Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-09-05

| the country to become rich and prosperous
it cannot well hurt the cities; for e sst Ten
nessee to flourish It cannot hurt Middle and
| West Tennessee and so on, but on the
contrary the prosperity of one Is and must
| be advantageous to The OTHER, no; only so
| far as paying the common debt is concerned
but in divers otl er ways, such as
the country pa.ronizing the trade and man
| ufactories Of the cities, etc., and the cite
In return buying what they may consumes
of country products from the country, and
offering a near and convenient market for
many of their products that cannot be
shipped to more distant markets, besides
shedding or radisting an increased value on
their lands in every direction for miles and
miles. To attempt to enumerate the vari-
Gus reciprocal advantages is useless, for the
mird once directed to the subject, they be-
come apparent by the scores. And here l
desire to call the attention of the farmer or
countrymsn to fact that many have never
thought of, which may tend to abate their
hostility toward the cities. 1t Is this, TO.
wit: Whilst it is impossible for a rich and
prosperous farming country to surround
city without contributing to the prosperity
of said city, yet 1t is possible for city to be
located within the borders of a State, and
grow to be rich, prosperous and large; and
to add great value to the lands arount and
to the State witont receiving correspond
ing value from the country of said State.
In fact, such is always the case where the
city is large; for instance, the great city of
New York is not indebted to the country or
farm lands OF New York for one hundredth
of her prosperity and wealth. She reaps
her wealth not only from all the States of
the Union, but from all the civilized parts
of the world; yet she don't contribute
dollar to the payment of current expenses
and State debt of any State in the Union,
or any part Of the world, except the State
of New York. She gives in her immense
wealth to be taxed solely for the State of
New York, thereby relieving each, and
every farmer in the State. st. Louis
rears q majority of her prosperity
from other States than Missouri.
New Orleans reaps four-ffths of heI
prosperity from other States than Louis
lana, and of our city of Memphis it can
be said, she has reaped of whatever wealth
and prosperity she has, from half 10 two
thirds of it from Arkansas, Mississippi,
Southern Missouri and Southern Kentucky,
Yet she does not contribute dollar directly
to the payment of current expenses or
State debt of any of these States, but it is all
taxed to supply the wants of our State of
Tennessee alone. Nashville is similarly
situated to some extent. and perhaps
Knoxville and Chattanooga, just to the
extent that they may have prosperous trade
beyond the State. Hence it will be seen
that the farmers or country people
should moi be prejudiced against the
cities located within their State,
for they receive more aid from them than
they give in return, and are consequently
the gamers. So the practical operation of
large cities seems to sbe, to receive trade
and become rich out of it, from other States
more than their own and allow their own
State alone to receive the foil benefit as
far al her detiiands 90. This 1t str,ses me
should not be Objectionable to the farmer
UT cuuurrymsn or to the State or any part
of the State. Consequently by no means
should they desire any law Of any
kind to exist 10 the lard whereby
the cities are oppressed and keot
from growing, when by its repeal
or modification, they wotild not be harm
ed particle, but on the contrary be bene-
fitted, as Is now the case in some parts of
Tennessee, and as expect to show before
close this communication beyond contro-
versy. tus far it has been my object to
show that it is unwise and in violation of
the correct principle Of taxation and against
the interest of the State and every part of
the STATE and against The interest of every
individual in the State and every occupation
in the State, and especially against the in
terest of the real estate or imrhovable
property owner of the State to tax or in
the least Cypress valuable property, and
whilst have no oubt of the correctness
OF the principle or policy, as l have
before said, l do not hope just now
to get the State as far as the tax of 40 cents
on the hundred dollars is concerned, to
make any changes, but | do hope to get our
laws changed, so far as our Counties and
cities are concerned, so that they may be
allowed, at their option, to levy their county
and city tax for their county and city pur-
poses on whatever species OF property they
may see proper, thus giving some of them
that are literally blighted and crushed, the
privilege Of throwing off the great bulk of
their oppression. Most of the counties and
cities of the State wherein they
haze but little o. no county or city debt,
and consequently but llttl. or no county or
town taxes, would not if allowed, make
any change Immediately; but others where
the debts are larger, and consequently the
taxes are high, oppressive and prohibitory
10 movable property, would make the
change. There are two counties and cities
in the State with whose local taxation I
am acquainted, that demand change as
soon as possible, and one especially that
must have relief if it is possible. am
not posted ss to other counties and cities
of the State.
The two cities and counties I allude to
are Davidson county and the city of Nash
vile and Shelby county and the city of Mem
pbis. By reason of the war and by bad
management and perhaps by corrupt man
sgement these counties and ci les have be-
come so involved in debt that in the city of
Nashville the rate Of taxation for sll purpo-
ses is about three per cent, and in Mem |
phis it is about 4 per cent. All property
in these cities is sought to be taxed at thes
respective rates, and trade and melchandi e |
is sought to be taxed even higher by nearly |
one half Of one per cent? which would make
the tax on merchandise about |
81 per cent in Nashville, and about |
per cent in Memphis. The tax i'll Nash |
vile is 3 per cent on money and by the |
laws of the State not exceeding 10 per cent |
iul6T6bG CAL 10 CDaTSeU, per CtuG tTOm ~
leaves per cent. United States Bonds pay
9 per cent semi annually in gold which is
fully equal to per cent in currency, and |
taking into consideration the fact that they
can be realized on at any time, in few
hours or minutes, they are far more de-
sirable than money l,aned at per cent
currency, and the result is that there are
millions of dollars in the city of Nashville,
invested in United States Bonds which pay
no tax whatever to either State, County or
City, which if there was no tax sought to
be put upon it, ~ State county and cities,
would be turned loose and enter the indus
try and tr de, end development of the
resources of the State.
Six per cent semi-annuallY in gold being
more desirable than seven per cent curren-
cy the investment remains, when if ten per
cent currency could be realized the invest
ment would be changed. A further re-
suits Of the tax at three per cent is, that it
offers inducements to banks to carry on
business with small capital, and rely upon
deposits for its capital; in other words to
undertake to do banking business without
capital. A bank with $500, 900 capital pays
49, 900 10 State, county and city, being
five times as much as bank with 500,
600 cspital, when the bank with $780,