The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-10-01
he Democratic Demand fol
Equal Taxation.

ton Of every species of property,
including Government bonds and
other public securities" forms one
Iof the most plausible points in the
Democratic policy. 1t looks like
Justice. 1t appeals to the popular
feeling against privileged classes,
and seems to suggest method OF
diminishing burdens, now excessive,
by diffusing their weight fairly over
bondholders and ALL In truth, how
ever, no plank in the platform is
weaker or more mischievous; none
effects more directly the obligations
and interest of the Government, or
is more calculated to delude and
injure the people.
The Democratic proposition, as
interpreted by Mr.. sPendleton and
others, is that the bonds of the Ma
tional Government shall be subject
to State and local taxation. Mr.
Fendleton cannot be supposed
to be ignorant Of the judicial
decisions which ob,truct the
application of this view. He is re
ported on recent occasion to have
remarked that ''the practical difficult
ty in the way of State and local tax
alton of the bonds is the fact that
the General Government does not
assent to such taXation;" ana he
added, Il would have the General
Government give this needed as
sent" But the difficulty is one
which, in the opinion of eminent
iurists, an enactment by~Congress
cannot remove Chief Justice Mar
shall, in a case growing out of an
attempt of the city of Charleston to
tax Federal stocks, held that such
taxation was repugnant to the Con
stitution and SO the Supreme Court
decided. Mr.. Webster contended
that though the constitutional pro
hibition is not imposed in express
terms, cit results from the general
provisions of the Constitution, and
has been judicially decided to exist
in full force.' This at least is GER
tain-neither the Democratic or any
other party, having control of the
Government, has ever committed
itself to the policy now advocated
by Mr.. Pendleton; while in the few
instances in which the claim to tax
has been asserted, by State or mu-
nicipality, the Supreme Court has
uniformly rejected it. In the Charles
ton case, the only ground Of dissent
by the authority of the Court was
that the local tax, being upon the
interest received and not upon the
bonds, assumed the form of an in
come tax, and was therefore allow
able. On the naked question of
right, as applicable to the local tax.
alton Of national securities, the
Chief Justice appears to have ex-
pressed the unanimous opinion Of
the Court. r,ss -s1E>aEz
And the decision rests not less
upon sound constitutional interpre-
tation than upon the broadest con
,siderations Of public policy. The
Ereniaag Post has confronted Pen
dleton with Hamilton, contrasting
the transparent fallacies of the one
with the conclusive reasoning of the
other. Chief Justice: Marsbalrs de-
cision, quoted by Mr.. Spinner in his
letter, partakes almost as much Of
the statesman as Of the judge. - He
asked::9 ,E s. EeE
"Can anything be more dangerous
or more injurious than the, admis,
sion of principle which authorizes
every State and every corporation
in the Union, which possesses the
right Of taxation, to burden the ex-
ercise Of this power at their discre-
ton? If the right to impose the
tax exists, it is a right which in its
nature acknowledges no limits. 1t
may be carried to any extent within
the jurisdiction of the State or COR
poration which imposes it, which
the will Of each State and corpora
ton may prescribe. A power which
is given by the whole American peo-
pie for their common good, which
is to be exercised at the most criti-
cal periods for the most important
purposes, on the free exercise of
which the interests certainly, per-
haps the liberty, Of the whole may
dependency be burdened, impeded
if not arrested, by any of the organ
lied parts of the confederacy."
To this statement of the question
there can beno answer The ma
tional interest, irf fact, is totally ig-
nored under the excitement of a
clamor which is addressed to the ig-
norance of the people. The power
which the Democrats would confer
upon States and corporations would
be as injurious to the strength as to
the prosperity of the General Gov
ernment. It would render the pros
ecution Of a great war impossible.
Its assertion during the late rebel
lion would have paralyzed loyal
authority and given us anarchy in
stead of victory.
Looking at the proposition in con-
nection with the rebel proclivities of
it's authors, and the manifest ten
dency of their policy, it is not un-
fair to assume that this demand for
local power to tax Federal bonds is
designed to impair the credit, and
so to weaken the power of the Gen
eral Government. 1t is the seces-
sionist doctrine in another shape =
And as Cobb, under Buchanan,
squandered the resources and under
mined the credit of the Treasury,
with the view of aiding the rebel
lion, SO would Pendleton, under Sey-
,mour. permanently cripple the Gov
ernment in behalf of the same spirit,
and the identical interest, which
had expression in the rebellion. 1t
is q flank movement against the
Union; an attempt to tetter the
Government by assailing the foun-