New Orleans Republican., 1872-04-05
TAXATION A BUGBEAR.

Ii previous lsoue We Sttltu ulStiIlctIy
that taxation, excessive and onerous as it
is in this State, was not the chief cause of
the distress which pervades the COM
munity. There have been many political
errors committed, undoubtedly. No one
contends that the Republican party, dur
ing the four years it has been in power,
has been infallible. But no sensible per-
son, after duly rejecting upon our condi-
ton, will ascribe our embarrassed state to
the present administration. The incubus
which paralyzes society is not a political
grievance Far from it. The physician
who would set out to apply remedy for
the evil, and eradicate the disease from the
body polite, would not look for it among
politicians or in the Legislative archives,
but in the mercantile community and
among business men.
1t proceeds from a lack Of commercial
enterprise. True, it is unpalatable to the
public taste to have this truth stated but
it is truth nevertheless, and tire sooner
We make up our minds to consider it
wisely, the better we can appreciate the
situation. Taxation, excessive or other
wise, is a relative evil If our wharves
and warehouses We're laden with the pro-
ductions of Southern industry; if machine
shops and manufacturing establishments
were converting our raw material into
fabrics; if our workshops revealed the
skill Of the artisan and the genius of the
inventor; if lines of railroads and avenues
of trade from the West and South centered
in New Orleans, and brought us in direct
communication with the fertile regions of
the country, We would no longer feel the
burdens of taxation. But it is because our
people are are Indifferent to these ad-
vantages that taxation is oppressive. 1t
would not be less keenly felt at
any nominal per cent. But a few
years ago the real estate of Illinois
was mortgaged to half its value; its taxes
to-day amount to eight and quarter per
cent. In some sections of the State they
have municipal and county taxes, growing
out of war bounties, to as much more
And yet the people of that rich and pros
porous State do not complain. Why?
Because they are alive to the interests of
trade, and are striving to bring within
their borders all the available resources
to secure wealth and advance the CONNER
cial and agricultural interests of the peo-
pie So it would be with us if we followed
their example. One dollar to man who
has nothing is as difficult to raise as
hundred: but few individuals can be found
in community needing money when all
the avenues of trade and labor are open
to them.
The evils we endure do not therefore
proceed from legislation. We reiterate, it
is a lack Of enterprise. 1t proceeds from
the grasping desire Of the rich man to
appropriate all things and leave the poor
man nothing.
The PicoyHle complains that taxes are
so high that real estate investments do
not pay. It says that when the expenses
Of the year are liquidated and the taxes
paid, the rental is absorbed, and nothing
Is left Tor the Golfer of the banker. What
a calamity If portion Of these useless
real estate investments were embarked in
railroad enterprises, in machine shops and
manufacturing establishments, the mis-
fortunes Of which We complain would not
be Of long duration.