Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-12-16
THE MERCHANTS, TAX,
Of H0n- James IN. Hughes, Of Warren
i'm the Senate, Thursday, Dec H

| House bill 10 reduce the merchants ta2
being under discussion, Mr. Hughes, o
Warren, said: ~ ~
MIR. Speaker: At one time | was willing
simply to express my opinion upon this
/ question by a negative vote, but after listen
ing tothe discussion and noticing with re
greet the attacks which the advocates of this
bill have made upon the farmers and me
chanics of the State, the men by whose la
Dor the State has achieved whatever great
ness she now enjoys, in order by depressing
/ them to advance the interests of the mer-
chants of the State, am unwilling to sit ST.
lent In my seat, and should feel that l was
recreant 10 my constituents and my own
convictiors of duty, if l did not rise TO vim
! dictate the agricultural and mechanical
interests of the State against the attacks
which have been made upon them here.
The honorable Senator from Shelby, chr.
| DuBose has declared that the merchant
| practices the most honorable of all occupa-
| tons; that he tolls behind his counter,
grows pTematurely grey with deep thought,
| and often dies in early life worn out with
cares. Sir, do not make any s.spersions
| upon the character Of the merchants of our
land, yet would ask, Mr.. Speaker, who
deserves better of the country than the
| classes have arisen to vindieate? Who is
l nohler than the farmer and the mechanic
| Without the productions of their labor what
| would the merchant do for subjects for his
l deep thought and corroding cares; nay,
| what would he do even for the means of
subsistence? The farmer and the mechanic
are the noblest of all; they are absolutely
| essential to the welfare of any community.
| We might live without merchants, but how
| could we exist without the bread which we
/ owe to the farmer, and the houses and cloth
| ing which the mechanic gives US. l cannot
sit here and see the men without whom we
| could not live made subordinate to any
other class without protesting against such
| injustice.
The Senator declares that soon the mer-
| camille interest will have the ascendancy
| upon this floor, and then they will kick out
| the old fogies, meaning those who advocate
| the rights of the farmers and mechanics.
Mr. Speaker, l am sorry to hear this. 1
shall deeply regret to see the day when the
merchants alone shall have a voice
I in this chamber, and the farmers
! and mechanics shall be unhearG. 1t
| will be sad day for the peo-
| pie of this State when this Senate chamber
| shall no longer echo the sound or reverber-
| ate the voice raised in defence of the rights
of all classes of the people of the State.
| do not wish the merchants TO be unheard
here, want all classes of our people to feel
| that they can be heard here. They know,
| Mr.. Speaker, that they all have the right to
| be heard here, and when any person at
| tempts to deny that right to any class, they
| will rise up in their majesty as sovereigns OF
| the land, and so enforce their rights at the
| ballot box as to speedily suppress all unjust
| legislation for the benefit of one class againS
| another.
The same Senator has sac that if we do
| not pass this bill, we shall cause the grass
| to grow in the streets of the principal cities
| of the State, by running the merchants who
have built up these cities. To this reply
| that if we desired such a result, if we
| wished the busy thoroughfares of Nashville,
| Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville, to
| become forSaken and grass grown, instead
| of crowded with busy thrOng of seekers
for pleasure and profit, we could not find a
| more certain way to accomplish that end
! than to throw the whole burdens of the
| support of the State upon the hardworking
| farmer and mechanic and thus crush the
| very foundation stone of all our prosperity.
| II one desired to overthrow the majestic
building in which We are now celebrating,
| no surer way could be devised than to I'M
| dermine its foundations.
The same Senator has urged that the
merchants under the existing law are only
| tax collectors; that the tax assessed upon
| them by the State is collected by them from
! the farmer and the mechanic in the form
of an additional charge upon the
merchandise which they sell. l would ask
| the Senator how it is, if this is so, that we
| find the representatives of the mercantile
| interest so active in lobbying in favor OF
this bill. They can spend thousands Of dol
lars for wine and everything else that man
| can ask to satisfy his appetite, to secure
| their own ends, but when they are asked to
| contribute an equal portion with Others TO
| the revenues of the State. they raise howl
| most terrible to the ear. If they are not
| the tax payers, but only the tax collectors,
| and this tax levied upon them is merely Ia
deception practiced upon the farmer or me-
chanic, the deception is certainly an inno-
| cent one so far as they are concerned. ilf
! they advance the money to pay this tax and
! then collect it from the farmer with from
ten 10 twenty per cent. added for their ser
| vices, cannot see why they should come
| here and make such an cutlery. do not see
! how they could invest their money to better
| advantage than at from ten to twenty pei
| cent.
There is only certain amount of revenue
| to be paid and it matters not who advances
| it. 1t makes no difference whether it is paid
by merchants or vendors of whisky or bank
ers or any other branch of the mercantile
| interest, or by the farmer who the Senator
| rr-Sos,11 70 If of last Nat
| should like TO know why il is that only the
mercantile interest is so anxious for the pas
sage of this bill? We do not hear any ap
6eals in its favor from the farmers and
| mechanics. The merchants have plenty Of
time and money to come here and urge its
| passage, but the farmers and mechanics dc
not seem to have either the time or money
to spare to come here to advocate this bill
They do not even seem to feel that this tax
is so burdensome upon themas the Senator
saws it is. 1t seems to me that if this tax
does come from the farmer at last, aud he
feels its weight so little that he does moi
come here to advocate this bill, that he
must prefer to pay it to the State through
this channel rather than to the legal tax
collector. Why then should he not have
his within this matter?
Mr.. DuBose: Does the Senator say that
the farmer is the only consumer of merch
andise in the State ?
Mr.. Hughes: | say that the farmer pays
every cent of the revenue that is required
to run the State and Federal governments.
he proposes to pay portion of it through
the merchants who are but tax collectors
according to the Senator, let that innocen
deception be granted him. The plougl
moves sluggishly enough now, let US no
stop it altogether by too heavy direct taxa
ton. Go to the farmer and ask him how
much profit he makes on his investment
There is not farmer in the State wit
makes more than three per cent on his in
vestment. Yet the merchants and othe
non-producers will come upon this floor AM
will not be satisfied with less than ten pc
cent.
Now, Mr.. Speaker, 1 ask who pays thi
profit? Sir, it is the men who labor at tn
pillow, the men who sweat over the anvil ant
toll over the mechanics bench. The mel
who are engaged in these productive indus
tries, and who earn their bread by tn
sweat of their brow, have to pay the Who'll
of it.
Either this tax upon the merchants doe
not fall upon them or they do not feel il
We hear everywhere, Mr.. Speaker, anon
the farmers complaints of oppressive taxa
ton. The collector is no welcome visitO
in any household. The farmer often has t
sell his crop upon losing market to pay th
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