Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-05-04
MECHANICAL PURSUITS AND
WORKINGMEN OF THE
SOUTH.
N U NIB Err EI6 HIT.

NUMBER EIGHT.
With an average tax of only one cent
an acre on land in our State, we shall
never be able to fill up tae waste places
on our territory; simply from the fact
that one cent an asra is NO tax at all,
and those who hold the land will con-
tlnue to keep it from being improved by
keeping it out of market, depending
upon leasing it to the incoming popula-
ton, who, when they find they are new
er to be landholders, will prefer to go
elsewhere to settle Besides, one cent
an acre will not pay for its assessment
and collection Of the taxes, the expense
OF which of course must consequently
be drawn from other interests in the
State, and this is probably the reason
why our store-keepers are burdened
with such heavy licenses to conduct their
srade operations. And this of course
brings the beft of the taxes of the State
on you, as workingman and consul
mer, as it also has powerful tendency
to keep the State in poverty, by pros
trating her trade, commerce, manufac-
turing and agricultural interests. You
must not view the farming interests as
antagonistie to these other intsrests-all
that IS opposing them now is the land
spectators and monopolists, and wheth-
err they are capitalists, farmers, mer-
chants, mechanics, or wprkingmen, it is
all the same to the tax ridden part OF
the community. A fair and equitable
tax ought to be put upon the land, so
as to help to bear the burdens of the
State. We want education as free as
the air, and we want the State complete
ly bound up in a network of railroads,
so that every village and hamlet in the
land can have railroad running through
it, and every farmer in the State can
send his products to our cities without
difficulty, and get in return the products
of your labor. Get this in trim and you
will have plenty'o of work to do here
at home. and good wages for doing it.,
and set the thousands Of people now
idle in our midst to work to help sup
port the expenses of the State.
This is politics-the politics the DAY
BOOK is looking to. But you say
"d-n politics" So said our ancestors,
and there is where we have been dam
aged. That very indifference on the
part of those who have gone before US,
has given the Bourbon and the dema-
gogue their opportunity to rule the State
to the ruin of the mechanic and work.
ingman. That very indifference to ''pol-
itics" gave the Bourbon an opportunity
to send North, or to Europe, right by
the door of our merchants for his year.
ly supplies-right by the door Of our
own workshops for his thousand and
one articles that you might have here
tofore manufactured, or that your city
II archant might have heretofore sold
and lett you to bear the burden Of the
States taxation-while he enjoyed his
FREE TRADE. If you think such
politics" as these ought to be odd"
by you in future, let us assure you that
The dining" part of the matter will
i fall on you and your children, and kesp
you and them in poverty, Ignorance, and
slavery, such as you have just escaped
from, forever. .-
Men prosper best in the affairs of life
who do little head-work along with
their hand-work, if it is only enough tc
keep the shan pers" from defraudine
them of the fruits of their labor; and
that's about all of the "politics" the
DAY Book calls ON you to embark into,
We don't want you to turn what is called
politicians, or become Office seekers
either, but we woul,l like to see you or.
ganize and look arot'nd you to ward of
evil, and be prepared to take advan tage
of the good that may soon offer.
We shall soon want men to send to
the Legislature, and to Congress, and
wewant common sense men among them
from the ranks of all working classes,
including agricultural, mechanical, mer-
camille, mining, and shipping, with a
few lawyers thrown in, together with
the capitalist. With proper organiza-
lions to commence this thing, you may
become quito an element to insure fu-
ture success and harmony to the State !;
but without organization your vast num-
bers don't amount to anything for your
own good or the good of the people, but
in the hauds of the tricky demagogue