full war both of oflense and deiensey Has
it not By force of arms overcome a gigan-
tic rebellion, aud for years sustained
most exhausting civil war? Has it not
had the power to preserve order at
home and maintain its position In the
world? Has it not been strong enough
to protect the rights, alas, strong enough
to jcopardize the Liberties of its citizens
History tells us that confederation is lib
erty-that consolidation is dcsrotism-that
a confederation is the strongest govern
ment for defense, and the weakest for op-
preston. A government which holds in
IT'S hand The power to preserve order, to
enforce justice, to make and administer all
the local law applicable to thirty millions
of people, and thus to enter into the de-
tails Of their daily life, has that hand mail
cd in iron, and may lay its weight upon
and crush out their liberties.
\ government whose power is SO con-
centrated is ruined, if it is defeated in a
single battle; or if the various chords of
power are not all closely gathered in one
strong grasp Hpower be dipersed among
many local governments, equal and indie
pendent, except they are bou,d in confed-
Grafton, 1T never passes beyond the control
OF the people, so far as to oppress them
and If disasters come, 1T presents many or
Sanized fronts, and rallying points around
which armed forces can cluster. and dis
clpline ana order be maintained. The
Austrian army was defeated at Austeriitz.
almost under the walls of the capital, and
consolidated Austria lay at the mercy of
Napoleon. The Prussan army was con.
quered at Jena and Auerstadt, and consol-
idated Prussia was almost obliteratcd from
Europe. The Russain army was struck
at Eylau and overwhelmed at Friedland
Al h.