Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-10-08
THE COTTON TAX.
Its Injustice and ImpOIicy-Reas
for Its RepeaI-A F0rcibIe Argument
from a Radical Standpoint.


from a Radical Standpoint.
From the Chicago Tribune, Radical
1t may be laid down as a general propo-
i'sition thats.any restriction upon trade, or
upon agriculture, or upon labor, is, to the
extent of the limitation, an injury to the
national prosperity. Sometimes the restric-
ton is hardly appreciable but even SO
small tax as quarter of cent upon
box of matches, deducts that fraction from
the sum total of the buyers means, and
diminishes the purchasing power of the
capital of every person who possesses the
taxed commodity, extending through all
the transfers of ownership, from the manu-
facturer to the consumer. The wise legisla-
tor will always seek to regulate the impo-
sition of taxes so as to interfere as little as
possible with the peculiar usages which
experience, locality and circumstances have
liked for the great commercial, manufac-
turing and agricultural interests of the
country. This is one of the most delicate
and perplexing problems in the science of
government, and its attempted solution is
continually leading statesmen into mistakes
and blunders. Among these may be classed
| the cotton tax.
The policy of laying an impost upon any
staple production of the soil is always haz-
ardous. In the case of cotton, the process
of collecting the tax embarrasses the plan
| ter hampers the factor and aggravates the
| buyer with a series of red-tape details,
which prove so many obstacles to the
movement of the crop. Each step of pro.
gress, from the farm to the seaport or to
! the factory, is encountered with some of
al al Oh Nha IoIo
, weighed, must be marked, must have APP
propriate tags, must be conveyed by rail-
road companies or by transportation agents
who have special permits. Each of these
acts requires either the presence or the
sanction of the proper revenue officer. To
violate any of these regulations subjects
the offender to various penalties, some of
them heavy. Besides, the above enumer-
alton comprises only a portion of the
necessary formalities. For instance, it is
the duty of the revenue agent to weigh and
mark all cotton but the cotton must 90 TO
him for that purpose, not he to the cotton.
If he goes to where it is, his travelling ex-
penses are paid by the owner. This is ad-
| ditional to the impost. Indeed, the whole
| plan, which has been devised to prevent
| frauds and to secure the payment of the
| tax, constitutes a set of checks and bal
ances, embarrassing, harassing, and per-
| picking in the extreme, and which would
| almost seem TO be devised with view 10
prevent the sale and transmission of the
staple to market. They necessarily dis
| courage all who raise, handle, or sell cot
ton, and tend TO repress its production,
whereas public policy, just now, would seem
| to require that its production should be
stimulated as valuable auxiliary in the
| work Of loyal reconstruction. Ii is not
! likely that any other cotton regulations
will or can be provided with sufficient
! safeguards and guarantees, that will be
| less complicated, less onerous, or less
aggravating.
The Southern people bitterly complain
of the tax as an invidioSs and oppressive
distinction laid upon them, something in
| the nature of a punishment for rebellion.
They see wheat, corn, and other great sta
Piles on the free list while cotton, a pro-
duction peculiar to the States that Joined
! the Confederacy, is made the object of
restrictions that are very burdensonne.
| They feel this the more keenly because
! they are now making an effort to rise out
of their impoverished condition produced
by the war. With fences destroyed, dwell
ings and out houses gone, and farming i'm
plements and stock almost worn out, they
began to repair their shattered fortunes.
To recover fully from such widespread de-
vastations as they suffered, must be a slow,
tedious and self sacrificing process-the
work Of years. The great mass of the peo-
pie are poor-msny Of them destitute who
used to be in comfortable circumstance
and they need every dollar they can earn.
Everything that impedes them in their at
tempts to realize upon the products of their
labor, is positive injury, felt in the daily
deprivat.ons of their lives. The aggregate
of the cotton tax is a serious loss to South
ern capital. 1t is needed to give an i'm
/ pulse TO agriculture, to trade, to manufac-
lures, and to local Improvements. Money
Is the life-blood of enterprise and pros
perity, and is an element of progress de-
PlorEbly deficient at this time in the un-
reconstructed States. 1t is an additional
cause OF aggravation 10 the Southern peo-
! pie thai the constitutionality Of the cotton