The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1868-10-14

! General Government" ~ ~,
iHIfyou, in your particular case, do no
1pay it, the whole country, taken together
does pay at that rate. upon'the whole Of tn
+ personal and real estate in the country, a
shown by thin, official report: But" say
another man, III have heard another say OF
4 the stump, and some of our Radical friend
, argue, that MI this only concerns the ricl
man that the, poor don't, pay any taxes
and, therefore, this heavy debt and taxa
: ton don't concern them."@ Why, my
friends, it would be great deal nearer tn,
truth to say that SO far from labor paying
no taxes, labor pays them ALL E That,
true And why sit that labor pays the
taxes? tits for this simple reason--I car
prove it by Scripture q In the sweat o
thy face shalt thou eat thy Bread sale
God to man. A voice, {" Yon have prov
led it."] li3-sais. ii2g9iigf ~. 81 iit;ils {,
i You can not produce one cent Of wealth
you can not add the value of one farthine
to the wealth of any country, except by la.
Dor. I"That's true.pE9 There is no Other
mode known 10 men by which the wealth Of
a country can be increased one dollar ex.
i lcept by labor. A. man may have the finest
Inventive mind the world ever knew, he
may concei e the most useful invention the
world ever saw, but until labor comes to
build the. machine that be; .conceiyes, and
labor comes TO work it, it does not add one
dollar to the wealth of the country. Take
a man wboilives, Simply upon the interest
Of his money, and neither directly nor indi-
Irectly produces anything. I say this not
to produce ill,feeling toward any class OF
mea1ti Take the case ofsa rich bondholder
who works not, neither does he spin, yet
is as fine as Solomon in all his glory.
| [Laughter. Fii!i''i'so 3i'.1fa 9i'ti 2"
:; 10Y nj sazis stls 81 al ittiilsS ~, .
Take him sitting in his comfortable arm
chair, doing nothing bnt receiving the tax
es drawn from the pockets Of the people
out Of them being supported in his wants,
his necessities and his Injuries. That man
does not add to the wealth of the country
as much as the poverty-stricken little boy
in the hills Of Virginia who follows his ia
theirs plo " and drops the grain in the fur
rows. For that grain Of corn the little boy
drops will become lusty stalk of corn,
bearing its golden ears, and adds Just that
much to the weaitS Of the country. But
tie ma man who does nothing in the world
but draw interest from others, who, to sup
port himself. neither directly nor indirectly
labors, or produces by labor-that man
adds nothing to the wealth Of the country.
And, as you can not produce wealth excep:
by labor, and you eau not pay taxes with
out wealth, It is just for that reason that,
in the long run, it is labor that provides
the means to pay the taxes. CHATS
SOL IS eAafS'Sa ss''s fssi''. ''e'N3'NfS -
But that is not all, my friends. Labor
ia, not only necessary to create this wealth,
but labor contributes taxes in other modes,
as will show you. IsupPose 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 ifthis Radical Govern.
ment continues much longer you will not
have even that. Immense laughter.1 I
will give you an illustration that gave
many times last year, and challenged criti-
cism, but / never got any one to deny its
accuracy, for no one could do It. Well, Z
there is any ambitious 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 merchant will
probably say, "Four dollars lit may be q
little lower now. The young Comprehend
says I" My dear Mr. Merchant, how is
this? Eight years ago bought just eigh
teen yards to make six shirts, and You on
ly charged me two dollars how is it you
now charge me four dollars?" If the mer-
chant understands the matter and is an
honest man, he explains to him the truth
in this wise: "Why, my dear customer, It
it true that eight Years ago I sold you eigh.f
teen yards Of muslin for two dollars, and
that now ask you twice that sum for the
same amount Of goods but you must re-
collect that Uncle Sam has come along and
taxed raw cotton three cents a pound, and
the producer Of that cotton, when he pays
that tax, puts it on the price Of the cotton,
or he would lose money BY It," The man.
facturer buys the cotton from the producer,
and in the price pays back to the producer
the three cents tax be had paid, Then
comes Uncle Sam to the manufactured, and
says, Ny dear Mr.. sboddy, Laughter I
did you great many good turns during the
war; | brought your shoes UP in Massa-
chusetts, and paid you the, fnH, price,
though they did not Hast above q forty-eight
hours march; bought your stuff for uni
forms, and the first time. the boys stopped
down to drink they hadn't whole panta-
looms on any longer. Now, have done
you, Mr.. Manufacturer, great many good
turus, and / want you to do me q good
..~j.4slstr - 4 4