The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-12-09
COLUMBIA, S. G..
Tues lay Morning, December e.S1s73.
Trouble Ahead.


the dollar, and the highest OF any one
year was twelve mills. In tho platform
of the present administration, there
were many promises of reform and re-
trench@ea:. T came :a.o power, after
an active canvass in the party it,elf,
distinctly as one Of reform. It out-bid
the Boilers in its appeals to the dear
voters. The abuses anil exnavagance
Of the previous administration we're
universally conceded. It was pledged
that they should not be repeated. It
Was solemnly asse everated that the can
didates then seeking the popular suf-
frage would, if elected, address than
selves to the great task Of correcting
the crying evils in the conduct Of their
predecessors, and that the systematic
robbery practiced on the people, in the
way OF legislative expenses. of Official
dereliosion,; and Of gouging taxation,
should be summarily brought to an end.
A glance at the tax of last year. and at
the uses to which its proceeds have been
applied, will be interesting in this crisis
of our afTairs.s
The levy of 1s72-'73 was for fifteen
mills-that is, three mills higher than
for any year OF the previous administra-
tion. On the basis of $3.50. .000.0 900.
this should have brought in S2.250.000
just fifteen times the amount of all the
expenses Of the Legislature of Georgia,
which State, in population and re-
sources ia nearly double that of South
Caroline. The Legislative expenses Of
Ohio, which collects State tax Of over
$40, 900, ,000. are set down at not more
than one.t tenth part of the same ex-
penses in this State. This may have
been reform and retrenchment, but the
poor people who have had to work hard
to pay it, and whose land was sold to
raise the amount Of their taxes in nu-
merous instances, must be held excnsa
BILE, if they take different view.
The Treasurer, in his report, states
that, of the sum due for taxes, he col
leoted sl,7l9, ,72s.87; that there remains
due and unpaid, for want of funds under
appropriations. 1929. 527.27. Added to-
gether they rake total expense OF
s2.549. .255.64, more than $3.50. 600 above
the amount OF the levy, large and e1-
travagant as it Was. This will do for
retrospect. What may reasonably be
expected to be the levy for the next
year? a bill passed the House of Rep
resentatives some weeks since, in which
it is fixed at sixteen mills. But it meets
impedjments in the Senate. It is confi-
dently asserted that parties Interested
in the multifarious claims aud schemes
are laying their pipes and arranging
their plans, both to increase it above
this figure and to rake in large portion
OF it into their own pockets. The peo
pie may prepare to hear that the tax for
1873 aud 1874 is to be not less than
twenty-five mills. II passed at this
figure, they may look out for some start
ling results.
The carnival of crime and of reckl ess
extravaganza will go on. Those who
make their living out of the public
treasury will now watch it like hawks.
One man makes crops, another follows
merchandising, another lives on profes
sional gains; but the office-holders and
speculators, the ''ring" parties, are
leeches drawing away the life blood Of the
people. How long will it be before the
principal of the peoples property is ab-
sorbed? How long will they submit to
this odious, vulgar and disgraccful
despotism, which deprivcs them of
comforts. their children Of cducutiou,
and their homes and tho State
itself of oil attractions in their eyes?
"One Of two things" says the New
York Tribune, after taking Il dispas-
sionate view of the corrupt, oppres-
sive aud insulting domination exercised
over South Carolina. "reform or revolu-
tion is an inherent necessity of the
case" No one need delude himself
With any hope OF reform in the Radical