Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-11-26


THERE is an idea existing in the
minds of some that the success of DEM
agogues, the giving out of huge con-
tracts, and immense profits derived
from them by contractors, and the pee
ulatiOns of party leaders benefit the
laboring population. But there al
be nothing more untrue, and those
connected with labor unions should
carefully inquire into the matter. A
few labOrers may gain some small and
temporary reward and day wages
from such a cause, but the ultimate
result is the injury Of themselves and
families, and the whole body of the
poor. If in New York the compare
lively small taxation compared with
that of this city is ruinous, how must
the case be here? We subjOin the fol-
lowing from the New York Times:
The laboring man is influenced by
what seems an immediate gain from
a corrupt proceeding Of one of his
leaders. Thus, if a courthouse is built
for five millions which ought to have
cost two and a half millions, the work
men of the city see the profits of the
undertaking to their class in supply
ing work, but do not see that this adj
ditiOnal expense, pOcketed by jobbers
and raised from taxation, is at once
charged to them by capital in the
shape of an advance in rents. And
what is worse, capital must charge
more than the extra taxation, because
Of the risk Of similar future jobs. 1t
is not the wealthy who pay for such
plundering contracts and useless eX-
peBditures, but the poor and middle
classes.
Some kinds of corrupt administra-
ton the laboring slass know and feel
at once. Thus, if the streets are to be
paved at a certain expense, and the
contractor only half does his work and
pockets half the cost, all the cartmen
and drivers of the city suffer the loss
to their daily business in damage to
teams and wear and tear Of horses.
Mr.. Peter Cooper, in a recent address
to WOrkmen, said that the loss to cart
men alone for this city from this
source is equal to a thousand dollars a
day. Most Of the losses, however, to
the labOring class from the jObbery of
our city governors is indirect. 1t APP
pears in increased rent of tenements
and shops, in the consequent higher
price of commodities, and also in the
withdrawal of capital from the city.
II any intelligent labOrer desires to
see what effect unequal taxation can
ha ~ an on inn anrfonN hr1nah 81 hrngS ]
ness, let him 90 around our docks and
~ship-yards and iron-wOrks at the pres
ent time. He will not find in all New
York, with its immense wealth and
boundless commerce, more than one
ship in process Of building to-day.
He will e melancholy lines of aban-
dOned shipyards, irOn-works without
business, docks that are empty; and
if he will 60 to the tenement houses
near by, he will meet with the more
melancholy sight of room after room
inhabited by strong men, caulkers,
ship-wrights, dOckyard labOrers and
iron-workers who are sitting idle, eat
ing the bread Of poverty, and hasten
ing toward a terrible future of want
and suffering.
The causes of this calamity, as any
one will inform him, are not alone the
heavy national taxes on the raw ma
terial entering into the structure of
ships, but also the heavy local taxa
ton Of New York, as compared with
European cities. This taxation weighs
upon every part Of a shipbuilder's
work. 1t adds to his rent, to the
wages he must pay, and to the cost of
all his material, as compared with a
foreign rival. He must pay for all the
jobberies Of the City Fathers in all his
expenses. If he should undertake to
run a line Of American steamships to
Liverpool, he would start with a local
tax of nearly three per cent. to COM
pete with an English company, who
pay one per cent. All his labor
on board ship, his provisions and ma
terial would, in one shape OF another,
be paying proportions of this tax.
The result Of this complication of tax
e, local and national, on a branch of
business which must compete with
branches, comparatively I'M
Durdened, has been TO drive capital
away from it, and almost to bring it
an end.
This is only one instance. If our
intelligent labOrer could take an ex-
Of a hundred miles around
New York, he would see everywhere
bringing up in the comparatively
IntaXed rural districts, huge factories,
refneries, breWeries, sewing
machine factories and hundreds Of
similar establishments. The cause of
his exodus Of capital he would dis
;over to be the desire to escape the !
ocal taxation Of New York city.
if he would inquire further,
would discover that a great deal of
he printing and book-making of New
York Is done in distant districts. even
n Massachusetts, on account of the b
'heaper labor there; the u of this Il
greater cheapness being the lower n
'ents and less personal expenses of the j
operative, these again being reduced a
~ an honest local administration. h
lie would find also that numerous Il
ranches Of other manufacturing. o
whose products are sold here, are car q
on in New England, though this il
lty has mOr facilities for them. be- h
Of the heavy taxation and higher
rice of labor here. 81
The working class should under v
tand that the result of this increasing f
lunder and enormous taxation BY a
ur city authorities, is sure to be most a
DISASTROUS to themselves. There will %
e hosts of unemployed men in the D
this winter. Many branches of 81
reduction will be closed. The masses n
f poor will suffer with want, but the il
they have chosen and the d
emagogues who represent them will Il
e reveling in wealth, wrung from o
lem. d