Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-05-08

Richards, of Scott, and Loving, OF Nei-
themselves merchants.
If the amount levied by this tax bill DE
realized we will be
ABLE TO PAY THE FOUR PER CENT. TAX,
and by the re-assessment. ofithe lands in Us
we shall be able to pay the full interest,"
We were informed from the best sources
that the views Of foreign capitalists were
that if this debt of the State were allowed
to run up until it was SO great, that most
burdensome taxation would fall upon any
property they might purchase in the State,
and that our failure to lay tax was re-
tarding immigration.
WHAT MR.. COCHRAN SAYS.
Our reporter called on Judge Cochran
and ADDRESSED some inquiries to him in re-
ply to which the Judge gave his views Of
the effect of the tax BILL
Reporter. What do you think will be
the effect of the tax bill passed at the last
session Of the General Assembly.
Judge C.-The effect of the tax bill, in
my judgment will be most disastrous to
every interest in the State. say to every
interest, because, although it's oppressive
features apply almost entirely to the man
ufacture of ardent spirits. and the mer-
camille community, yet it indirectly effects
the farming interest more seriously than
either of these. The burden at last must
be borne by the farmer He must pay the
piper no matter who dances. The admis-
sion of the patron, or patrons Of the bill
that the farming interest is languishing;
and will bear no higher rate of taxation
than that of last year, is in effect an adj
mission that no other interest can bear a
higher rate. You had as well drive the
blood from the extremities to the heart,
and contend that healthy condition will
arise therefrom, as to
PUT ONEROUS AND OPPRESSIVE
TAXATION
upon any interest located in languishing
agricultural district, and say the country
will bear it and prosper under it. In eth
Ell case paralysis and death must inevitably
ensue. The various interests of the State
are inseparably bound up together, and are
more OF less dependent, one upon the other,
and all absolutely dependent upon the pro-
auctions of the soil. You had as well con-
tend that you can do an injury to one mem
Der of the human body, without hurting
the rest, as to PROSTATE the commercial
interest and say it does not hurt the agri-
cultural. The bill imposes tax on mer-
chants from II to per cent. which will
AMOUNT TO A PROHIBITION IN MANY
CASES.
Take for instance a wholesale merchant of
Richmond. How can he compete with the
Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York
merchants with such burdens upon him ?
Already they have great advantages over
him in the way of capital and material
prosperity; and in addition the policy of the
Northern States, i'll the main, has been to
exempt their wholesale merchants from tax
alton, in order that they may successfully
compete with the merchants OF the other
States. Heretofore it has been an uphill bus
mess to the merchant of Richmond; now it
will be next to impossible for him to live.
The tax bill not only lays heavy burdens
upon our own merchants, but in another
section provides that the outside merchant
may sell ad kbitaan, all over the State, goods
to any amount for the sum of 500, and
inhibits cities, towns and counties from
them. If this is not suicide 1 don't know
what tits. If it is not what the Japanese
call hari kari, that is cutting out ones
own bowels, would like to know what it
is 1t is legislation to the
DESTRUCTION OF OUR OWN PEOPLE AND
IN FAVOR OF OUTSIDE CITIES
and, as was said to me since my return
home, by wealthy and enterprising citi-
zen, "well could Baltimore, Philadelphia
and New Y DIRK afford to pay a million of
dollars for such legislation. But that is
not all. During the last days of the ses-
ion of the legislature, those charged with
the care of the financial interest of the
State, allowed a bill to pass exempting
from taxation the shares of stock held by
nol-residentS in the national banks located
in Virginia-the Supreme Court of the
U. s. having repeatedly decided that they
were taxable. This suppose was the cap
stone to the magnificent financial edifice
erected by our modern Cincinatus. Its
spacious halls, magnificent proportions,
and stately dome, doubtless fills the bosom
of it's architect with unbounded admira-
Init h1fO tho idoc of novt II
will become a loathsome, fgtid, putrid,
dungeon-Sti1ing unto death all of its oc-
cupants and if perchance its architect
shall survive its poisonous civilizations
he will be the first to lay violent hands up
on its walls, and rase the last stone from
its foundation. This will not, however,
save him from the wrath to come, for he
has repeatedly laid it down as an inexora-
BILE rule that sit is a crime for statesman
to commit Il blunder." Unlike the COM
mittee of nine, the tax bill Of 1874, will
have no one to contend for the glory of its
paternity.
Question.-How does it affect this dis
trict particularly
Judge Cit will bear more heavily on
the
INTERESTS OF THIS DISTRICT
than any other, for the following reasons
The manufacturer of ardent spirits, and
the merchants, by their energy and enter
prise, have made this the best market for
produce in the country. The farmers sell
annually $4,000 worth of grain to the dis
tilers at prices ranging from 5 to Is cents
per bnshel more than we can command at
any other place in OF outside the State
The merchants pay higher prices for grain
than the farmer can get in Richmond OF