Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1867-08-29
Speech of John A. Bingham.

telling speech at New Market, in
Harrison county, on Saturday. His
speech is a scathing rebuke to those
! butternuts who wish to repudiate
Government contracts, We have
not room to publish this brilliant
speech entire, and must content
ourselves by giving a mere extract
from it, in which he says of them
These gentlemen who are asking
for this expansion Of the currency,
for the first step toward reputation
of the pledged faith Of the nation,
take this step further, and call upon.
that simon pure Democrat, c, L.
Vallandigham, to announce thepro-
position for them, in their State
Convention last January, that they
are for equal taxation, They are
against an aristocracy of bond
holders They propose, Of course,
to subject the bonds issued by theI
Government Of the United States
to the people Of the United States,
upon the pledge that they should
not be subject to State or municipal
taxation-they propose to subject
them to State and municipal taxa
ton. That is, they propose a mode
of making secession easy. They
would strip the Government of the
United States, in other words, Of
the means Of self.defence; for, let
me ask you, as intelligent, reason
ing men, to answer how the Gov
ernment Of the United States can
raise money upon the credit of its !
bonds if it be in the power of ev-
cry State in the Union, after they
have pledged their bonds to the
people to be exempt from taxation
on the condition that the people
accept them, and loan their money,
to submit them to State and munic-
ipal taxation ? South Carolina
could tax every bond, that would
pass by any possibility into the
hands of any citizen resident in
that State, out Of existence in Il
year, and could tax it out Of exist
ence for the very purpose Of reim-
bursting the money that South Car
olina spent in the unholy work Of
rebellion and disunion, need not
add a word further on this point.
If the Government Of the United
States is to be trilled with thus in
the name Of State sovereignty and
Democracy, touching these bonds, i
why may they not go still further,
md say the Government Of the 5
United States is not to be permitted t
10 maintain intact the patent she
ssued to your father and mine, for
5hese farms upon which you live
his day? Let these gentlemen an
iwer this question.
They are for equal taxation They -
Ire for taxing the poor by the same
Jules under which they tax the rich. a a
They are for taxing the men who
sweep away our forest, and scatter s.
lhe seed, and gather the harvest, T
and give bread to the nation, by the ! i
same onerous rule that they will tax "
.he millionaire in New York, who c.
counts his income by the hundreds tc
If thousands. Well, | am not The 81
nation is not This is not the rule r
If taxation that has been adopted, t,
am willing that every man in the u
and shall bear his reasonable pro- e. e.
portion Of the burdens to eXtin- II
guish this great debt contracted in f,
he holy war for the Union; but |
I'm not willing, and | challenge
Democrats to the issue, to strike Il
lown the exemption that, for wise ii
has been placed on your il
statute book, which declares that CT
he humble mechanic, the honest
armer, whose earnings do not eX-
,eed q thousand dollars, shall be
objected to the same taxation that =
Stewart Is subjected to upon his
ncome over q thousand dollars. | |
would not have the farmer pay his =
i've per cent, upon the thousand a,
.ollars he earns, as Stewart does, m
Why? Because he is able to do it OF
ecause he is willing to do, and be- u
auso he ought to do it, 1t stands "
y holy writ, that "to whom much 30
! given, much shall be required, - A
would not "muzzle the OK that
'cadeth out the corn p | would
OF fetter the hand needlessly that
,eds and clothes and shelters the
alton. | would encourage honest i
Idustry. i.
But. say these gentlemen we are an D'
II equal and exact taxation; we a." oo
i'll break the plighted faith of the u
ltion but we will have it, Itis no
,ncern of ours, they say, that the -
oyernment pledge to three hun
'ed and fifty thousand needy and :
Iffcring braves, that the bonds
hich might be distributed to them,
their wives, their mothers, or
,rhops their orphaned children A
ho awaited their return from the
ar; it is no concern to us that the NJ, NJ,
edge was given; we would send Hi
% tax gatherer into their little ne
yellings. and exact five per cont
4 their earnings, just as we would n
ON John Jacob Astor, of New =
ork. Yes, they would send the
X gatherer Hfterthatmaimed hero, tor
hO Loaf hic liu,ha IN thp hiOhta. 0fl 90,