Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-09-22
WHOLE NUMBER 3S9.

and stagnamt business, and beg that the
money may be allowed to circulate and
perform its duty of effecting exchanges;
and in the same paper [ see the eXtraOr-
dinaTy statement from the Treasury De-
partmCnt official information chat the
merchants and other commercial men
of the West, owing to the scarcity of
currency, are compelled to take anything
offered to them which represents frac-
tiOual values of greenbacks, and cOnse-
QUently are forced to receive and pass
counterfeit stamps"
Now, my friends, is this truthful state
mCnt of the condition Of affairs / have
taken il, almost word for word, from the
/ Commercial that no man might say ]
had cOlOred it to highly. 7 ask YOU
each one Of yOu--dOeS this statement ac-
cord with your own observations? Why
is it so? Large crops have rewarded the
industry of the farmer. The beneficence
Of God has not failed. The promise of
seed-time and harvest has been fulfilled.
We have had neither war nor pestileuce
in our midst. Why should the products
of agriculture be so low and SO slow of
sale They cost as much plowing, and
sowing, and planting, and reaping, as
many hours to toll, and as many acres
to produce them, as last year, or year
before. There are rs many to fill;
as many craving appetites as then.
Why IS employment so scarce, and why
are the sCanty wages OflObOTers reduced9
There are strong arms all around lying
idle; and every element of growth i'm cur
country is every moment demanding
greater development.
LabOrers are plenty breadstUffs are
in abundance; raw material is at hand;
stocks Of goods are ready to do all trans
pOrtatiOn all the appliances of active
| business which our modern civilization
has created or demands lie for instant
use. They need but to bejOined and put
in motion; and yet they lie inactive,
| dead and useless, as the parts of an en-
| gine before the machinist has put them
/ together and the engineer has let on the
| steam. Why is this? Enormous tax
alton, uneqUally, UnjUstly distributed,
enormous expenditure, unnecessarily
/ and WaStefully made; and both taxation
and expenditure are managed in such
wise as to give every advantage to dead,
inactive capital, and to impase their
| burdens upon active capital and labor.
| both are managed so as to advance the
/ interests of the bOndholder and to de-
! press the interests Of the business Of the
country.
| have in my hand an official state
mentOf the receipts and expenditures of
| the Federal Treasury, published in pursu-
ance of law, for the three months ending
on the last day of June, 1869. 1t shows
/ the receipts to have been, from taxation
and sale Of public lands, S1O9, ,S47 ,61S.97,
/ or reducing the amount collected in gold
! from the customs (S44 ,021 ,32A77) to cur
rency, at thirty-thTee and One-third per
cent, the receipts for three months were
| Sl24, 81 Dds. 80, or more than five hun
/ dred millions for the year at the same
rOte. 1t also shows that in addition to
/ this enormous amount from taxation
/ there were realized from loans S44. 952, =
422. 20, making a total, for three months
/ from all sources, in currency, Of one
hundred and sixty-nine millions of dol
| lars.
| During the same time the expenditures
are stated for ordinary expenses at $50, =
/ OIL ,024, or reducing the interest on the
public debt to currency, S75,1Gl ,1G9, and
I for payment on account of principal OF
the debt, $40, 2SS, ,7O7, 4 total Of Sl24, ,3+9,
S7G.
This iugglery about the debt 7 hardly
comprehend. 1t seems we borrowed
fOrty-fOur millions, and paid fOrty-nine
millions, leaving an actual payment of
about five millions, but in order to effect
this payment there was an access Ofrev-
enues over expenditures of fOTty-five
millions, and the Secretary paid premi-
Jm Of 81 ,374 $50, or more than twenty
( fiyeper cent.
! The army consists Of fifty thousand
men, and costs $50 900, 600 a y5aF. The
navy costs S25, 600, 900. Why do we
need these vast aTmaments? For what
useful purpose are they kept up? And
| if it is, necessary to have so many men,
why should we have general and staff
officers sufficient for an army ten times
as great? It is said Il do not vOuch for
! its TRUTH thata Brigadier General sits
| in the ante chamber of the White House
and plays usher to the President; an ex-
penditures of SIS, 600, 900 for the army
and $S, 100000 for the navy would be
ample.
| I said the taxation was enormous.
! Have I not proved it? I said it was un-
equally and uniustly distributed. The
] last official statement of the value of all
property in the United States was S16,-
! 000, 900, 900. The last official statementOf of
/ the amount of bonds outstanding is
| 2,172,O00,0 900. Taking these figures rs
nearly correct, the capital invested
| in bonds is more than One-eighth Of
| the whole. We know that the only
| tax paid by the bonds is five per cent.
on the income. The income for that
quarter was S27, $50, ,4O6, upon which five
per cent. would be 81 ,372, ,52O-that is to
| say, One-eight of the capital of the capi-
| tai of the country paid 100000, while
/ seven-eighths paid S123,00O, 600. Active
/ capital engaged in business, requiring
/ labor to make it profitable, supporting
men and women and children, and
giving health to the commercial and So
CiaI system, and liable to Teverses and
| losses, paid seventeen times as much,
| dollar for dollar, as the dead, inactive
capital of the bOndhOlder, which, with
| out labor and without loss, brought him
six per cent interest in gold.
But this is not all. Of the whole
amount of taxes thus collected for three
months, the tariff duties paid S44,O21,-
S3I in gold or SIS, ,695, AS in currency
Mr.. Senator Sherman, [ preceive, says
1 this is a just, honest, reasonable tariff,
| based on the principle of taxing lUXUTieS
/ not necessaries- of furnishing rea-
/ sOnahIe prOtectiOntO American industry.
Let us see. Coral, pearl and tortoise
/ shell are admitted free; canoes, dia-
monds, emeraIds, garnets, gems and
rubies pay duty of ten per cent. al
/ rUlD1JHl; bracelets, chains of gold or silv-
/ Cr, earrings, studs, gold rings and man
uflctUred jewelry, pay a duty of twenty
/ five per cent; clothing, forty per cent.
| al U0IOrC0, and Hfty cents pound in
addition hats and stockings pay thirty
| five per cent, and fifty cents pound in
addition; linen clothing pays forty por
| cent, gloves, fifty per cent. shCetings,
/ thiTty-five per cent, and ilannels and
| blankets thirty-iivC per cent, and fifty
cents per pound i'm addition; Carpetmg
/ thirty-five per cent, and forty cents a
/ yard in addition; sole leather pays thir-
/ ty-iivc per cent; glassware, forty per
cent. hatchUtS, chiSels and braCe-hits
/ fOrty-fve per cent, coal oil about thirty
/ per cent, iron nails about fifty per cent,
bar iron about lifty-livG per cent, pig
/ iron about siXty-iive per cent, tea pays
sixty per cent; sugar thirty to fifty per
cent, and salt ono hundred and twenty
/ five per cent And this Mr.. Sherman
/ calls taxing luNurics aud not taxing ne
cesSariCs. Jewelry of the most cNPCu-
sive character pays nothing, or at most
/ ten per cent; but hoes and spades aud
/ hatchcts and nails, articles used by
working men, pay thirty to fifty per
cent. \ lace shawl worn only by the
very rich comes i'm at twenty-five per
cent: a worsted shawl worn by women
/ who live by washing or sewing-l had
almost said who die by washing or sew
/ ing-pays forty per cent. and fifty cents
/ for every pound of its weight Dia-
mOnds are admitted at twenty-five per
cent dCi v0'OrC7, but coffee and tea and
sugar must pay forty to siNty-tive per
! a,,+ TNy.fr.,v ,,st;1I, 1,,z-,,vsy- -,