Wilmington journal., 1867-03-15

inserting after line siXty-two the words
" that from and after the 1st day of Sep
tember, 1867, no tax shall be levied or col
lected on cotton grown within the United
States''
Mr.. Chairman, from the temper which
has already been evinced by the House on
this question / do not know whether there
| is the slightest hope that this amendment
will be adopted but believe, with the old
covenanters of Scotland, that it is some
| times valuable to bear testimony against q
wrong which we are unable to resist 1
! think the tax on raw cotton is altogether
the most extraordinary that was ever laid
! by an intelligent Government. Six years
ago, when the war began, we had a monop-
oily of this article in tie markets of the
world. The course and events of the war
robbed us of that monopoly. The system
of labor on which the cotton culture rested
was utterly destroyed, destroyed as neces-
| sity of war and for the permanent welfare
of the nation as well as to vindicate the
right of every man to personal freedo. M
| Nor was this all. The war in its ravages
consumed the horses, the mules, and the
| farming implements of the South, laying
waste the plantations and using up the
accumulated wealth and the reserved
capital of the South. Owing to this state
of circumstances in our own country, we
| find that Brazil, Central America, the West
Indies, Egypt, Australia, and the East
Indies were greatly stimulated and en-
couraged to engage in the cultivation of
cotton, and hence during the five years in
which the business was practically suspend
ed In the United States every other coun-
| try N the world, where the climate and soil
are suitable, engaged in the effort with
great zeal and enterprise. And they have
succeeded in remarkable degree, despite
the assertions TO the contrary, and are now
presenting formidable competition with
us IN foreign markets.
We now desire to regain our ascendancy,
and the first step which Congress takes is
| to impose a heavy tax of fifteen dollars on
each and every bale of cotton before it can
be removed from the plantation or district
in which it is raised. 1t seems to me that
| absurdity cannot go further that if we had
specially designed to lay great obstacle in
| the way OF our ever revlving the cotton bu
siness in that country we could not have in
vented more certain and efficient mode
than this tax presents.
Many gentlemen seem to think that the
business of cotton growing is enormously
profitable and can therefore pay any amount
of tax. Now, sir, [ do not hesitate to say
that no business of equal magnitude in the
whole country was attended with such un-
in 1866 hold in my hand some very valu-
able and reliable statistics on this subject,
and / wish l had time to read them to the
House !; but some brief extracts must suf-
fee. In Alabama, on sixteen plantations,
the total cost of the year, allowing a mode
rate rental for the land, was over $242, 900,
while the total product was only $137 200,
showing q net loss of $105, ,000 Twenty
four plantations in Arkansas, Tennessee,
Mississippi and GeOgia, show total loss of
$l21 900. The season was, l admit, extra
| ordinarily unpropitious, and the misfortune
Is that the fact operates to discourage the
cotton culture to such degree that we
ought to make some special effort to revive
and stimulate it; and we could do nothing
so efft ctive in this direction as to remove
the tax. I have no doubt that If Congress
were to repeal this tax to-day, thousands of
acres would at once be planted In cotton
that will otherwise lie idle throughout the
present year.
We hear a great deal of talk in this Hall,
Mr. Chairman, about the resumption of
specie payment Theorising on this sub
ject may be entertaining if not instructive,
but practical men see that we shall not get
on to a specie basis until we export some
thing else than gold eagles and fve-twenty
bonds to pay our balances in Europe. Our
hope of a balance of trade in our favor rests
on the increase of our exports, and the only
way we can egectively increase our exports
is to encourage the growth of cotton. Put
the cotton region in a position to produce
a crop of five million bales-and with pro-
per legislation they will do that in 1869
:. and warrant you that we shall be on the
! specie basis at once, without further effort,
| and, indeed, without any one knowing 1T
until we have actually realized it. Two
hundred and fifty millions in gold to our
credit annually in Liverpool will force us
| to the specie basis, even if we did not de-
sire to reach it. One peculiar hardship in
this cotton tax is that it places the cotton
grower, white and black, under the control
of the money lender. When the crop is
ready for market it cannot be removed un-
| til the tax is paid, and the planter having
exhausted his means in producing his crop
is forced to go to the usurer and he is thus
inevitably oppressed to a cruel extent One
gentleman who had to raise So, 600 to pay
the tax on his crop told me that he had
paid forty per cent. for the money on
loan for only few weeks 1 submit that
law which thus places labor In the hands
and under the power OF capital Is faulty
and vicious in the extreme.
If we desire, Mr.. Chairman, to elevate
the material condition Of the freedman
and that is the direct road to hI9 moral and
intellectual elevation-we must open to him
profitable avenues of industry. The fate
of the negro and the cotton plant in this
country seem to be indissolubly connnec-
ted, and just i'll the degree that we retard
the cotton culture we retard the progress
and the profit of negro labor. In urging
the repeal of the cotton tax, therefore,
! feel that am most effectively pleading thC
cause of the emancipated negroes of the
| Southern States.
The idea that we are Furnishing the South
| by this tax (which some gentlemen ad-
vance, is utterly delusive, if it were not in
deed unworthy. The cotton tax is not an
injury to the South merely, but to the whole
country, and quite as great an injury to the
manufacturing and commercial interest as
| it is to the agricultural. Resentment Is al
ways an unsafe ba is for legislation, and
especially unsafe when applied to business
and financial questions. Let us throw such
feelings aside and look at the question In
its true light. Let us remember that a
| heavy export of cotton with cheap cotton at
home are among the most desirable objects
for the whole country that can possibly be
attained. Let us remember that the tax of