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


Thus giving within a fraction Of thirteen cents
per pound As the rate, but which calculate at
twelve cents per pound as approXimatng the
amount app lruOnea upon the entire product OF
the country, and which shows the middle zone
OF belt, as represented, to produce nearly twelve
hundred per cent more than both the other rep
reseRthor sections given. And single collec-
ton dYtrict will suffice t. show how certainly the
favored and protected class under any discrimi-
mating legislation will, sOOnsr OF later swallow up
the burdencd or prescribed class. In the Rich
mond district of Virginia the tax paid on tobacco
subject to the thirty-two cent or higher rate fer
the first four months of The year 1871 was $780,,
Iq9 O.; for the corresponding period of 1872 $685.
726 Is; presenting the remarkable deficit of S22l
473 50 in one collection district alone.
But the advocates of the tax have given sane
ton to it, probably without SUe consideration,
Under the presumption that 1t Sa manufactured
article This position is untena6le. The report
of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shows
that about twenty-five million dollars OF the to-
baccO tax was paid on plug, hand-twist, and cut
tobacco. This is termed manufactured tobacco,
4 but is in no Just sense manufacturer it is only
N Of description TO distinguish it from the diff
.eut classes Of tobacco, and does not change
nv quality Of the tobacco. tn plug is only
compressed in boxes for preservation, portability,
and convenience in the use. The hand-twist and
cutting is only another mode Of preparation for
use market.
RThev are no more manufactured than the cot
ton which is ginned and baled, nor than the corn
which has been shelled and sacked, nor the wheat
which has heen threshcd and sacked, nor than
the hay which has been moved, cured, salted
and baled for market. A manufacture involves
a conversion of transmutation of the raw mate
rial as corn into whisky, cotton into cloth, wood
into furniture, sand into glass, earth into pottery:
and the labor and expense combined in the man
ufactures give them their chief significance
Many articles Of production may be used IN their
natural state, Though prepared for market, as
corn, oats, hay, tobacco. But the majority OF
the committee who reported the bill do not take
refuge under the unayailing subterfUge OF taxing
tobacco as manufacture, but they propose bold
ly to tax 1t in every form, prepared Tor sale or
consumption including refuse scraps, clip
pings, cuttings, and sWeepings of tobacco twenty
cents"
follow it up and tax the privilege of manufactur-
ing (sO-called) and of selling dealing in it. and
harrassing the dealers with bonds, reports, in
QuistOrial oaths, penalties, eXacting payments OF
taxes before the removal of the tobacco, and
watching the producers with the suspicion at
taching to a set of blockade runners. No other
farm product has ever been pursued with such
relentless hostility, unmitigated oppression, and
suicidal folly. We have now reached the heart
of this question. Let us pause and inquire what
is involved I'm this tobacco tax? The land as a
capital, and the labor and expense which COM
bined in the production of the tobacco. The
prOduceT sells &c for money, with which he buys
bread, meat, and clothing for his family, pays
for the education Of his children, pays his preach
ar, his physician, his taxes to his State Govern
nent, and paws for taxed clothing and farm i'm
plements to make another crop. What does the
miner do with his coal? He does not eat nor
wear It, but he sells it for money. Yes 1t meets
with the tobacco at the money point ana the
miner uses the money TO supply his wants as the
tobacco producer does.
But ii may be said that tobacco is sort Of
Ish-laelitish production, and the use OF It Is a
natiOnsl ice and it deserves no favor. Then
YOU wOai give it a congressional "counterblast
to destroy che productions yet in SO dong you