The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-02-26
THE NEW-FANGLED TAXES.
TIE CHARLESTON PROTEST AG4INsT
TpF Stamp IND LICENSE BILLS.
.overnor Scott Coldly Courteous-In-
sulting Behavior OF tho Legislative
Commtttees-The Remarks OF messrs'
Porter, Bee, Sweegan and buis'-A
Probably Barren Mission.
rERox OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

The united delegation from the Charleston
Chamber of Commerce, Board OF Iraue ahu
CITY Council, and the Columbia Board OF traue'
w.ra in Columbia to-day, and laid before the
covernor and the financial COMMITTEES OF ooln
Houses of the Legislature an array OF 1acts
and agnres in opposition to the proposed new
license law, which 1t would seem must be SUI
fcient TO cause all of these lawmakers 10
pause and seriously consider before their final
action upon measure which, as has been
shown, Is subversive of one of the plainest
fundamental principles of the present govern
ment, and includes such unjust discrmina-
tiops as would be fatal to at least one very I'M
portant interest of the State, which every
principle of craftsmanship and policy snouo
prompt them to encourage.
The united delegation was led oy the Hon:
". D. Porter, chairman Of the Chamber o.
Commerce committee, and was composed as
follows:
Chamber of Commerce-Hon. W. U. Porter,
VIM. C. Bee, Jos. D. Aiken, VIM. P. Hall, Jas.
N. Carson, Edw. Willis.
Board of Trade-Dr. N. A. Pratt, G. Lamo
Buist, Edw. Platt, A. D. Estlll, Blake L. Wnite,
San a. Devereux, A. Baron Holmes.
Aldermen F. Sweegan, Rev. F. Brown
and G. A. Glover.
Columbia Board of Trade-Hardy Solomon,
J. B. Palmer, Edwin ]. Scott, j. B. Ezell, Jonn
8. Wylle and John Agnew.
The gentlemen called at abouS noon at the Elk
ecutive department, and were courteousiy re-
ceiyed By Governor Scott, with whom they nao
an extended interview, which was marked
apparently By frankness and candor On elmer
aide. and exhibited closer similarity OF sentt-
ment than might have been expected. The
conversation was begun by Mr.. Porter, VINO
stated as one of the principal objects Of the
visit of the delegation their objections to the
general license law now pending In the House,
and especially that clause which sought to I'M
pose an enormous tax upon the phosphate
manufacturing companies. he submitted that
this was an unjust discrimination against these
companies, which were already compelled 10
pay large ad ualore,1o tax on their capltal ln-
vested, and which were now to be compelled
to nav an additional tax In the shape OF a
license fee which amounted to five per cent. OF
their entire capital.
Governor Scott. replied that he had not seen
the bill referred to, and was not aware OF its
present status In the Assembly, nor OF tne
amount of license fees proposed. he was IN
favor of legitimate and proper license law,
but If this one were burdensome and dlscrlm-
mating he would certainly oppose 1t. The
general tax did not appear to be satisfactory
to the taxpayers, and their organs and repre-
sentatIyes were constantly complaining that
they were outrageously treated. The amount
of State tax collected during the last i've
wears had only averaged four mills on the dol
lar. There was large amount of property IN
the State that was exempt from taxation, ana
II every complaint from the various interests
in the State were listened to there would be
no one left to pay the taxes but the farmers.
he sympathized with the interest represented
by the gentlem en- from Charleston, but he did
not sympathizs with the feeling against the
payment of taxes. The people of the State
had to pay large prices for phosphates, ana
the tax that the companies paid on their
capital stock was not In proportion to the
amount Invested. Corporations were In
Eu0 u6DlI VI iStuhhS W e~'-
capital for taxation purposes at about one
tenth of its amount, and finally they get the
valuation so low that the percentage Of taxa
tlon is necessarily high. He suggested TO
them that they use their efforts not to defeat
the license law, but to get 1t passed IN such a
a form as would not be oppressive, and ne
promised to cooperate in this effort. Their
aA,,lA 4
amount as would not be unjust or onerous, but
would meet the demands which led 10 us In
PRODUCTION. The phosphate manufacture snould
Weld a revenue to the State, but 1t did not.
Investigation had revealed that not one-halt
of the amount exported from the State had
been reported for The payment OF the State
royalty upon 1t. He was satisfied that the bill
could be passed IN form that would be ac-
ceptable to all and would still effect reduc-
tion OF the tax levy.
Mr.. William G. Bee stated as an illustration
of the operation of the proposed law that the
phosphate company he represented had
capital of s35O,OOO, and that according to the
sliding scale proposed by the bill 1t would have
to pay the enormous license fee of sl7,5OO,
which would compel it to give up It's busl-
ness.
Governor Scott admitted that 80 far as that
tax of sl7,5Oo was concerned, that was GER
tainly enormous and unjust.
Major Buist asked If he understood the Gov
ernor to agree in the statement that the pro-
posed license law would operate to destroy
the company.
The Governor replied certainly, he thought
It would. He apprehended, however, that the
law had been drawn in general way, and
without going into calculation as to Its
effect.
Mr.. Porter then called attention to the great
burden proposed 10 be laid upon the banks IN
the State by the new license law, and to the
provisions of the stamp act, which he said
would be very heavy burden upon the peo-
pie, whom he represented.
The Governor said that he knew nothing
about that bill. He knew, however, that
some other States had adopted such meas
ureLMaryland and California, for instance
and he was in favor Of the general principle.
as 1t tended to relieve the general tax and
brought a revenue from nearly every person
In the State