The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1870-01-19

k'ally adjusted, and so adjusted rs
.x'eerfere as little as possible with
~ daily comfort. 1t is the direct
!, thfestt of the people at large that
U " " shall be able to buy oheaply
1lhatever thoy have to buy. Our pro.
ent tariff of duties on Imports COM
Rols the many to pay high prices for
aMe 6eneiit of fcw. Although en-
\ aoteI >durinSth9 great need of the
governmen 1t was, .kewsrtheless,
trained not fos. tho one great end of
giving the federal TfeastSy the larg-
est income, but with the yew Of favor
ing certain special privat interests.
No government has n right to tax ex-
oept to obtain its necessasy revenue.
10 impose taxes upon artio!ds of dsi.
ly need for the mere purpose, by in.
creasing their price, of favoring tho
capitalists engaged in their manufac-
ture or production is an abuse cf the
taxing power. So long as laws arc
enacted upon this principle, powerful
combinations will be formed among
those whose special interest are to be
benefcially affected by thom, to push
through schemes which favor their
private business, regardless of the in
t@gsts alike of tho people and of the
building up of moneyed monopolies,
to tho aggregation of capital in few
hands, and to the creation and strength
oning of an illegitimato influence to
which Congress becomes moro and
moro subject. In enforcing duties
intended to be prohibitory, an extra
ordinary and very costly body of off.
clals is made necessary, the tempta-
tion to smuggling and fraud is in
creased, and official delinquency is
made common evils which would be
avoided, while the revenue would not
be decreased, by return to the sim.
pie duty of government and to mode
rate imposts. To make a just tariff
of duties the principle of favoritiSm
should be abandoned altogether. If
the principle be admitted, no limit
can be placed on the abuses under
it..
ENchhL FINANCES.
| protest against the continuance of
financial policy which fails either to
strengthen the public credit or to di-
minish the peoples burdens; which
bafses business foresight which, while
permitting tho. sale of government
gold, leaves the country subject to all
the evils of an irredeemable paper
currency which threatens to withdraw
from the people what is now in use as
money before providing substitute ;;
which, underlined in character and va.
rahSe in action, exposes the business
of the country constantly to the chan
ees of disastrous panics; which seeks
TO exert auct;:sting control over the
gold market, instead Of making steady
progress towards permanen soundness
in financial condition; which can sug-
gest no method of meeting tho loyal
tender promises, except to get them
back from the people by process of
contraction both painful and danger.
Gus; which neglects to redeem the
legal tender notes held everywhere
among the people; yet. with tho pro-
ceeds of excessive taxation, purchases
at pyemiw,n bonds that tho govern
ment is under no obligation to pay for
nearly fifteen years; which saves a
few millions annually in interest On
the bonds thus purchased, when, by
raising the credit of the country to it's
proper level many railli0ns moro
could be saved by the negotiation of
q new loan at lower rate of inter
est which assumes that the rate of
interest on our Beasds san be lowered
at the sole will of the borrower, or
that capitalists who now hold bonds
paying six per cent interest in gold
can be pursuaded to exchange them
voluntarily for bonds bearing only
four and half per cent; which, fail
iDg to devise o permanent financial
system to which the business of tho
country eoald, without undue sacri-
fees, conform, substitutes a sepies Of
experiments that entail losses upon
individuals, without contributing to
the general good ;fwhich suggests no
remedy for the fuotuating value Of
the legal tender notes., except that the
government shall redeem these prom.
ices at q price fixed by itself, which
is to bs Less than their face, or IL e.h-
es words, repudiate so much of its
obligations, and which, by failing to
secure the confidence Of the capital
lists Of the world, kceps the govern.
ment securities below par ID gold
everywhere, wien, in view Of the vast
resources of the country, they should,
even at FIVE pes cent interest, com"
mand o premium.
Z We are enduring great evils from
our irredeemable currency. The
tinanoial panic which occurred In New
York in September laati threatened
for q time widsspreaa disaster. A
very little increase, of the then pre-
vajltpg distrust might haye throws the,
whole business Of the country into
confusion. That panic would not
have been possible but for our hasing
in use as money, somethinp which.