Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-05
APPEAL
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE CITY.
THURSDAY xORNlNs, ;: OCT. $, 1871
PUBLIC MEETINGS AND TAXATION

II has been suggested that publ
meetings be held throughout 10
State for the purpose of ~instructint
our senators and Representatives U
vote for a reduction of taxes. Suei
meetings would be largely ATTENDED
nv all classes, and represented by ev
erv branch of business, now clamorinl
for relief. But we do not consldel
such a movement on the part OF thu
Daople necessary to induce our public
servants to obey the will other mas
tors There is not a man il
the legislature who does no
understand the desires oil nj
constjtueats-how a~nxiously they
Drav for relief from the taxes which
have impoverished many, and which
threaten the ruin of others. 1t has
iustIv been said that taxation is the
taller that imprisons the trade, com
meree. business, growth and develop
ments of all communities, and II the
people of Tennessee can be giver
time TO breathe, freed from the
load of taxation for two years,
they will bound into prosperity
like a young giant stripped
for the race TO greatness. 1t will
be a half century before our national
debt is paid of, and Tennessee ought
to be allowed twenty or thirty years
to extinguish Liabilities contracted by
fraud and poachers upon the rights Of
an unwilling people. Allow an un-
fortunate and oppressed people, strug-
Cling to saw the wreck Of fortune two
wears relief, then assess the taxes upon
a basis that will promptly pay the in
terest and extinguish the debt in the
course of twenty or thirty years, and
all will be well. This will be nc in
convenience to the bond-holder, for it
is a well. known fact that spectators
prefer to deal in long bonds to short
ones. But taxation cannot be kept
ND while taxable property is decreas-
ing. When property, labor and capt.
tai are burdened and exhausted by
legislative action, the inevitable re-
suits are disastrous to all the interests
concerned. Property will not be
improved; capital will seek other
fields for investment, and labor
will not impart strength and
health to manufacturing, CONNER
cial or trade movements. In
a word, the remorseless jailer, taxa
ton, locks the doors of enterprise in
all branches Of industry, and puts an
extinguisher upon the advancement
of our State at the wished-for rate Of
speed at the present time.
As politicians, who expect to retain
power by needing the just demands
of the people, we should contemplate
this subject from a political stand
point. The Democratic party assembled
to power by pledging itself to econo-
my, retrenchment and a reduction Of
taxes. Our success in future elections
will be greatly imperiled if we grind
the people to pay of a debt in a few
years, which ought to be deferred to
more prosperous times. The Demo-
cratic party must look this question
full in the face, and prepare 70 meet
and surmount it with prudence and
deter minatiOn. The taxpayer is
poorer now than al any period since
the close of the war, and feels more
keenly the burdens of debt and taxa
ton than he has ever done. To
make " both ends meet" is now the
great struggle and hourly meditation
OF nearly every citizen. With sad
hearts they point to half their former
wealth and trebled taxation, their
property destroyed by the war, their
Old system of labor revolution
lied and d~emOralized, while they are
prepared neither by education nor
money to accommodate themselves to
the situation. At one blow the whole
OF u slave properly was destroyed;
our loss in bank and other stocks and
securities amounts TO millions of dol
lars, and in horses, hogs, and cattle
to millions more. These auses have
decreased the value of lands since the
war, and IS nearly every man is in
debt and will be forced to sell his
land to pay taxes, should they
be still imposed, the legisla-
ture is entreated TO save their
constituents from bankruptcy. The
party or the individual that advo-
Gates or supports high taxes in such
an hour Of gloom and distress, will
political suicide, for the peo-
pie will cOnsign all such heartiess and
merciless agents TO the care Of the
.ondhoiders, whose interest they
would protect, to the ruin Of a con-
but betrayed constituency.