Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-09-06

| well as she does now on S25 900, 00O
Then where would be your city and count,
debt and the necessity of high rate 0
taxation on any thing, and where woub
be the oppression when you have go. fou
times as much to pay with2 Just so in
few years when the Legislature came to Fl,
the rate of taxation for the State, it woul'
discover that spot of ground down here il
West Tennessee, called Memphis, whicl
heretofore has been worth and paid ia,
on only about $3.50 0,000 is now worth
and can pay on 100000 900 just as easil,
as they did some years ago pay on $4,000,
600. Consequently they would see that tnt
tax TO pay current expenses and interest OF
State, etc need not throughout the State bt
put so high, for the reason here is 5000,
600 additional property in the. State, ant
the rate may be reduced from 40 cents OF
the hundred dollars to 80 or 25 cents, anl
even less, perhaps; for the same causes, i
adopted, would operate on other cities ir
the State and they would be affected like
wise, and hundreds Of millions would BIZ
added TO the State. ~ gsrpe ~ ses
1t might be asked by some of them, how i
it and why is it, that this town of Memphis
has grown SO rich. 1t could be answered,
that she, few years ago, had abolished tie
ruiDous rate of taxation on her money rade
etc; since then her trade and general kinds
Of Industry had become so prosperous, that
she had attracted forty, fifty or sixty thou.
sand more people there from New Orleans,
Vicksburg, Natchez, Louisville, Cincinnati,
st. Louis and host of other places, and
they had come with their movable prop
erty, say money, merchandise, tools,
machinery, ETC., and they were occupying
hundreds of houses and paying good rent
for them when said houses heretofore b
paid but little rant and that they
had built and were occupying thou
sands of houses where heretofore there
had been no houses and consequently had
paid no rental, and by this means The rental
of the city had been Increased three hum
dred per cent, and consequently its prop
erty is worth four times as much.
Here l wish to state q truism which per-
haps many owners of real estate in Ter
nessee may never have thought of. It is
tits, to-wit: The renter or lessee of real es-
tate must always prosper before the owner
of real estate can expect to prosper. This
is certainly true as rule when taken for q
series of years, in country like ours where
land is abundant and the people free to 60
where they please. This will apply 10 all
real estate, whether farms, store-houses,
shops or other kinds of realty. 1 don't
mean he must have greater prosperity, but
that he must prosper first. 81. .
This system of non-taxation of certain
kinds of movable properly, which l am ad-
Vocating as the correct system, whilst it is
the best to be adopted by every State in the
Union, yet it will not make rich State oat
OF every State in the Union, nor will it
build up every town in the Union to be
large city BY any means. For instance,
you may apply it to North Carolina, and
you couldn't induce movable property SUI
1cient to go there to make her a very rich
st te, for she has not within her borders
sufficient inducements to offer. She is
naturally a poor State, and it would
be impossible to develop great
wealth out of her, as it is i'm
possible to grow rich luxursnt crops out of
poor land; besides she owes o large deOt
and is poorly adopted by nature to pay it,
her taxes are high and must
remain so, for she cannot attract to her, tax
or no tax, sufficient movable property to
build her up sufficient to make them low; con-
Bile property must be very low and nom
paying. Still if there is any way possible
to bring her out, this is the one. Just s.,
the city Of Raleigh, her capital, can never
be large and prosperous city, for it has
not the natural surroundings. As st. Louis
will thrive and grow in spite of the incor-
rect system she has on her to same ex ent,
because of her extraordinary natural sur
But she even cannot stand radical and
extreme violation of the correct system.
will guarantee that if you will apply Mem
phis taxation TO her trade, money, ETC., and
enforce it with the Tennessee assessment |
sw, you can check her up aud put her on
The decline. But our State of Tennessee l
consider extraordinarily adopted to be de-
7eloped into wonderfully rich and pros
porous State. Her soil and climate is equal
Il not superior to any State in The American
Union. For variety Of farm products she
IS not equsled by any. In minerals she is
not surpassed by more than one or two.
In geographical position, owing to
he war and results of the war,
and in the rev luton of the direction of
trade which has occu red il the last decade
IN the Southern and Mid lie States, she IS
most fortunately situated. The cities of
Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga oc-
:upV position with reference to a portion
Of Mississippi, the State of Alabama, with
she cities of Mobile, Montgomery and Sell
ma Cor trade that has heretofore gone to
hose plsces), parts of Georgia and perhaps
South CsIolin such as l have described
Memphis as occupying to New Orleans,
Arkansas, etc., and if they will
put themselves in order, to seek tn trade of
.hese places, hey can get it. The revolu-
lion in the direction of trade allude 10, Is,
hat to great ex eDt art has In the last ten
years superseded nature in the carrying
business.
Railroads have to great extent super
,eded rivers, and even to some extent the
ocean. Before the war the route for all
products of the Southwestern and Middle
States, west of the Allegheny Mountains,
eeEing foreign markets was down the trib
i aries of the Mississippi to the Mississippi
river, and down that river to New Orleans,
and from there out to the Gulf of Mexico
TO the markets of the world. Before the
war, such thing as shipping cotton from
Memphis overland, via New York City, to
Liverpool, with through bill If lsding, was
not dreamed of. But now it has Cured
every season for several years, that we ship
cotton from Memphis by rail, via New
York, to Liverpool cheaper and quicker
han II can be done from New Orleans
20 Liverpool, aud the time will come very
,ooD, if it has not already, q am not post.
ed) when products of Middle if not South
will be shipped to Liverpool
.hroue b Nashville via New York, instead
IF by way of Mobile. When this state of
,hings should come about, Nashville mer-
,han.s should lrst receive these produces
from the planter or country merchants, and
furnish them with their goods in return.
Sell the cotton to the Liverpool man; have
i compressed and ship from there to Liv-
srpool. This she could do if she had the
money to command it, and the money she
could have but for the 8 per cent tax on it.
Another reason for the turn in the
direction of trade is that New
Z ork, since the war, has become
he great money center of America, more
han formerly, and with her msney she
commands it. She is not only the great
money center, but the great center of traLe,
shipping, ETC., and is going to continue to
be--for there is no way of preventing it,
except, as have before describ, d, her law
makers should go crazy and enforce Mem
phis tax on her money trade, etc. That is
5he only possible way to kill her off-but
you could rest ass red that would. But
30 far as Tennessee is concerned abe don't