The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1874-04-08
The Taxpayers Before Sresi-
dent Grant.

We publish below the address OF
Hon. W. D. Porter, Chairman Of the
Tax-Payars Committee to wait on the
President and to memorialize Con
etrsss; also the President brief reply :
Mr.. PREsIDESr.We are dele
gates from the Taxpayers Convention
of South Carolipa, and are charged
with mission to the authorities at
Washington, to lay before them great
public grievance under which our peo-
pleSare Iahoring, aud to invoke the
sympathy and aid Of the Federal Gov
egnmeat to afford us the relief (which
We have not been able to procure tor
ourselves. We know the power, NOR
al and political, of this government:
and believe that it can, If it will, re-
dress our grievance.
It is difficult in the few minutes
that we feel at liberty to trespaSs upon
vour time to make an adequate pre-
sertation oE the pitiable condition in
which South Carolina is placed 10
give You any conception OF 1t, tits ne
cessary to state her condition at the
close of the war. No one knows bet
ter than yourself, Mr. President, the
exhaustive processes OF the war upon
ourstate. Her people, with a sincere
belief that the enterprise in which
tbey embarked involved their domes-
tic pcace and safety, aud with an un-
calculating devotion to their cause;
stEaked their all upon the issue, and
lost their all. The single act Of ensaa-
cipation struch out OF existence one
hundred anG twenty-five millions OF
their property value Their moneys,
their bills, their securities, State and
Federal. perished on their hands.
They had lands, without labor or mon
ey to hire labor; they had houses or
cabins. bat without provisions to salts
fy the hungry cravings of men, wo-
men N and children. If ever there WAS
a people upon whom the hand of taxa
tion should have been laid lightly and
gently, it was the people OF South
Carolina at the cul Of the war. Il
eyer there Was l people whose eondl-
tion was a protest and remonstrance
against the heartless and grinding ex-
actions of the tax gatherer it, WAS that
stricken people. ,
The reconstruction measures placed
South Carolina in an anomalous posi-
ton. 1t doubled her citizenship and
her suffrage. We : not here to ask
any change or modification in this re-
spect. Vie know that this matter
has been placed upon the basis of the
tundamenFal law by constitutional
amendments; and that, whether wise
or uuwisc, We can expect no alteration
oft. But there are some incidents and
results growing out Of the rcconStrnc-
ton policy: Which are curious as we'll
as vital in their operation, and to the
practical effects of which We invite
yoar. attention, with a view to some
relief. ...... e.. -. =. 8
This doubling of our citizenship
aud suffrage has divided the State INTO
two classes or ssratas, the one proper
holding and taxpaylng, and the
other non. .taxpayiug and non'pro perty-
holding. And in the non-propcrty-
holding and nou-taxpaying class re-
sides the absolute political power OF
the State, including the great sovef-
eien power of taxation; and this class
is banded together as txed political
majority, which refuses any substan-
tiai repres. ntation to the taxpaylrg
minority. The practical result is then
this, that the people who levy the
taxes do not pay the taxes ; those who
Day the taxes have no voice IN 1iXlug
the amount Of them; and the taxes
so raised arc expended, not by those
who pay them but by those who feel
really no part Of the burden OF them.
We doubt whether such a condition
Of things has ever before existed III
any government which called itself Il
free representative government. With
our kaowlcdce of the entire American
feeling On the subject of taxatlou aud
lis exercise, We think it may be truly
SAID that no free State Of the North
would submit to such 4 condition Of
things either theoretically or practical,
= lv-tor the practical results are pre-
ciSelv such rs i=ht have been aniicl-
rated Those who do not pay the
taxes care not how heavily they lay
them on, aud the more heavily they
lay them on. the more money they
have to expeud. In point Of tac1
there is no check, no limitation, no
responsibility such as exists where the
representatives f.,l tha. hey owe IN
accountability toa taxpaying const''a-
or<v. Allow us, Mr.. President: -
ar,.;,n j few facts which will serve TO
..ive somc idea of the condition IN
which We arc placed. Our taxable
values before the war were near s2oo,-
OCu. .00n; they are now reduced to
$50 GG1. .000 CT $4,000, 900. Upon
t:,ah $500 900, ,000 before the war was
raised for the ordinary current en-
,~.sc* rf government, the .Sum OF
about S4UU. .0UO; but upon the reduced
values Of s150,00G,0Q0 there is now
raised the annual sum of over s., 600
Coo. Considering the loss and depre'
citation 6: property, the reduced ability
Of the people to pay, and the false
:,nl exaggerated assessments made. the
,.ropo,t:nn between the tax now raised
aud that raised before the War would
be a* lftccn or twenty to one.
When the Impoverished condition
If the mass Of the people is taken into
consideration. with what fearful
weight of oppression do these burdens
fall upon them. 1t is 10 wonder
then, that in one Year PCS, 900 acres
Of land were forfeited to the State toi
uo,,-pa;n,crt of taxes. and that in the
>;n.le County Of Beaufort sonic eight
hundred out Of thc 2,3G0 farms sold
by the Vui,rd States to the co!ored
l. L,va ,ls,, lceu forfeited for the