Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-05


would drive about ak hundred thoasand labor
ers, white and col0red, in poverty and beggary
from the tobacco heldA. Yes launch yen
/ legisiat0n on 3 sunspt uaIy tide, and y may no
Be long until, by reversing the end Of the polltl
cei telescope, We can see the American govern
ment dwarfed into Iilliputa, and We may hea
American statesmen IN beslicose wrangles Wneth
er an egg should be broken on the larger
sInslsE sad, sl Sster re TeRg st s og s
should wear Dolly Warden costume, alTiH Whethe
| our manufactures should not sntter ueathi With
4 out beneHt d sleress Tor ceiling any callcoe
tab.
Butt question canot be begged by saying
that the Consumer pays the. tax. yes me con
sumner does pay It, and it Is hardshlp upon him
j But this does not prove that the tax and othe
4 expenses do not also reach back and rest up0I
1 the production. The market value is an infiexi
Bile limit to the price Of commodity, The slight
est mercantile skill ran run the scale aid ascer
tain what q Commodity Is worth in the hands o.
the producer. Say one pound Of tobacco is Wortl
enc dollar ia the market, which the CONSUMED
pays. But the G0yerlHneTt has previously ex
acted fifty cents and the dealer Reserves twenty
five cents profit, then the pound Of tobacco wa.
worth tNaf tsnf te cents in the hand OF the pro
/ daeef. And it win be worthless in his hands il
production may be taxed until it breaks dow
, The pressure 81 taxation has already driver
I the highest-taxed classes OF tobacco into the
iuMEbl-lGAtQ GidSsc5 NJ LUe E4le OF EllrEF-
three per cent during the year 1871. (See tabu-
I lat statement aboSe.l And this pressure may be
continued until the production rs a staple MAY
be crushed entirely out In the tobacco region;yei
/ Il may be forced outward from the point Of com.
pressioEs and break out into tobacco patches
I Ike eruptions thrown out by internal disease al
/ over the United States for private consumption
and even cultivated as llllrsery plant in an un-
frientlv latitnde. New England protectionistS
I are too genteel t6driufS whisky or chew tobacco
/ Duchl hence, they DO not feel the burden of the
tobacco tax; and being free from duty taxes, they
escape nearly all the burdens OF Federal taxation
/ No wonder that they are blessed with "the smile
Of Opulence," when they have the privilege OF
shearing Other peoples sheep and milking Other
peoples cows, while OF the same time the Gov
I eminent is feeling with Its midas fingers fo1
the nests or the peoples wealth, in nearly every
other industry, to feed its insatiats pronigacy.
In the name Of the Constitution of the United
States protest against the ini1uity of this to-
bacc0 taxi In the name of six hundred thousand
labOrers in the tobacco fields, protest against
this extortion upon their labor! In behalf Of the
labor and resources of my own debt ridden State
-Tennessee-1 protest against this rninous eXac-
toni In behalf Of the harmony Of all the Amer
lean industries, protest against this invldious
discrimination. IsOlemnly protest against the
general Government installing itself landlord OF
all our tobacco farms, and exacting a rent charge
which sweeps bread from the mouths Of lab0reTs,
who have already been forced to contribute liber-
ally b the support Of the Government in the
consumption OF dutiable goods, and to the sup
port of the manufacturer in the use of protected
goods.
But the real disorders of the country lie be-
hind the tariff and internal taxation. The reve-
nue. laws are nothing but the hands or machine
ry with which the Government collects money
from the people to satisfy its financial demands
The different branches Of industry are inter
ested in the impartial adjustment Of tariffs and
internal taxes to give them an even if not Al
easy bearing Nero used to deceive the people
by a pretended relief in shifting his taxes from
one class of persons 70 another. while he still
cd hon nf M fuRn inf Il Cf-
ment, or shifting of the tax burdens from one
industry to another will ever cure bad financial
system.
From the report of the Secretary of the Treas
ury, March l, 1872, (series No. 6,) it8ppears that
our national debt, including cash in the Treas
ury, was 81 $40 96 ,438 &c. All OF this is interest
bearing except 1929 ISL ,7O5 IS, which, taken from
the former sum, would leave the sum OF 81 3d.
SO5,733 Is, as Understanding debt. It viii
afford us no satisfaction to know that not more
than 81 900 900 06l in gold value was received BY
the United States for the 50 $40, 1868, 438 Sc, anC
that the Government has been the victim Of q
stupendOus usury scheme. 1t appears from the
report Of the Secretary Of the Treasury that fOl
the year ending June 80, 1871, the Government
paid interest on the public debt S125 ,576,565 80
In financial point of view the interest may bC
regarded as part Of the principal of the debt
But how is this debt to be paid? "There's the
rub" If paid under the act of j uly 1, 1862, re
puiring the surplus gold, remaining after the
payment of interest, TO be devoted "to the pay
ment OF purchase Of one per cent. of the entire
debt of the United States within each fiscal veal
after } uly l, 1862 which is TO be set apart as
sinking fund" would require ne hundred year;
to extinguish the debt and the payment OF about
81 ,265, 100000, which, added to the principal
would make the sum Of about So, 605, 1858, 1913.
