The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-09-11
WHEELING w. VA WEDNESDAY MORNING. SEPTEMBER H. 1867

and of the nation, ransomed and regen.
Grated, to the pure and original princi.
Piles of their first and best estate.
PERSONALITIES TO DE AVOIDED.
Before l begin to speak upon the ques.
tions intend to discuss, desire to say
what do not come to speak upon.
DO not come to defend myself against
any of the miserable personalities that
have been uttered or Published against
me. We are in crisis that demands OF
the people their most careful and delib-
crate consideration. We are in a crisis
which demands of every speaker who
aspires to address the people, to address
them with facts, and with arguments,
and not to occupy their time with triv-
Olity or denunciatiOn.
l como to treat of great national is
sues. ! come to speak of questions
which the people as mass should con-
slider.
From the large field of appropriate
questions, have selected two topics, to
which beg to call your attention The
Finances and Manhood Suffrage.
NATIONAL DEBT AND NATIONAL TANA-
TION.
Andrew Jackson in 1885 announced
that our national debt had been paid,
and that the country owed not one dol
lar. Thirty-two years have elapsed,
and we are the most deeply indebted
people on the face of the globe.
You all can remember, even the
Youngest, almost, Of these little boys
/ that sit before me can remember when
we used to pride ourselves upon tho
fact that we were the least indebted
and the most lightly taxed people on
the face of the globe. Every Fourth of
July orator called upon you to render
your thanks to your forefathers who
freed YOU from Great Britain, and every
one Of them, when congratulating you
on the free institutions you had and
the freedom you enjoyed, also took care
to contrast your lightly taxed and lit
tie indebted condition with the heavily
taxed and monstrously indebted conui-
ton of the old mother country. Then
you We're told what glorious thing it
was for you that you had got rid of
poor, indebted, taX-ridden Great Brit
ain. What is the condition now3 Great
Britain has subject to her sway thirty
six millions of people within the limits
of the British Isles, aud in India and
her colonies two hundred millions more,
making two hundred and tnirty-six
millions that bow to her scepteI.
She owes debt of four thousand
millions of dollars. We have thirty.
one millions of people, two hundred
and five millions less than Great
Britain; and we owe, according to Mr..
Thaddeus Stevens, between four and
five thousand millions of dollars. With
two hundred and odd millions less pop
ulation than she has, we owe as much
as she does according to the great lead
or of the Radical party. According
to the official returns of the Treasury
we owe an audited debt of two thou
sand five hundred millions, and have
seen no man, who made the least pre-
tense to veracity, who has estimated
our whole debt ut less than three thou
sand millions. As / have said to you,
Mr.. Thaddeus Stevens says that 1t is be-
tween four and five thousand millions.
But take it as three thousand millions,
and we owe more this moment than any
equal number of mankind. Now that
is only the debt of the General Gov
ernment. Ii you add to that the
debt of the States, and the counties, OF
the towns and the villages, to say moth
ing of the debt of railroad corporations
and other great corporations, but only
the Government debt, and you owe
more than Great Britain, and far more
than any other equal number of man
kind. The value of the property OF
Great Britain, real and personal, with
| in the British Isles, is estimated at thlr-
ty-six thousand millions Of dollars.
| Her annual taxation is three hundred
and fifty four millions. We have a
property, real and personal, estimated
at fourteen thousand millions, not one
half the value of the property OF Great
Britain, and we draw from the pockets
of the people five hundred and sixty
millions of dollars year; with less
than half the property that Great Brit
ain has, we draw almost twice the
amount of taxes, or, more exactly, over
two hundred millions more taxes than
she does.
Again, let us try it another way. BY
the official report of the Secretary OF
the Treasury the rate of taxation in
Great Britain on the hundred dollars IS
ninety cents. The rate of taxation by
our General Government alone is three
dollars and ninety-three cents on the
hundred dollars; that is, on every
hundred dollars we pay more than four
times the rate of taxation in England.
Now add to that our State, county and
municipal taxes, and ask yourselves If
there ever was on the face of the earth
such a tax-ridden people as we are.
| have made these same statements
before, aud q newspaper referring to
them said that probably some poor
Democrat who never paid a cent OF
taxes, went away after hearing the
speech, very much grieved at the idea
of how severely he was taxed. But is
it true that the laboring man pays no
taxi So far from that being the fact,
the reverse is true; the actual truth is
that labor pays all the taxes. When l
sneak of the laboring man, don't con-
fine myself simply to the day-laborer,
because every man that produces any
thing of value is laboring man. The
farmer is laboring man, for his farm
will produce nothing without labor.
The mechanic is q laboring man. But
why is it that labor must pay the
taxes 7 Because they must be paid
by property. When the tax-gatherer
comes round, if you have no
money you must sell your property, or
work to get money to pay your taxes.
As nothing in the world that is valuable
can be produced without labor, it fol-
lows that, in the end, labor pays the
tax. A speculator adds nothing to the
wealth of the country. Take rich
bondholder-and don't say this to pre-
iudice the people against them-but
take a man who produces nothing; he
don't add as much to the payment of the
public debt as the lit le boy who plants
corn in the hill. But the laboring man
certainly pays taxes he must have
clothes to wear and food to eat. Sup
pose a yard of cloth cost manufacturer
81. Ifthere were no tax he could afford
to sell it for $3.50. But If the Govern
ment taxes it 81, he must sell 1t for
$3.50. Then he sells it to the
merchant, who, after paying an
other tax, sells it again for $3.50 per-
haps. Then the laboring man wbobuys