Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-12-10
RrPEFT OF rms CorTOs TAX

The repeal Of the cotton tax, in the
shape in which it has passed the House
Of Representative Of the United States,
bv q test vote, amounts TO a confession
Of tbeiniustiee and inexpediencyofthe in
iouitous burden aud a bid to planters to
continue raising the staple, without az
fording the slightest relief 70 the over
burdened and plundered people Of the
South. II is as much as to say, VI have
stolen your money in illegal way we
have pluudered you Of your earnings and
have thus injured the whole country by
deriving YOU Of the means OF purchss-
ing the commodities which the North
have for sale, but We positively deny you
restitution. The Radicals who have thus
far engineered this bill, have not even
the honesty Of the plunderers who have
stolen " conscience money" and in an
hour Of eontrition, perhaps on q dying
bed. return It to the owner through their
father confessOr.
The sole object Of this legislation, It is
now evident, is to dupe SOutherR plant
ers into the ruinogs policy Of raising 3
large crop Of cotton next year. They
hone by repeating this tax to reverse the
determination Of the cotton planters to
plant extensively Of cereals, and delude
them into employing q large number OF
Idle negro politicians, who will desert
their fields in the grassy and the picking
seasons and leave their cotton TO fall and
rot The whole scheme has been Matched
IN FOR the apparent benefit Of the negroes.
There is not even the pretense Of justice
or generosity In it. We call upon our
planting friends not to be caught by this
snare. II they are not f~Oreordained to self
destruction. After the experience Of the
present year, they have not the least ez-
cuse for self-delusiou.
II the Radical Congress had
nursued a wise and ststesmsnlike
course. they might have gradually
re-established cotton culture in the
South. under their legislation. i
they had RENTED the cotton tax for the
prasent wear. il would have been about
so. 0gO.O 600 in the pockets Of Southern
ulauters. With this sum in cash, they
would have gone 10 work with some
heart. They would have had means
enough With which 20 make repairs, re
plepigh stock and purchase supplies
But they cannot now venture on the
experiment Of cotton raising, to ans
great extent, when their chief wants
must be bread and sustenance. They are
almost without exception, impoverished,
They have no mean upon which q
commence anew years operations. They
can advance nothing to laborers. The
freedmen hSve nothing to support them
IN the meantime. The ruinous policy q
Congress has thus Fgthlessly Gu
down the interests Of sil, white
at.d black. And they refuse tt
make PREPARATION. A proposition
20 make a b~urdenson1e and impolitic tar
operative upon the crop Of the presen.
year Is voted down by a vote o. nearly
two to one, and a Congress, which de
sires To a1pedr mSgnanimous, offers iH.
stead to repeal the tSxO only upon a cFoT
which is not yet in the ground! Gould
ANYTHING exhibit the spirit of Radical
ism more distinctly? We have asked
for bread, and they give US q stone. A
Government, 50 paternGb may, perhaps
succeed in the end, in making a desert
OF every n Of the Southern States d
the Radical party remains in power, but
it will e establish cotton culture OF
restore prosperity toa suffering people.
The South owe them no thanks for a
boon so poor that it would shame 8 high.
yavman to offer 1t, and make the veriest
hypocrite blush to claim it al magna-
nimity.
We uust repeat our admonition
10 the planters not TO permit
themsesves t. be dsluGed by the prospect
which this repSsb Sp The next years.
crop, holds out to Sems Theyesp only!
realize by 1.-TWO and : bsH cents HOEsl