Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-15

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General:
State tax, 1S70....."...........".$1,6 47, OOt
State tax, lo7l...................... 1881, O0C
| Oounty TAX, IofO..........a.".... bIo,O4
County tax, 1S71.................. 549, 00C
Poll tax, estimated. 300,O0t
Total. 1856, O4i
This is exclusive for the taxes for mu
nicipal purposes. One incident related
by citizen of Charleston will show how
outrageously onerous are the demands up.
on the taxpayers. This gentleman owns
q piece of property in Charleston fol-
which he receives six hundred dollars per
year rent, and it takes four hundred and
fifty dollars to pay the taxes. Do you
wonder now that there is discomfort
among the tax payers and that they talk
of resisting the payment of the tax for
1871 during the present year? The pay
ment of this years tax so much earlier
than heretofore required by law-then
making the people pay two years taxes
in one-is necessited by the extravaganza
of the Radical rnle which is running the
State to financial ruin. Before the war
the assessed value for taxation of real
and personal estate in South Caro-
lima was $4s9, 600, OO0-and this included
the valuation of about half a million of
slaves. Then 100000 was the
amount of the taxation imposed for
the support of the State and county gov
ernments. Now, according to the report
of the Comptroller General, the assessed
value of the real and personal property is
put down at $1S9, 918, 367, and the
amount Of taxes to be collected this year
is over 100000. The valuation of
property is said to be very defective, in
some instances greatly exceeding its value
and in others falling far below. These
facts will give the reader some idea of
the terrible load which is grinding the
people of South Carolina to powder. The
carpet bsggers and scalawags who have
got control of the State government are
eating up the substance of the people,
and it is a remarkable fact that while the
latter are year sitter year growing poorer,
the former are growing richer. One fact
is pertinent here. A few years ago Gov.
Scott from Ohio) paid taxes on $3.50,
now he is taxed on over 800, 600. There
are many cases almost as strong as this.
The negroes are generally non-tax payers,
ana consequently they have no sympathy
with the whites who are. They are
therefore by the caFpet-beggers in the in
terest of just such government as South
Carolina is cursed with to-day. A few
days ago the Board of County Commits
sioners for Charleston county were in
dicted by the grand jury for nGlfeasance
in office. This was brought about through
the action of some of the leading citizens
of the city who became satisfied that the
sesmps were robbing the taxpayers.
This example is likely to be followed in
other portions of the State, and there is
come hope that the robber crew will yet
get justice9
HOW CHARLESTON has SUFFERED.
The baleful effects of RadIcsl rule in
South Carolina are to be met with every
where. They are seen in the unculiYated
fields, the brolssn and decaying fences,
and the deserted farm houses, no less
than in the stagnation upon the great
commercial emporium Of the State like a
blighting mildew. Before the war
Charleston was regarded as the Queen
City of the South. Then her hsrbor was
crowded with shipping from foreign as
well as domestic ports, and her merchants
enioyed q most lucrative and constantly
growing trade; now her hari3oF sppeaIs
almost deserted, 50 few are the vesseik
seen at the docks as compared with ten
years sgp, and it is painful to take a
stroll through The business thoroughfaTes,
as did this forenoon, eAd witness the
great falling off in the trade of the C;tg.
In 1860, the receipts of cotton TO about
this date were about $50, 900 bales, of
which %, 900 were sea islands; now the
receipts reach but about 5000 bales,
of which only 5000 are sea is
lands. In 1861, the receipts of rice
amounted to about los, 900 tierces, of
which IS, coo had been exported; row
the receipts barely reach $4,000, tierces,
while the exports amount to only %, 900.
These facts tell the tale, Bot Of the des-
truction of the trade of Charleston slGaS,
but Of the utter prOstration Of the pro-
duCtiye industry Of the State. do not
wish to be understood as saying that
Charleston does not now enjoy large
and profitable trade, but do mean that
it will not at all compare with what the
trade of the city was before the war, and
what it Ought to be to-day. This crush
ing out of the people; these great draw
backs to real, substantial progress, are
the legitimate results of the Radical rule
which psrmeates the whole system of
government from that of the State down
to the municipal. That this is
literally true, we have the most
indubitable evidence. The neighbOr-
ing the city of Savannah has piospered
almost beyond precedent. Seventeen
miles from the see-hne, e4d to which
there is a depth of only eighteen and Q
half feet of water at full tide, her hsrbor
is always crowded with shipping. and her
export trade has grown from $4,000,
600, in 1890. TO $58, 900, 900 in 1870, and
it is estimated that Il will reach $40, 900
600 the present year. TIE inland Or
domestic trade of Savannah has gIoTn
in about an equal ratio. The reason foF
this is that the native white citizens who
have made their homes in Savannah have
controlled it in its municipal government
which has been so managed Is g invite
instead of repelling capital. 1t is true,
the affairs OF the State of Georgia have
been badly managed, but it has fallen so
far short of the rule il South Carolina as
to make the reign of Bullock and his
coterie almost respectable. This furnishes
a sclrtion to the destruction of the mag
nifcent tTsEc of Charleston. 1t is the
work of the harpies who came in battal-
ions to fasten themselves upon the offices
of the State, county and municipal gov
ernments, &ld who have grown rich
through the most shameless corruption.
PLANTING LESS COTTON.
The Indication all along the line of the
railroads froIa Savannah 10 this place, by
wsy of Charleston, point clearly to far
less amount Of land devoted to cotton
this year than last, and pretty extensive
INQUIRY SIS 10 the districts lying off these
roads has elected the same fact as to
those sections. Another indication of q
decrease in the acreage of cotton planting
is found in the fact that the sale OF fer
tilisers has fallen off immensely IA this
State as liz Georgia. I noticed large
tracts Of land devoted 10 cotton last year,
which to sill appearances will lie idle this
seagon. The low pTice which the staple