Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-08-04
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
Meeting of the Board Yesterday.
The County Tax on HIeTchan-
disc Removed. w

| ANBuAAA A1butuAg lnSotsDH ypotCAAAJ
morning. Commissioner White, OF the
Committee on Taxation, presented very
able and exhaustive report on the sub
Ject of the tax levied by the county on
the sale of merchandise.
The report was read, received and
adopted, and the following order unani-
moualy made thereon
Be Il ordered, That the County Clerk
cease from this date TO collect the county
tax heretofore levied by this Court upon
merchants for the sale Of merchandise
A number Of our most prominent mer-
chants were present and congratulated
Com missioner White on his able report,
and addressed him the following oOmpll-
mentaly note:
MEMPHIS TESS., August 3, 1888.
Hon. nr. ". Z. White, County Commissioner !:
Dear Sir: We, the subscribers, mer-
chants, who heard your able aud just
decision delivered this morning before
the Board of County Commissioners, beg
that you will do US the honor to furnish
IL for publication.
Very respectfully. etc.
Tool. Phillips q Co., VIM. R Moore 8 Co,
| Martin Wat & Co., Brooks. Nicely & Co,
X. 3. Taylor & Co., Clark Ely 90,
W AtCJAis f0AuAth a ~
10 compliance with the above request,
we present the report below:
The petition Of the merchants Of Mem
| phis asking to have the direct tax levied
by this court upon the sale OF merchan-
| disc removed, or so modified and ex-
planned that the County Clerk shall not
so construe the law as to collect the tax
| of one per cent. upon goods imported
| a oil II
| the original package, or to collect the
same over aud over upon the same goods
every tine il may change hands, having
been submitted to CON mittee Of three
myself, Commissioner Hack and the
| President Of the Board-I am instructed
| oy Commissioner Hack to make the fol-
| lowing report:
Said petition brings 10 our attention
| furcibly the fact that Memphis and its
surroundings Is deplOrably injured by
this direct tax as collected by the CouH-
ty Clerk, and that the present dismal as
Dect of this commercial center Of West
tennessee demands immediate action
on the part OF this Board. 1t should not
De crippled. West Tennessee has vast
natural resources, the SSH is happily
adapted to agricultural and horticultural
development, not surpassed by any State
IN the u 0IOu. Il6f luekuhuslADib nauE-
raj wealth is commanding the attention
of thinking men-men OF profound bust
ness judgment-and Intelligent labor is
looking to them with certainty of their
yielding abundant riches when properly
worked. Shelby county is one OF the
best and most wealthy counties in this
portion of the State, and Memphis is pc
culisrly we'll situated, possessing great
natural advantages, and if left alone,
and her merchants and business men
not burdened with unjust and Illegal
taxation, she will soon rally from her
present distressed and mOurnful condi-
lion and dart forward Ia growth, wealth
and prosperity TO an extent that would
used no prophetic interpreter to see that
the city anu West Tennessee will soon
take very high place in the estimation
Of the country.
In addition TO West Tennessee, Mem
phis has, and should now command, The
Trade Of Southern Kentucky, OF South
ern Missouri, Northwestern Alaba "a,
Northern Mississippi and all of Agkan-
sas. Yet we have seen for two years
past that toe trade from these sections Of
Lae country has bsen contiaually drawn
rom this city and csntered il distant
cities.
The result IL strikingly manifest 10 the
duil, church yard appearance OF our mere
tofore thr0nged streets ia the numerous
closed commercial houses which, two or
three years ago, were sought after at
enormous rents; in the vast number OF
Intelligent industrious, honest mer-
chants aud clerks out of employment,
md in the unusual number of charitable
objects calling for assistance. Why il
this? L. certainly is not, at the present
limo, on account of the high rents and
large salaries given to employees They
eau now be had at reasonable rates. IL |
Is mainly because cur merchants and
business men cannot pay the present one
rous taxes and compete successfully with
.hs wAtchiul, earnest opposition In
aeigh boring cities, which are not encum- /
bered with the direct taxation upon all
and every sale OF merchandise. This !
per eentsge sgaiRt Memphis merchants /
is Just one feather more than the camel !
eau bear up under.
It's maize lever Of immense power !
by foreign commercial men in their sd- |
vertisements, and by railroads aud /
steam boat agents to an unreasonable and |
unjust extent. Let this be removed and |
mighty engine will be destroyed which |
has been, and is now, beiIg used with /
destructive force against Memphis. !
Even her own citizens, within our city /
limits, have thoughtlessly been enticed, !
when they had few hundred 10 spend, /
to 90 somewhere else to trSde.
This state of things does not simply |
destroy the trade and business of Mem |
ohis, but It drives away capitalists, and
cheeks the growth and development OF |
the whole country, and leaves a like i'm
press upon the country Immediately sur
rounding.
1t is an undeDisble fact that whatever
iujures the city Injuries the whole county.
The taxation upon farms and country
property will be increased eventually |
iust in proportion as the wealth OF the
city diminishes. The ordinary expenses
Of the county must be paid and the
larger the amount of taxsble property ia
the county the Fighter will taxation fall
on each individual. Common sense
would dictate that we had better adopt a
course that viii keep and call capitalists
here, than to so burden them as 10 drive
all away.
If the general tsXes levied are net suf- |
dcient to meet the dems nds of the county
for the current year, Rm of the opinion
il had better be made up by q special
general tax than to be left as at present.
1t in the end indirectly falls back heavily
upon the consumer, and directly Injuries
decidedly your merchants and the COM
mercisl interests of Memphis-a course
which all must see is Tuinous. It's past
effect will require years to restore Mem
phis to its former healthy vitality.
Although not being lawyer, and not
familiarity with the mode Of
research of the technical forms of express
sion employed By judges learned 10 the
law, when prOnOunciDg elaborate opin-
ions which stand as authoritative expo.
sitions upon vexed questions OF its con-
struetion and application, yet We deem it
due to ourselves, as well as to the people
of Shelby county, to state in bTief, in ad.
dition to the above general points given,
the legal points upon which our decision
is based, and the irresistible force of res
soniug and authorities by which they
are sustained.
Tie authority OF this Board to control
and regulate the mode Of taxation for
Shelby county is found as follows: Tie
Constitution of Tennessee, section tweG.
ty-nine of article second, authorizes the
to vest the power OF taxation
for State and county purposes in the va
rious counties and incorporated towns.
By section 42ll Of the Code, the Legisla-
ture vested this power in the County
Courts of the State. The Law creating
this Board vested all powers heretofore
a. IL ~