Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1870-06-22


A proposition made by Mr..
Beck (Democrat), of Ken
tuclly, to tax the interest on
the United States Bonds five
per cent. was rejected by vote
of 10 to rs, in the United
States House Of Representa-
tives. The entire amount Of
the interest.bearing debt, as ;
officially reported on the LIST of
June, was $2,293,Oo0,0 0,0oo.-
The interest on this sum at six
per cent. is very nearly S14O,-
100000 annually, The pro
posed tax Of five per cent. upon
this interest would have been
$7,0O0,OO0. Nearly one-balf is
held in Europe, and the tax
would have netted us there
nearly $3,OOO,O0O, Why was
it not imposed ? No, we will
not say that-but why was not
far larger tax demanded ? =
Why did not Mr.. Beck, who
brought it before Congress,
make the amount equal to that
paid by other property ? We
know no reason for any discrim.
ination in favor of any kind of
property. All should be taxed
equally and alike. The power
to do it by Congress is unques-
toned. Indeed it was eX-
pre'sly reserved in the law an.
thorizing the creation OF the
bonds. Now all other proper,
ty pays a taxation of at least
two per cent, not upon the in
terest derived from it, but on
the principal itself. This tax
on the bonds would net us
about S4I0O0,00O q year. Ii
would be no more than fair. 1t
is demanded by strict justice.
The holders of the bonds are
better able to pay their share
of the burdens necessary to
support the Government than
any other class ofpersons what.
soever. We know why, how
ever, they are not taxed; it is
because they arc too strong i'll
Congress, Probably more than
one-half in that body are bond
holders themselves, and nearly
one-haIf of the remainder have
been bought up by them, and
are in their interest. They
prefer to raise the $I7,0OO,O0J
of revenue, which could justly
be obtained from the bonds,
from sugar, coffee, tea, salt,
coal and lumber, and other
nee essaries demanded by the
people.
This is a matter demanding
the attention of the latter. il
they are so much engrossed 10y
party feeling, as to tax them
selves for the benefit Of an ex'
elusive class, they will only
. deserve the blame as they pay
the penalty. The election this
fall will determine their scnti.
men(s in regard to this ques.
ton, 1t may be mentioned
here, as significant, that Of the
oycnly-oiyht members who
voted to tax the bonds, only
twenty.four were Republicans
fifty.four were Democrats, And
yet the Republicans have a
two.thirds majority in the
House. AS a party the Repub
licans are committed to the ex
emption by the bankers and
bondholding leaders who sup
port it. The twenty-four Re.
publicans, who, out Of the one
hundred and thirty in the
House, separated themsclve.
from their colleagues, were
driven into it by the force Of
public opinion. Without the
strong manifestation Of that VIC
should not have had their votes
Here is a lesson for the De-
mocracy always to put for
ward their strong points. Il
we had been less timid and
cowardly, and made no declar
alton Of opinion, as we have Oh
other questions, we should have
received no aid, We have
pressed them hard in q party
point Of view, and here are the
fruits. We are not discouraged
that we have not accomplished
more, except SO far as we OBJ
serve in our organization a dis
position to lower the party