Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-10

Adventures, who hold the Offices not TO az
ford the people any of the benefits of good
government, not TO make or enforce good
laws, but solely to despoil and devastate the
country, and gather into their own trunks
and carpet bags the whole product of the
industry Of the State. AS an illustration of
this proposition, we quote from the late
speech Of the Hon. d. w. VOORHEES, in the
House Of Representatives as follows:
''Sir, hold in my hand the official statis-
ties on which | make this charge. The re-
poG of the comptrOlers general of Geor-
sia show that for eight years, commencing
with 1855 and ending with 1862, there was
expended for the pay of members and Off
GERS Of all the Legislatures during that en-
tire period the sum of $500, $685.. This
is the record CT The administration under
the management of her own citizens. Du-
ring the two years existence of the Repub-
lcan l. gislajure elected in 1858, the re-
| port Of the comptroller general shows that
there was expended for the pay of its menu
bcIS and officers the startling sum of S979,-
O55, only fraction less than 100000.
One Legislature is thus discovered TO have
| cost $ll2, 669.47 more than the LEGISLATURES
Of eight previous years in the single matter
of its own expenses. There has been no
Increase in the number of members. On
the contrary there are fewer now than I'M
der the former appOrtiOnment.
"In earlier times the clerk hire of the
Legislature of that State did not average
over $4,000 per annum. That item alone
reached the sum OF Sl25,000 for the one
Legislature whose conduct am discussing;
more than equal TO the expenditures on
that account of any ten years of the pre-
yiOus history of Georgia. Her General
Assembly consists of one d hundred and
seventy five Representatives and fOrty-four
! Senators, making two hundred and nine
! teen, taking both branches together. The
record diSclOses one hundred and four clerks
in the employ of this body while the Re-
publican party had the aScendency there.
One clerk for every two Legislators is a
spectacle which | commend to the c0nsid-
Grafton of the American taxpayer and vo-
| Ter everywhere. Who can doubt that such
body was organized for the purposes of
| robbery and eXtortion?"
The New Orleans Picd5pHe contains an
! article which gives some idea of the oppres-
sion that Radical reconstruction has brought
upon the Southern people. With an indus
try not half so productive as former years,
the burthens of government have accumu-
lated until they have reached a point where
they absorb nearly the entire profits of
labor, and must soon leave the people
ruined and PROSTATE. Did these vast
amounts, wrung from their toll, go back to
the State in any form, or were they neces-
sary to pay the cost Of wel-regulated gov
eminent, and the interest and principal Of
the public debt as they may fall
due, there might be some apol-
ogy fer the enormous eXactions
and some encouragement TO popular endur-
auce; but the fact is far otherwise. These
immense taxes are appropriated to swell the
fortunes of the native negroes and foreign
scoundrels who, under Federal patronage
and protection, have usurped the State
| governments of the South, and, having
no sympathy for, nor anything in common
with, the men who own all the property
and pay all the taxes, do not scruple 10
make them hewers of wood and drawers of
water. This is no fancy picture. The start
ling reality may be found not only in LOuisi-
ana, says the Savannah Republican, but in
! Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and until
very recently in Georgia and other Southern
States. The Congressional Investigating
| Committee report that the debts Of these
| States under Radical rule since the war
have been increased over ttcO thousand nliL-
| lions, and, We have no hesitation in saying,
without an aggregate Of five millions bene-
| tit. Nearly the whole of this vast sum has
gone into the pockets of the vile crew of
| Office holders and rings innumerable that
| swarmed over the South from the Northern
States, like so many birds Of prey, as soon
as hostilities ceased, and with Federal ba-
yoncts at their backs, took possession of the
country. Here is the account of the enOr-
nous taxes imposed upon the people of
Louisiana by the carpet-bag rulers of that
State, as furnished by the PicdWne:
"The following information was obtained
al the Auditors office, yesterday, by re-
| porter Of the PicGyHe, relative to the Gu
mulatiye load Of taxation under which the
! State has groaned since 1864:
"Rdte Of TdrdtjOn from 1864 10 1871 IN
| cltlSiUe-lSG4-29 Is.
'lSGJ and lSGG-:,75 or 80.
"lS67 and 1SGS-j2 or 81.
| 'lSG9 (colectable in lS7O)-75, and sub
| seuuenuy increased, by act of 1870, TO
| ninety cents or mills.
"lS7O-l4j or or l49 mills.
"1S7l-2O5 or 2O9, and which may be in
creased by the funding bin to 2lI mills.
'sThus it appears that the rate of taxa
! ton In 1871 is nearly seven times more
| than in 1865 and 1866, nearly four times
more than in 1867 and 1868, about three
| and quarter times more than in 1869,
over three and an eighth more than in 1870.
And the above does not include the special
tax of ten dollars per 81 900 in 1868, and
the convention tax of one dollar per 81, 900
in the same year.
"And what has the State got to show for
this enormous emulation of tax assess
ments? Nothing but an equally enormous
debt, from which final and an irTetriGva-
BILE bankruptcy would seem to be the al
most sole condition of relief, and a State
administration which exists, in spirit and
poll ", in act and repute, only 70 curse aud
daiame the State
Oppressive taxation like this-taxation
which is made for the benefit of individuals
and not for the Government and people
which is made without the assent Of those
who are compelled TO pay, is the worst
form of practical tyranny to which a peo-
pie can be subjected.
rurAnru nEn.., Ann ,raxnrnN