The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-12
Taxes-RepudiatIon.


He must be very brazen, superhuouS
rascal, and quite as much fool as knaVe, VINO
goes brawling about-'I owe A. b. hve thou
sand dollars and mean to cheat him out OF
everv cent Of it, You seldom meet one silly
enougb thus to expose himself. The far
more usual and politic way is to cheat him
ON the execution is, contest the justice
of the creditors claim and, if beaten in Court,
have nothing whereon the Sheriff can levy to
sat,sfv the demand. The careless public is
tben left at liberty to infer-frst that the
alleged debtor don't really owe or, secondly,
that he can't pay.
We have no fear that this American people
will ever proclaim to the world that it has re-
solved not to pay its honest debts. Yet the
end Of non-payment may be reached by the
simple device of taking off tax after tax until
the residue will not suffice to support the Gov
eminent and pay the accruing interest on the ma
tional debt. Then comes in the popular swndle
of issuing indefinite millions of greenbacks on
purpose to debauch the currency beyond re-
Covery and compelling the public creditors to
take them, or nothing, for the principal as well
~ interest of their demands. That will nearly
finish the Job.
The last Congress most timprovidently, in our
view, remitted and reduced taxes TO the
amount OF not less than one hundred millions
per annum, and we have consequently all but
stopped paying off the principal of our debt.
Let us persist in paying at least one hundred
millions per annum, and we might soon fund
our remaining indebtedness in nOn-taxabIe
oonsol at four per cent, reducing the interest
by at eastthirty millions per annum. A public
debt steadily diminishing can hardly fail to
appreciate rapidly in value. And, as most of
our debt is redeemable at the pleasure of the
Government after it has run five years, 1t is
practically within control at any moment. II
there were no other objection to the repudia-
tion lodges now current, the fact that they
preclude the conversion of our Five-twenties
into five and four per cents. would be their
sufficient condemnation.
Congress will soon reassemble, and will be
met at the threshold with opportunities to
abolish this, that and the other tax. The cot
ton tax is especially the object of malignant
Rebel assault, as though it were military
contribution levied as a punishment rather
than a. resource. The manufacturers are
striving for a repeal Of the tax of five per
cent. on all textile fabrics produced in power
\ looms. The importers want the tariff cut
down; the liquor men protest that the tax on
their product is exorbitant, etc. From all
j sides, the cry is reduce this impost, abolish
that excise, and so on. If these clamors prove
potent, reputation is inevitable.
We trust, therefore, that Congress will
make haste slowly, and repeal no tax without
knowing precisely how the vacuum thus
created will be filed. If the cotton tax can
be spared, we hope it will be remtted; but
those who clamor for its removal will dis
cover that the consuming public pays good
n part OF it-that it does by no means fall exclu-
siVely on the cotton-grower, as they assume.
AS to the whisky tax, it was imposed under
the influence of powerful "rings" of specula-
tors, who had bought up most of the liquor in
Il the country, and then prompted the imposi-
tion of so high tax in order to fill their own
pockets by selling their whisky at an enor-
+ NOUS profit. We presume quite as much reve-
nue. would have been realized from an excise
of 81, or even 80 cents per gallon, as from $2
but the monopolizing spectators would have
pooketed far less. And now, if means can be
devised for insuring the collection of so cents
per gallon, we shall gladly see the impost re-
duoed to that rate. We only insist that the
revenue must not suffer by the change.
4 The manufacturers like the merchants
y have seen hard shedding this year. They have
operated on a steadily declining market; sc
that the goods they have made have often sold
K for less than the naked cost of their produc
n ton. The inst ices are not rare in which the
. fabric produced brought less than the raw
81 material cost. Hence many concerns have
= stopped work; some have failed very few
have realized fair profits. But this is the for
tune OF war; they generally made money when
prices were going up, and must be content to
lose when they go down. In spite of a high
tariff on imported and heavy excise on do
mestic fabrics, we believe our farmers are now
buying substantial cotton and wooden fabrics
oheaper-that is, more yards OF cloth for
fewer bushels of grsin-than they did ten
years ago. But cotton and wool are now
cheap as well as fabrics; and we presume mex
years business will be better than this years
has been.
We trust Congress will abolish or reduce NJ
tax without moral certainty that the reve
nue. will still suffice to meet every just de
mand on the treasury and continue the reduc
tiOn of ths national debt. If we can reduc
the natiOnal expenditures, let US devote al
that can, thus be- saved to paying off debt
until the residue may be funded at five, if no
four per cent,eaasta lna1
4 RepudiatiOn, and 'Iafiation-A Question