Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-06-17
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND MEAS

/ u nlOOs Q6clIuGliNb VI ilS oAN
threatening and promoting serious dis
turbances Of the public peace. The po
Iitical measures before Congress, dictated
by ThSddeus Stevens and his coadjutOri
Of the Reconstruction Committee, arr
intended to subject the Southern whites
to the perpetual domination OF the hsdi
cal power, supported by Gen. Grant
bsyOnetS,
The passage Of these measures over thu
Presidents veto seems foregOne con
Sasjop, and they lay the foupdstion TO
social, and commercial disorders II
elVi,, '-s, that may render this Union
me Iut1 II Of blessing.
curse Ts, lesIe.., projects Of this Congress
al ne HIdn nASnG1a' 81 ia 80 ~srded With dlstrust
TSo Are 45so MoDa 70 De. Se re- up the interna
revenue bill reported by 4, = nronose,
on Ways and Means, and it. az tb,
| to put IL through at short notice ~,
convenience of Radical members, Wa,
out giving the public a fair opportunity
/ to know what it Is. All that the people
have heard of it is, that it is new and
very complicated system Of taxation.
| Whether it is based upon Just and equal
principles in regard to all interests,
classes and sections, and whether it is
practicable in its details, and adequate to
| the wants of an economical administra-
| tion Of the Government, the public is not
yet advised.
In recent discussion in the House Of
Representative, Of the provisions of the
bill mentioned by the IIateNigenceT, Mr..
Hunter said ait was admitted that the
annual distillstlon of whisky in this
country amounted to eighty millions Of
gallons, which at two dollars a gallon
should produce S1GO,OOO, 900, and yet the
annual revenue from that source was
only S13, ,OOO, 900, showing lo5s to the
Government of nearly $3.50, ,OOO,OOO
Mr.. Niblack, member of the Com
mittee of Ways and Means, thought that
the chief cause of the nOn-collection of
the whisky tax, was the fact that the tax
had besn placed SO high, thereby offering
such an enormous inducement to fraud.
He proposed the reduction Of the tax to
fifty cents per gallon. He would not,
however, stand on this specific rate, but
would vote for q greater or less rate, but
for no higher rate than seventy-five.
Believing, therefore, that the difficulty
was not with the system Of the collec-
ton but with the high rate, he did not
see the necessity for changing the Bu-
reau of Internal Revenue into an inde-
pendent department.
General Morgan Of New York, who
has since been ousted from his seat in
the House by the Radical majority there,
because he is a Democrat, served in the
Union armies during the war, and re.
ceived only 700 more votes than his Rad
ical competitor, declared that the Re.
publican party was about to be driven
from power by a plundered and out
ragged people. He said
AS to investigating the frauds
and rObberies committed on the
people, that was impossible 30 long as
that party remained in power Every
farmer, merchant and mechanic in the
land understood that the existing abuses
in the Government could only be cor
rected by driving the Republican party
from power. He contrasted the taxation
in England and the United States, and
showed that where, as in England, the
aggregate taxes averaged only 80 cents
on the 500 of property, they averaged
50 SO In the United States. In other
words, the taxes In the United States
were more than four times ss great in
proportion to the wealth of the nation as
in Great Britain. He referred to the
fact that one Congressional District in
New York paid twice as much internal
revenue as was paid in the eleven South
ern States. And why? Because Con-
gress, instead Of legislating for the bene-
fit of industry and commerce, had but
one idea in its brains-that of keeping
the Republican party in power.
When Legislature finds it necessary
continually to undo at one session what
It had done st previous sessions, and so
to be constantly tinkering and cobbling
the laws, and especially such as deal
with those most delicate Of all subjects
OF legislation, the currency and the
finances, the men who thus mismsnage
the public affairs prove themselves to be
utterly incompetent, unfit to be trusted
by the people, quacks, charlatsns
and confidence-men, apt only for the na-
tion's undoiBg. If lawyer were 30 to
mismansge the business of his client; If
a merchant were SO to conduct his affairs,
one would In q little while have no
clients, and the other in little while be
bankrupt.
The truth is, that no class Of men in
this country are 90 lily educated for the
performance Of their duties, so unquali-
fed by nature to act the part which they
impudeRtly undertake, as The much
larger number of those who engage in
the trade of political juggling and escrO-
! qaerte and call it craftsmanship. An
officer OF the regular army is almost al
ways qualified to perform the duties
he undertakes to perform; a lawyer
to live by his profession, must know
some law; medical guack is soon de-
tected and divine, to be respectable,
must be somewhat of a theologian. 1t
/ is only a legislator who need know moth
ing at all, like Logan, or is none the
worse because he has everything to un.
learn, like Summer.
The Congressional legislation of the
present day, in the internal economy Of
the two Houses themselves, may aptly
be defined as "knavery over-reaching
/ ignorance" 1t is hardly to be believed
that many members of either House were
parties to or cognizsnt of the rascality
embodied In the original whisky-tsxing
law, by which certain mercenaries oI
Radicalism reaped millions by buying
whisky to sell it again at an enormous
advance. The knaves OF Congress led
the asses by the ears into the mire ol
dishonour. At last, legislation has come
to be controlled by "rings which origi'
nate measures, push them forward
buy votes, and are the real lawmakers
Of the country. Everything is job
a fat contract, q grAtuity for "extra ser
vice." a speculation or a swindIe. II
was not difficult before the war, to buy
/ Northern votes in Congress. but not liz