The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-06-26

pockets of the manufacturers of the cOun-
nv under the gGise and sanction of your
protective revenue laws, if applied direct
' to the payment of the national debt,
Tould in but few years totally extn-
guish It.
But it is urged that our public debt
must be met. Granted yet it can only
be paid by taxes derived from the peo"l
ple. This debt is an admitted charge |
upon the life of the nation. 1t is not all, |
I submit, upon the brief span allotted to |
rs present inhabitants 1t is wrong to |
crush them with its weight. They only |
owe their part our successors tomorrow |
must and should meet theirs. How |
should this be done? 1t is but just to |
levy only such an amount of taxes as
will equitably discharge cur part of it.
What is that equitable part? l answer,
Just that proportion of our surplus capital
that we can part with without detriment
to our present pursuits or injury to the
we leave to our successors.
In the appropriate language of another,
High taxes increase prices, create social
inequalities, discourage small industries,
monopolies, and are a tempta-
ton to fraud Can the truth of these
words be disputed? Does not the present
condition of the country attest their
verify?
Notwithstanding the door of the work
shopis closed, that almost universal bank
ruptcy threatens us, yet the unemployed
laborer and the poor everywhere find the
price of food, shelter, and clothing high
Notwithstanding large manufacturing
establishments are being reopened or
never submitted to the panic, yet small
establishments and industries have perish
ed or are perishing. Notwithstanding the
rich are comfortable and see no occasion
for alarm, and believe, or affect to believe
that all is WELL and that neither change
in tariff nor currency is necessary, yet
the poor are becoming poorer. New
England prospers while the South and
West languish, and the measure of social
inequality is increasing and as thes'
facts are passing, vast combinations in
wealth amounting to monopolies are be-
ing made. To be among the favored is il
surprising that fraud should become an
instrument?
Your taxes are high, because you would
foster, enrich, and protect by "bounties
and pensions" as the gentleman from
Illinois calls it, a favored few and a
favored section of the country. If you
would reverse this and do equal justice to
all, you would remodel your tariff, collect
your taxes simply in the interest of reve-
nue., and just that amount of revenue
demanded by the interest and gradual
payment of your debt and an economical
administration of the Government. Let
it bear upon all sections, all capital, and
all industries alike.
This thought brings me directly to some
reflections upon proposition l had the
honor to submit at an early day of the
present session. 1t Was bill to repeaI
the tax upon distilled spirits and tobacco
This proposition was submitted before
the Secretary of the Treasury had in
formed this House and the country of the
apprehended deficiency in the revenue and
was put forward under the influence Of
the predictions made by the distinguished
chairman of the Committee on Ways and
Means in the Forty-second Congress OF
what the country might expect from the
changes then being made in the tariff,
and the predictions made by the dis
rnguished chairman of the Committee on
Appropriations. A revenue of about
hree hundred and fifty millions was
promised by the chairman of Ways and
Means from the tariff of 1872, and a re-
dnctinn Of expenses for 1876 to two hun
dred and thirty millions by the chairman
of Appropriations.
Taking this general basis, and not be-
lieving it as either just or polite to pay
so much of the public debt as was con.
templated by large surplus of taxation,
| believed that the major portion of the
revenue derived from the tax upon dis
titled spirits and tobacco could be dis
pensed with, and whatever deficiency
might exist by its repeal could be and
should be made up from the possessors of
the capital of the country, namely, banks,
railroads, insurance, and other corpora
tons.
One OF the ablest and most profound
students of political economy said long
since that taxation ought to be levied at
the time or in the manner in which it is
most likely to be convenient for the con-
tributor to pay it" Taking this most
wise rule, which commends itself at once
to the approval of all just men, together
with the injunction of the Constitution,
am prepared to maintain that the tax
upon distilled spirits and tobaccois unjust
aud wrong, and should for this very reason
be repealed.
1t is not the meaning of your Constitu-
ton and form of government to select
one industry and net all for taxation.
Nor is 1t IN the meaning Of that instru.
ment that the burden of taxation shall
fall exclusively upon one section or one
cline and not upon all. Nor is it in the
meaning of that instrument that the
product of one man, and not all, shall be
taxed for the support of the common
Government. You are expressly pro-
hibited by the Constitution from leyying
tax upon exports, and yet in this given
tax you do so.
Permit me for moment to invite your
attention to the injustice especially OF the
tobacco tax. Turning to the report OF
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
for 1873, | find he reports l16,440,9 34
pounds as the actual product OF manu-
featured or taxable tobacco for the year
1873, and there was but little beyond this
because no one could sell unless to a
licensed dealer. Now this quantity
estimated at q fair value per pound, with
out taxation say 80 cents, would make
the sum of $34, 1892, $50. What, suppose
you this sum of the labor of a few Of the
States of your Union was taxed? In the
same report find the Commissioner says
ityielded "a grand total of $34, 486, 303.C9.
One hundred per cent! Does not the
very statement show that it is too heavy?
Its injustice becomes more apparent when
you reflect that other industries are not
taxed that other sections escape its
We ght, its annOyances, and vexations,
that it goes to the payment of an untaxed
bond, which bond is capital to him who
holds it, and a tax to every one else.
To the payer of this tax must and does
come the reflection that while others en-
joy the protecting smile of the Govern
ment he is punished with the weight of its
trown. Add, then, the fact that it is en-
forced by agencies expensive, unusual,
and corrupting, and you will concur with
me that its repeal is demanded alike by
justice and sound policy.
But, sir, if the magnitude of your debt |
and the necessary cost of the administra- |
ton Of Government will not enable you
to dispense with this odious tax, then | |
have respectfully to insist that you re-
lieve it Gifts oppressive and vexatious
features. In its collection proceed upon
the idea of honesty among the people, and
follow regulations and agencies to which