The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-03-31

either Theoretically or practically
thelpractical results are prectsely such
as might have been anticipateda 4 Thase
who do notpay the taxes careinot how
heavily they. lay them on; and the more
heavily they lay them on, the more
money they have to expend. In point
of fact there is no check, no Limitation, !,
no responsibility such as exists where
the representatives feel that they owe
an accountability TO a tax-paying con-
stituency.
Allow us, Mr.. President, to group a
few facts which will serve to give some
idea Of tho condition in which We are
placed. Our taxable values before the
war were near $500. .000,0 600; they nre
| now reduced 10 $3.50, 600, 900 or SlGO,.
000.0O0 Upon that $500, 100, QUO be-
| fore the war was raised, for the Ordinary
current expenses of government. the
sum of about $400, 900; but upon the re-
duced values of $3.50, coo. 000, there is
now raised the annual sam OF oyer
81, ,000.0 900. Considering the loss and
depreciation of property, the reduced
ability OF the people to pay, and the
false and exaggerated assessments m ade,
the proportion between the tax now
raised and that raised before the war
would be as fifteen or twenty to one.
When the impoverished condition OF
the mass Of the people is taken into con
sideration, with what q fearful weight of
oppression do these burdens fall upon
them! It is no wonder, then, that in
one year 26S. 600 acres OF land were for
feited 10 the State for non-payment of
taxes, aud that in the single County Of
Beaufort. some 800 out Of the 2. 50Q
farms sold by the United States to the
colored people have also been forfeited
for the same cause. So, too, the funded
debt Of the State has been increased
from about $4,000. 900 to an admitted
figure of SIG. QUO. 900, with an unde6ned
margin OF floating debt aud unacknow
lodged bonds. TO state the case in Il
few words, it may be said that our pre-
sent rulers have already utterly de-
stroyed the credit of the State by the
excessive issue of bonds, partly legi,i-
mate and party fraudulent. and are now
engaged in devDuring the substance of
the people by the grinding exactions OF
taxation.
Mr.. President, this is no false clamor
or picture Of the Imagination. Il Is
real, hard, stubborn fact, and is ac-
knowle,lged or Can be proved. Strangers
from the North express their amnznment
at what they sec, and wonder at the for
bcarance TINT has SO long endured. No
man who has come to see for himself,
with an open, dispassionAta mind, hus
come to any other conclusion than that
there should and must be radical re-
form. Our own people are almost il
despair, for they feel that they n.e upon
the very verge Of general ruin. II wc
could lay before you the many, many
instances of distress that have come be-
fore our eyes, it would appeal most
powerfully 10 your sympnihics. Aud
the worst feature Of cruelty in the thing
IL, TINT it falls most heavily upon the
most helpless-upOn women aud chill
dren. upon widows and orphans Year
by Year and day by day is the number
Increased OF those who have kept up in
vain the struggle for the bread OF indc.
pendcnce and for Tue roof that covers
their heads. Is it strange that We should
ask for them and for ourselves some re-
lief from The tyranny that is So opprcss-
ing US? And eau it be that the Govern
ment will deny us its sympathy and its
mid in giving US the substance rs we'll rs
tho form Of republican government:
Mr.. President, we come in 10 factiOus
or partisan spirit. We come in the i'll
tercst OF peace, OF good order, anl of
honest government. 1t matters little to
MS whether the administrator be Re
publican or Democratic, so that it in
sure us au economical, honest govern
ment, such rs our condition impera-
lively requires. We ask it as American
citizens; for we know that the moral rs
we'll ns the political influence Of the
NI.ioral Government is commanding.
The peope Of South Carolina did once
aim at Al independent existence and
make terrible struggle for it. But that
dream and TINT struggle are over-:hcy
arc OF the past. Our people have no
otEer national government than this oi
the Uaion, no other country than these
United States, aul no other h1g ,h.n
that bright flag OF stars that floats over
this broad land. And they ARE true men
and faithful; and if we know tho peo-
pie, they would defend this soil which is
theirs, that flag which is theirs, from
foreign aggression, with tho sumo un-
llinching valor which, in the remote pnst
and in tho recent pnst. they have dis,
played on so many well.fought fields Of
battle.
The President, who heard Mr.. Porter
with fixed attention, replied with chnr-
<nH .I..tI l..