The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-07-22
WHEELING w. VA, WEDNESDAY, MORNING, JULY 22 1868.

conceives, aud labor comes to work it,
it does not add one dollar to the wealth
of the country. Take a man who lives
simply upon the interest Of his money,
and he neither directly nor indirectly
produces anything. say this not to pro-
duce ill-feeling toward any class of
men. Take the case of the rich bond
holder who works not, labors not,
neither does he spin, yet is as fine as
Solomon in all his glory. Laughter. ]
Take him sitting in his comfortable
armchair, doing nothing bat receiving
the tax drawn from the pockets of the
people, out Of them being supported in
his wants, his necessities and luxuries.
That man does not add to the wealth
of the country so much as the poverty
stricken little boy in the hills of Vir-
ginia who follows his fathers plow and
drops the grain in the furrows. For
that grain of corn the little boy drops
will become lusty stalk of corn, bear
ing its golden ears, and adds just that
much to the wealth of the country.
But the man who does nothing in the
world but draw interest from others.
who to support himself neither direct
ly nor indirectly labors, or produces by
labor-that man adds nothing to the
wealth of the country. And, as you can
not produce wealth except by labor,
and you can not pay taxes without
wealth, it is just for that reason that,
in the long run, it is the labor that raises
the means to pay the taxes. ["That's
so."]
THE CASE ILLUSTRATED.
But that is not all, my friends. Labor
is not only necessary to create this
wealth, but labor contributes taxes in
other modes, Us will show yon. / sup
pose there is no Copperhead in this town
who would not like to own six shirts; |
will assume that, though there may be
some who have not that many.
Laughter. A voice-'I have only
one."l And if this Radical Govern
ment continues much longer you will
not have even that. Immense laugh
ter. / will give You an illustration
that | gave many times last year, and
challenged criticism, but | never got any
one to deny its accuracy, for no one
could do it. Well, if there is any ambi
tious young Copperhead here, let him
step over to the merchant and ask him,
"What will you charge me for eighteen
yards OF muslin, with which to
make me six shirts ~ The mer
chant will probably say, "Four
dollars"-it may be Il little lower
now. The young Coppcrhead says
"My dear Mr.. Merchant, how is this 7
Eight years ago | bought just eighteen
yards to make six shirts, and yon only
charged me two dollars; how is it you
now charge mo four dollarsi" If the
merchant understands the matter and
is an honest man, he explains to him
the truth in this wise: "Why, my dear
customer, it is true that eight years ago |
| sold You eighteen yards OF muslin for
two dollars, and that now | ask you |
twice that sum for the same amount OF
goods, but you must recollect that In
Gle Sam has come along and taxed raw
cotton three cents pound, and the pre-
duler of that cotton, when he pays that
lax, puts it on the price of the cotton,
or he would lose money by it," The !
manufacturer buys the cotton from the !
producer, and in the price pays back to
the producer the three cents tax he paid.
Then comes Uncle Sam to the manufac
turer, aud says, "My dear Mr.. Shoddy, |
laughter did you great many good
turns during the war: | bought your
shoes up in Massachusetts,, ard | paid
you the full price, though they did rot
last above 4 forty-eight hours march:
bought your stnif for uniforms, and
the first time the boys stopped down 10
drink they hadn't whole pantaloonS OF
any longer. Now, have done You Mr..
man%f"oturer, i great many good turns,
and | want you to 40 mo good turn.
am hard up, and therefore have laid
a tax upon every yard of shirting you
may make out of that cotton you bought.
And Mr.. Manufactures pays the tax.
Next comes the purchaser, and lie finds,
in the price lie pays, the tax that
was paid by the man who raised
the cotton, and the man who
manufactured it. Then comes Uncle Sam
TO the merchant, and says: Il know
you are truly loyal tapplausc and
laughterl, but if You are not truly
loyal, that is SO much the more reason
for grinding you down; so, loyal or not
loyal, You must pay me tax on all you
SELL" The merchant has no help; he
pays the tax, and he claps that OIL the
price; and so when the young Copper
head comes and gives "a for his shirts,
he has three separate taxes TO pay in
that price Of 81. So in the end, the man
who pays the tax is tho man who puts
the shirt on his back. And so with
every thing you wear. There is scarce
ly one single thing you wear from the
nf haaH IN tha gnla of
feet, upoA which you have not paid to
the United States, from three to four
taxes.
1t will not do, therefore, for these
people to say that the laboring men pay
no taxes until they cease to wear
clothes, until they cease to eat and
drink, until they die and be buried in
Christian burial. They will pay tax
under this Radical rule on all they cat,
on all they drink, on all they wear, on
the medicine. they take in sickness, and
on the coffin 10 which they are buried
after death [Cries of "Thaps so,' and
cheers.
THE ANNUAL TRIBUTE:
Let us look at another thing. What
is the amount of money drawn by our
General Government alone out of the
pockets of the peoplei Now here
again ]. repeat by the official record for
the last fiscal year, 1867, tue official
reports of which have been published,
the receipts were, in round numbers,
s622, ,799, 900 paid into the Treasury of
the United States. If yOu take frsm
that amount the sum received as premi-
um on the sales of gold, it will leave
the amount drawn from the pockets of
the people, by taxation, at over S579,.
OOO, 100, in round numbers 500, ,000, 900.
Now, my friends, just look
at that; S550,000,000 drawn from the
pockets of the people of the United