The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-04-10
Terms 81 per annum.

N ~ y
said Improvements. To put the mai
ter in plain style, we will suppose tina
A buys q vacant lot within the corpOl
ate limits Of Winchester. The lot
previous to his purchase, was no
worth much, and brought in only n fey
dollars Of revenue. A goes TO work
puts a nca: paling around it, plant
shrubbery, flowers and trees, and il
various ways renders it attractive ant
more valuable, Perhaps he builds ;
nice house upon it. Almost before bi,
carpenter, his bricb.lnason, plaetercl
and painter complete their work, and
before he knows whether his shrub.
bely, DC, will live--ycs, before the
building is ready Tor habitation, the
corporate authorities assess q heavy
lax upon said lot because, they say, it
is more valuable, This we will admit.
But, look here, gentlemen; Such Il
policy is calculated to discourage. men
from improving. Taxation is 4 debt
that few men pay cNcerfnlIy, and to
avoid doing 80 will frequently neglect
improvements that would amply repay
them. Especially will they delay i'm.
provcment when they know that every
little Improvement they make will only
subject them TO an increase of taxa
ton. Now, is it not plainly TO the adj
vantage Of US all that our town should
grcw--that neat side walks and en-
closures, and cultivated gardens, and
handsome shrubbery,, &c, should greet
the eyes Of p%assers- by? Would not
such appearances have Il tendency to
invite new corners? Would not one
Improvement boget another, and 4
spirit of honorable emulation be
aroused? And, lastly, would not the
property Of all our people be enhanced
in value, 50 that in the future the tax
gatherer would find it al easier job to
get funds for "running the machine
we call q corporation?
1t strikes rs that the course which
has been pursued has retarded the
growth OF our town, and lots have
been kept in q condition to yield only
u paucity Of revenue that would, under
u different policy, have been improved
and been to-day yielding q heavy tax,
the lots lie, and none so poor rs
to do them reverence. The stranger
comes to our town, and after a can l
va53 Of the place, he very naturally I
concludes we have no enterprise, no |
spirit, no taste, no ambition. no &
love for the beautirul-"no nothing" Il
lie departs, and thus we lose Il man 7
who would have become one Of us D
and would have borne a part Of our Il
aXation 10 the credit side OF our own a
accounts. II
Bat, here comes along B, who says: I
am Il poor man, and \ is u rich man n
le can put out flowers and shade trees ; y
,uiId nice, paling fences, and paint Il
hem, Improve lots, &C., and .hc ought I"
. be taxed heavily, for | nm just as
,ood rs he is, if ! an poor! forgetting o,
r disresarllng the fact that what A p
as expended has gone into the peck OF
IS Of laborcrs Of various trades, if he f,
imsclf had not been largely benefited, hi
~ it is useless twaddle to say there is -,
necessary antasOnism between CAPT cy
Il and labor. One is dependent upon I'm
&c other, and one cannot exist with. q,
mt the other, Without capital the Ia H.,
orer can find no demand for his la 90
or, and without labor capital must rem
D Il begging. But b simply belongs If
4 class Of bipeds whose mission
4 earth seems to be to learn to
time, and it is sad indeed to find III
our towns and villages so many en- Gu
iged in the proitlcss labor Of killing ce'
ne. Hale men aud women who be
.oula be usefully employed, and if so los
nployed would make homes glad and tri
owe q benefit instead ola burden to syI
.cicty, can fad nc time for anything ~
1t idIing and carping. They seem to Lo
ink life has no aims o; duties worthy col
consideration. As "Satan finds Ih
mischief still for lille hands to wa
>" these time Killer are sure to be ,
luced into something d~i5creditahle a..
not absolutely wicked, and whether a..
wrong they infict on society he of -.
positive or negative character, the re
ference between the two merely r.,
yes to mark the measure of their
,fulness. Determined to neither -,
| nor spin, they complain bitterly g.,
ainst those who, by doing so, man c.,
2 to get 4 little money and spend it
making improvements. But. all :his
way ofparcnthesis. and not that the plir
objection of B deserves no. Sta