Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1869-05-27
Taxing Government Bonds.

the government, but it certainly rs
not when they become private
property; and pass out of govern
ment possessI IN. Nobody asks that
government property shall be taxed,
but that SO soon as it becomes pri-
vate property, it shall be. This we
know to be just, and right, and per-
fectly Constitutional Dispatch.
The idea Of the government IS
suing bonds and then owning them
is sublime. If it was able to hold
them there would be no necessity
for their issue. They are issued be-
cause the government wants money.
As soon as issued, and can be sold,
they "pass out of government pos
session into individual possession !"
But, then, this stuff is all pure dema-
goguery. 1t is written to deceive
and mislead those who don't know
any better, and because party action
requires it to be done, in order to
make that action appear right,
when, if it was discussed in the
light alone of truth, it would appear
palpably wrong.
The decision of the Supreme
Court-declaring the taxation OF
government bonds unconstitutional
was based upon an action brought
bv "individual' holders, and the de-
cision was that you could not tax
them in the hands Of "individuals. "
Now, every man that does not stand
by that decision, is in rebellion
against the government. That isall
there is of the question. is not
one of personal likes or dislikes.-
If we were to be governed by mere
personal whims and caprices-by
what this or that one may say-we
should have no government at all,
except that which "might makes
right" AS good citizens, we must
learn what the law is, and then obey
it. That is the whole duty of an
American citizen.
As we said last week, eshould re-
joice to see government bonds taxed,
but if those, whose duty it is, say
that it is unconstitutional to do so, as
good citizen we must abide by that
decision. And that such has been
the uniform decision of the Supreme
Court is we'll known to every novice
even in the political history of the
country. We refer to one case, that
of Weston and others against the
city Council of Charleston, South
Carolina. That eminent .jurist,
Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering
the decision of the Court, which was
unanamous, said:
"The people, for objects the most
important which can occur in the
progress of nations, have empower
ed their Government "to borrow
money on the credit of the United
States" Can anything be more
dangerous or more injurious, than
the admission of principle which
authorizes every State and every
corporation in the Union, which
posses the right of taxation, to bur
then the exercise of this power at
their discretion. If the right to i'm
pose 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 Corporation which
imposes it, which the will of each
State and Corporation may pre-
scribe. A power which is given by
the whole American people for their
common good, which is to be exer-
cised at the most critical periods for
the most important purpose, on the
free exercise Of which the interests
certainly, perhaps the liberty of the
whole may depend, may be burden
ed, impeded, if not arrested, by any
of the organized parts of the Con-
federacy. = H i The tax on
Government stock is tax on the
contract, a tax on the power to bor
row money; on the credit of the
United States, and consequently is
repugnant to the Constitution.