The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-02-21
Letters from Charleston.
Debate on Taxation and Finance
Everybody wants to be Exempted
An Animated:and Learned Discus

| CHARLESTON, February lo.-A:l.d ay
long the Convention has been engaged
| in heated debate. During the morning
discussion, which was on the clause
fixing the time for holding the State
elections, Mr.. Osborne moved to strike
out the fourth Thursday OF October for
the reason that this section OF the State
was a grain growing section, and the
neonl. would be in the midst OF their
seeding, and to insert the third Tuesday
of August.
Mr.. Harding, of Randolph, who is next
to Gen. Ward, par excellence the humor'
list Of the Convention, replied that the
substitute would not do under any cir.
cumstances as his people were compelled
10 subsist mostly on t,trnips, and as me
dsv proposed by the gentleman might
fall on the 25th of the month, which
was the accepted time for planting that
nutritious vegetable, it would result In
absolute ruin or starvation to his con-
stituents. The proposal was lost.
In the afternoon the report OF the
committee on Taxation and Finance
was taken up, and elected an animated
discussion. Many amendments were
offered, the substance Of all Of which
was to prevent the exemption from
taxation OF any property, except that oil
churches, charitable institutions and
that belonging to the public.
Mr. Price (Mr. Johnson, OF Tyler,
in the chair opposed the report Of the
committee, which favors the exemp-
ton OF a large class of property. He
thought all taxes should be levied al
yaLorem. This question had been thor
oughly discussed in the Convention Of
1850, and he had then occasion to ex
anime it thoroughly and that examin-
alton had satisfied him OF the correct
ness of his views. 1t was true that the
east, by virtue Of her numerical superb
ority, had triumphed on that occasion
and secured the exemption ofall slaves
under twelve years OF age and the taxa
ZION OF the residue of them upon an
arbitrary valuation. But he remem.
bered distinctly that in 1852, when he
had the honor to be a member OF the
Legislature of Virginia, the question
again arose and occupied some three
weeks of the session. 1t was then
proposed to exempt the products of the
east from taxation, such as wheat, to-
bacco, &c, and when he moved, as
matter of Justice to the west, to exempt
from like taxation the horses, cattle,
&c, of the west, which were their Pc
culiar products, it was voted down.
The whole idea incorporated in the
report as to exemption was delusive
and not calculated to benefit the poor
man. If personal property was ex-
empted, the natural and necessary con-
sequence was that the heavier tax would
be levied upon the real property of the
citizen.
Mr.. Hagans, whose hair parts in the
middle and whose whiskers are the ad-
miration of the sex divine, but whose
ability is not in keeping with his ego
tism, replied in his usual manner. lie
was in favor OF the section Of the pres
ent Constitution, which, by legislative
Interpretation, had been construed to
give power to exempt many subjects
from taxation. He did not want the
labor of the country taxed, nor did he
want its fruits in the hands Of the pro-
Queer taxed. He attempted to sustain
his argument by an array of figure
relative to the nail mills Of your city,
but became tangled in his arithmetic
and confused by a few pertinent ques-
tons of Mr.. Wheat, and sat down in
disgust.
Mr.. Ward rejoined. He was in favor
of an at JalOrcm tax as the nearest APP
Proclamation to justice that could be
attained. 1t was only necessary in
reply to what had been said on the
other side to inquire: First, do exemp-
tons operate equally upon all? If so,
they are wholly unnecessary. If not,
they are clearly unjust and discrimi-
nate in favor OF one class to the preju
dice of another. He wanted to know
what the gentleman from Monongalia
would tax. If you exempted labor and
its results there would be nothing left,
for labor and its fruits constituted the
whole property OF the country.
Mr.. Leonard, OF Writ, for the first
time this session, rose in his place to
oppose the report. He is young man
OF good abilities, and his speech WAS
listened to with the attention which it
deserved. He thought that as profess
sional men were taxed upon their earn
ings, there was no reason why farmers
and mechanics should not be amenable
to the same law. The true policy was
to tax a man according to the property
he possessed, whether it was money.
stock or real estate. He did not be-
lieve in discriminating in favor of any
class. If you exempted to the farmer
all the products of his farm remaining
in his hands, why should you tax the
laboring man who had purchased like
products with the hard earnings of
their toll ?
Mr.. Jackson, Of Lewis, gave notice
that at the proper time he would move
to exempt 500 in provisions to each
family.
Mr.. Wheat made a lengthy and able
argument on the subject. He confessed
that the manner in which taxation
should be made equal Nj uniform"
was mystery to him. For instance;
banker might have the day before
! assessment 100000 invested in his
business, and on that day, by means of
the telegraph, convert the whole sum
into non-taxpaying government bonds
or greeubacks, and thus escape taxa
ton. So with the manufacturers. They
might usually carry stock OF $50, 900,
but when the assessor came around it
would be difficult to find over 81 900