Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-08-16
OPPRESSIVE TAXATION.

The Heaviest Taxed Nation In the
wOrId-The State Of Society which
Oppressive Taxation Is breeding.
The New York Herald shows that the
American people, to-day, are taxed heavier
than any other nation in the whole world
That paper says:
ave have estimated that taxation by the
Federal government alone, independent of
State, county and municipal taxes, amounts
TO fully $14 head-man, woman and child
for the whole population. Take the case
of laboring man, with a family of five or
six children, and it will be seen that he
pays about 500 a year, which, on an av-
erage, would be about seventh or eighth
of his earnings. Yes, the whole working
population pay in one way or another this
enormous and proportionate amount Of
their hard earned money. Nearly one
days labor out of the week the year round
goes to the support of the Federal govern
ment. The local taxes imposed by the
States, counties and municipalities amount
probably TO nearly as much, for in the end,
either directly or indirectly, all taxation
comes out of labor. Why, in the city of
New York we are taxed over $23, 000, 900
years. much az was raised and ex-
pended by the United States government
thirty years ago."
The New York Sun, in similar train of
thought, dinly forecasts the possible results
one Of these days of these grinding taxes:
every year it il more and more mani
fest that the time must soon come when our
island will be inhabited by only the very
rich and the very poor. Already it is
practically impossible for man of mode
rate means to rear his family here in
decenCy and comfort. An income of not
less than $4,000 a year is needed to live
even tolerably, and rent a separate house,
within two or three miles from the cenetr
of business" -e
But, as comparatively few have that In
come, the editor goes on to show Quoting
vital statistics) that upwards of half mil
lion of men, women and children are 10
day huddled together in tenement houses
ave surely need not paint the horrors of
life in these brick and mortar bastiles.
The story is only too familiar. 'Cleanli-
ness is akin to gOdliness,' we are told, and
we have a right TO presume that the con-
verse of the proposition is also true. At
least, New York was shaken out of its pro-
priety one bright morning, few years ago,
when, like phantoms of despair, great null
titudes of men, women and children sprang
from their hideous lairs in tenement and
cellar, to wreck blind vengeance upon
those whom they enormously regarded as
the authors OF their misfortune5 and their
miseries."
The San then says:
What guarantee have we that such a
bloody struggle may not sgain be inaugu- |
rated? Look at our labOring classes. |
They are profoundly dissatisfied with their |
present condition. And why? Because, |
though receiving high wages, they find |
themselves daily growing poorer. They |
cannot purchase for themselves and families |
as many comforts to-day for SIS as they |
could for 81 six years ago. Their chief
burden Of complaint is that, though pay
ing heavily for shelter, they are many Of |
them housed IA no decent farmer would |
lodge his swine. Visit theiR miserable |
abodes. and one does not wonder, as he |
picks his way through the dark alleys and |
corridors, and snuffs the tainted air, that |
domestic infelicity is too eiten the sEule; |
that the poor, spiritless, faded women find |
life 30 insupp0rtable in their dens that they |
have neither heart nor courage TO make |
their homes attractive. Hence too many /
oftheir husbands naturally turn IN The eve |
ming TO the rum shops, which abound in |
every tenement block, TO drown their mis- /
cry in strong drink. 1t is this dreary,
hopeless existence which turns honest men |
into drunken rufians, ripe FOR any out
rage.
Such people brood over their hapless lot
until they become desperate They ask /
themselves why il is that brown stone
palaces and marble mansions are hardly |
good enough for the wealthy few, while
the working many must put mp with I
fever holes in which 10 hide
their weary heads %
Further on that paper inquiries:
"Where are the Astors, the Stewards,
The Vanderbilts and the Drews, who have
amassed their mighty millions in New
York? Why should not these men devote
of their vast wealth TO this great
work of tenant house reform in the metrop-
oils? These great capitalists owe obliga-
tons to the community in which they have
prospered they are in some sense the
stewards of Divine Providence, and must
,ome dav give an account of the trust con-
Gded TO them. We do not say they are to
give away their house property in charity.
Far from il. But we do say, when 20
much misery and wickedness are begOtten
.bout them by the present tenement sys-
EN-, which they and others by judiciOus
md profitable investment of their money
night prevent, they are morally culpable
n not 80 bessowing some Of it,"
All this is well enough, 1t may be-bui
the readiesl mode Of obtain
ng relief FROM the crushing taxation which
$ breeding these evils, is to reyolutionize
he ,,nrnrnn,enI ihrnnrh the neacefnl one |