Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1874-02-19
The Tax Era.

The war brought one evil IN ITS
train that people did not properly
toresee, and provide against, The
enormous expenses and waste OF
money in the line of military opera
tons begat a disposition to display
and waste in the civil expenditures OF
towns and cities The experience OF
voting to pay enormous bountes for
recruits seems to have stimulated n
similar course in other matters. Hence
before the war debts were paid, every
city and large town were found plung-
ing headlong into debt for pubic
buildings, magnificent parks, grand
avenues, and a hundred things a for.
mer generation did without and got
along comfortably well.
The amount of Indebtedness in The
country at large is fearful About
two and a quarter billions for the gen
eral government, nearly two billions
owed on railroads probably two hun
dred millions owed by the States, and
hundreds of millions more by the
counties. cities and towns. piling up
an aggregate of near four and half
billions of dollars, all of which has
has been sunk in war, or invested in
railways or pubic Improvements, and
we regret to add too much in steal.
ings, and OF these debts, the whole cx
cept that Of the railways, must be
liquidated by taxes upon the property
of the nation or the States. The job
of payment looms up as fearfully
large, but it must be met.
AS consequence Of the above Law
ish expenditure taxation must be high
for long time. The poor payers of
these taxes can indulge in as many
groans as they choose, but here is the
solemn act.-the debts must be paid
and the people must pay them. The
only redress possible is to compel a
curtailment of outlay for the next ten
or twenty years.
The Southern States appear to be
in worse condition than the North
ern. Their impovenshment by the
civil war, so weakened their ability
and tritered away their resources that
they ought to have got along for
twenty years without any large ex-
penditure. And yet they went in for
tremendous improvements in railway
facilities that far from being remuner-
alive, have involved many of them
in overwhelming debts, that will OPP
press the inhabitants for several gen.
erations. So oppressive has taxation
already become in South Carolina
that there is talk there among the
people of asking Congress to remand
the State to territorial condition in
order to escape the exactions levied
by the State Legislature. This is a
sensible move, as it IS just the condi-
ton in which all the Southern States
should be in that have displayed an
inability TO manage their local affairs
with intelligent energy.
The West has also passed through
an era of heavy taxes, and has got
weary of the exercise. But those
States are generally reducing their in
debtedness and several have hand
some balance sheet. Massachusetts,
Maine, New Jersey, New York Mary
land and Ohio have each handsomely,
diminished their debts, and ten years
or so will see all now on the books
liquidated, but when we come to the
city bills, there will probably remain
few millions still to be Cancelled. At
the very least, there should be a stop
put to going in debt. Let no town or
city invest dollar that is not provid-
ed for in the tax levy to he next col
lected.-N Y. sam.