National Republican., 1874-05-27

in frowning down those practices which
tend to depreSiate, not only ths honor Of
our merchantS as class. but also the profits
That shoaid result from legitimate trade.
1t appefrs that members Of Congress
sometimes hose sight of important facts in
the discussion of questions affecting taxa
ton Il seems to US that it is of the first
importance for legislators 10 recoilect tha.
all taxes are sooner or later paid by the con-
sumers. The merchants and the manufac-
turers, the importers and the owners of the
real property of the country, are the par
ties from whom Government collects the
revenues directly, Hence, many legisla
tors are too apt to get the. idea that these
are the classes which ale most interested in
the matter of the assessment and collection
OF the revenues. A, little reflection must
convince them that this is not the correct
view. As we'll might the supply of water
necessary for a city be attributed to the
mains or pipes which distribute it. These
would be of little avail without abundant
sources from which the reservoirs are filled
The latter comprise numerous small
streams, springs and rivulets, which be-
come all important in making up the grand
aggregate. So with taxes; the con-
sumers pay them to the merchants in the
shape of a portion of their profits, who, in
turn, pay them to the manufacturer, the
importer, the banker, the transporter, the
insurer and the real estate owners; tie
latter being simply the conduits by which
they are turned into the treasury of the
Government.
Why is it that we nowadays get only
two thousand pounds of coal for ton-s
short ton instead of long one; one hun
dred pounds for quinta1 of fish; twenty
pounds for kit of mackerel, which pur-
ports to be one eighth of barrel; large
proportion of cotton in professedly all-wool
or all silk goods; clothing guaranteed to be
of the best turns out to be the fiimsiest
shoddy; new and less liberal weights and
measurements substituted for those of the
customs officers by the dealers as soon as
the packages are received in storef Why
are all these and thousands of other misrep-
resentations and frauds constantly INDUCED
in by our mercantile, manufacturing and
importing citizens if they are endowed
with those high notions of honor that we
have been told Of in such sweet measures
by Congressional orators? Let these Solons
take the census returns showing the in
comes from manufactures in 1869, and COM
pare them with the amounts reported by
honest manufacturers to the assessors of in
ternal revenue for 1870, and see how they
will account for the large discrepancies
which will be found to exist there. The
differences between the statements made
to the census taker and those filed in the
Office of the Commissioner of Internal Rev
enue are the best evidence OF the honor, as
class, of the men of wealth in this coun-
try that can be found.
Sound principles of commercial honor,
if followed out by our merchants, manufac-
turers, and so forth, would result in turn
ing millions enough into the Treasury
that have been wrongfully withheld to
nearly redeem the national debt. Over |
thirty millions of this sum is now spotted, |
and if there is so much honor in them 1t Is |
not too late yet for the delinquents to |
demonstrate it by voluntarily paying up |
In doing so they will deprive the contrsc-
tors of their moiety. Who speaks first of |
the delinquents for the honor of heading
this thirty million list? The list is made, |
and the repeal Of the law will not screen |
its members. If there is the amount of
honor among our importers that is claimed
for them by Congressman who desire
to have the amount of duties which shall
be assessed against them left to that honor,
we shall look for conspicuous demonstra-
ton of it very shortly by the payments of
delinquent taxes into the Treasury so far as
they are due from individuals. Those owed
by corporations will never be paid without
force. Corporations have no souls, and
consequently no sense of honor. They are
the machinery which the honorable and
religious men make use of to effect dishon-
orable ends and aims. For their acts no
person is individually responsible. They
may be disgraceful, criminal even, but the
verdict always is, that there Is no one to
blame.
Now, the lamentable fact about all this
matter is that the people, the laboring, in
dustrious, frugal, honest poor, are the par
ties being robbed. The men whose votes
send Messrs. Roberts, Foster, Wood, Beck,
Dawes and company to Congress are the
men who have paid their quotas of the re-
quired taxes to these high-toned merchants,
in the shape of profits on merchandise, and
the latter evade the payment of it to the
Treasury through the votes and influence
of these Congressman. This is the plain
English of the repeal of the moieties. We
never heard Of any trouble about this
matter so long as it was all kept close and
settled up with check in the offices of the
collectors, surveyors. naval officers, ETC.
but the moment it wss farmed out and pub
lished 10 the world, and rich men were
taken into court to answer unpleasant
questions with categorical replies, and the
whole made to appear in the newspapers
the next morning, then there was the
devil-and-all-to-pay about the commercial
honor of Christian merchants.
This is all too thin to deceive the people.
The hard-fisted. eight-hour voters of city
and country can see through it at glance.
The laboring men are weary of this con-
tinual legislation in favor of wealth and
wealthy corporations. They have warned
Congress that they will send men the next
time who will legislate partially at least in
the interests of labor, in the interests of
the real taxpayers-the consumers. If
they do this, they think commercial honor
will vindicate itself
A VALOROUS DLScRETTOx