This will not do What next? The funding
bill Of July -, 1870, provides for the issue Of
several new classes of bonds, to wit 800 600 0Ot
five per cent $780,, 000, 600 four and one halt pei
cent, and 81, 600, 600 four per cent. This is nc
payment on the debt, but simply substitutes one
class Of bonds for another, with slightly dimin-
shed rate Of interest. The nation can see no re-
Lief in this, and this present administration is
not willing to rely upon it.
The Secretary Of the Treasury, in his report Of
Dec. 4, 1871, disclOses his plan as follows:
"The revenue for the year 1871, and the re-
ceipts since the first of July last show that the
time has arrived when considerable further re-
duction in taxes can be made, and yet leave the
government in position to pay at least fifty mil
lion dollars annually on the principal of the
public debt, including the amount pledged
through the sinking fund. Inmy annual report tC
Congress fOrl so, expressed the opinion that the
settled policy Of the country should contemplate
revenue sufficient to meet the ordinary exPen-
ses Of the government, pay the interest on the
public debt, and from twenty-five to fifty mil
lion dollars of the principal annually. To thai
! opinion adhere with stronger conviction
that the payment annually upon the principal Of
the public debt should not be less than fifty mil
| lion dollars"
According to this "settled policy of the pre-
/ sent Administration Of making an annual reduc-
/ ton of the principal of the public debt twenty
five or fifty million dollars, itwoudrequire sixty
six years at the former and thirty-three years al
middle ground between the longer and shorter
| periods, it would require an annual payment o
about S3S, 900 to extinguish the principal o
/ the public debt in forty years But this does no
include the interest, which is really the colOssa
/ feature of the public debt and the greatest EN-
/ barrassment to our financial schemes. But &C
| c0rding to the "settled policy" OF the Admins
| tratiOn, the process of eduction would commences
/ nv Ql9S interest and SAG
principal together Sl63 900, 900, for the first year
| and to complete the process it would require al
/ amount 10 extinguish the debt nearly equal &
| one half the present assessed value OF the rca
| and personal property of the United States. So
according TO this settled policy" the people viii
/ have TO worry and swelter under this CALLING bun
den with the superadded prOhigate expenses o
| the Government for forty years!
So the great financial demands Of the country
/ will still clamOr for high tariff and inteTna
taxation. In addition to this the protected in
! dustry win reap its annual harvest OF S619 40,
/ pa, TO be diminished only the tariff may b
| diminished. The tobacco region must still pa
| its unequal tribute Of nearly thirty million dol
| lara per annum, according to the scale of tn
! committees bill. The eighteen hundred nation
| al banks are still TO financieT the people out Q
| about one hundred and twenty-five million dol
| lars per annum, being TWENTY-FIVE per cent.
| about i've hundred million collars capital invest
| ed at this date and operating through the use {
| the United States bonds; and still augmente
| with the current expenses Of the State govern
]
| 3fS92S, which make them sway and stagger III
| der them like overloaded beasts of burden, thei
| bonds deprecated thirty, forty and some, pei
haps, as much as fifty per cent, and their credi
| waing under the massacre of stock broker; ais
! afflicted with shOai after shOal of revenue of
GERS sweeping over the land-'ttirst the Locust
and then the aterpillars'-insulting, stinging
gathering, and devOuTing; and also depleted b
thousands of Government officials, who infest a
the cracks and -crannies of the money depar
ments of the Government, and gnaw Unsee
alike intestinal yermin'' upon the public reve
| nues.
The government officials, the tariff bantling'
the stockholders, and the banks woul
thus hold their grand carnival for fort
years. and would point to their ow
prosperity to prove that a national debt Is
public blessing. Experience has demonstrate
that a national debt is a national curse. II is
source of internal weakness The money whic
was borrowed has been consumed and has gOn
| forever, leaving tile debt resting as an incubJ
upon the industries OF the country. The debt
dead capital, adding nothing to the national PR
| duCtion, and is vital, like a cancer, only in i
| power of consumption. 1t debases the credit
the nation, and, iff0rced by emergency to boTro
money, it is subjected to the hard terms of a deb
| ridden individual in the hands of the usurer.
makes money scaTcer and more difficult to Obtain
the lender is less able to repeat the loan. 1t col
rOdes and weakens the war sinews Of the natiol
While modern improvements have shortened the
have multiplied the expenses of war.