The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-11-13
THE LOW PRICE OF COTTON and TIE COT


.FIaaaq T0NTAX. ~ or Ggf9 n
Cotton has fallen to price which
PROMISES to ruin the planter and dis.
bearten the laborer. Sixteen cents was,
Yesterday, around figure for the sample,
Taking from this the United States tax
and other charges, and the planter does
well if he nets thirteen cents. The
most careful managers report that it
can not be raised at an expense less
than fifteen cents per pound, and 1T has
cost many. more. The losses OF our
people then will be fearful, even where
the crop, has been fair and much more
where it has been partial or total
failure. 1t can not but cripple and dis
hearten our industry in such manner
as to make its effects felt throughout
the country. The evil threatened is OF.
sufficient magnitude to demand the ear
lest attention of. the November Com
gress. It is aquestion Of ruin to halt
the country, and of perhaps fatal injury.
to our national finances, and relief
should not be postponed. +, .r i,s,,
A tax like this, of from fifteen to
twenty per cent, upon a single raw, pro-
duct of the soil, and upon none other,
is grossly unjust, and, like all injustice,
contains the seeds of disaster.idJt de-
presses the production. aud trade in cot
ton. The collection of the tax imposes
additional and excessively annoying
burdens upon the planter, and tits said,
to consume nearly all of the tax, 50 that
little reaches the Government. 1t puts
both our producers and manufacturers
at great disadvantage with foreign
producers and manufacturers, thereby
increasing the balance of trade already
against us, raising the price of gold and
proportionally destroying the value of
our currency. ~ ira q IS
We are glad to see that the cotton
manufacturers of the North aregat'
length waking. upato the. fact thatthe
tax is discrimination against them as
well as the Southern planters and la
borers. At a recent meeting in Phi
ladelphia they alleged that it would if
persisted in, drive them out of the mar
ket entirely and leave the whole field
exclusively to British manufacturers.
Congress should act promptly in behalf
of the South, the North and the whole
country, and relieve us of this burden,
too grievous to be borne. Let it, fit
will, tax the idle landed capital Of the
South, force the great estates into the
market and into some service to man
kind, and not longer discourage pro-
ductive industry. Fortunately for the
South it will have this year something
besides cotton. The drouth in the,
North has damaged the corn of that
section, and we may have some to spare
For everything we have beside cotton
we. have a promise of good prices.
Our dependence upon and returns from
other products, as well as the low price
of cotton, should direct our planters at
tention to wiser variety and to more
intelligent cultivation.-Memphis Post.
: 80 -fhiii11 2i
COMPUL sorry EDUCATIoN.-Wh
should we not have compulsory edu-
cational system in this country?. That
the best government is that which
governs the least" is an old saying, and
comes in that sententious form which so
readily commends belief. That every
man, within certain restrictions, has a
right to do as he pleases is also true
But whether every man has a right to
do as he pleases with another being
whom he has brought into the world,
and who will in his turn be man and
citizen, is another question. is'slii Pcs
1t seems to us that it is our duty to
the next generation, which will be call
ed upon to govern the. country in our
place, to give it an education. Will it
not demand it at our hands or lay. the
responsibility on our shoulders? We
cannot plead the impracticability of, the
compulsory educational system, for the
German States have given us ample ev-
idence of what can be done by law and
its vigorous execution. Massachusetts
and Rhode Island have each semi
compulsory school system, and SO far
as the experiment has been carried it
has been successful in these States. Let
us have such system in New York
The generation which is now growing
up in the Ignorance of our back streets
will be as bad an element in future pol
ltics as their parents are fresh from the
sinks OF European darkness. We owe
it to the future Republic not to allow
these parents to control their children
in the interests Of Ignorance. Y.
Ecening Hail. + ~ Sss't ~