Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1874-07-18
TAXATION THAT KILLS.

duu We uu1 III ~. aiialSu H' Se"s""r~
fignres, a statement of taxation for Ii
quors, drank within the State, which
! fully accounts for the poverty. not only
of Virginia, but of all the Southern
States while it also gives the reason
for the straitened circumstances OF mil
! lions in the North. There are 1856 re-
tail liquor shops III the State. Ii these
shops sell the average amount of liquor
sold by the liquor shops Of the United
States, and there is no reason 10 sup
pose they do not, the annual amount
consumed is Sl0,622,sSS. There arc
additions to be made to this from
wholesale dealers and patent medicines
which are bought and consumed for
their alcohol, that raise the aggregate
10 SI2. 100000. There is no doubtthat
the sum total exceeds these terrific tg
ures, which leave out entirely the alco-
hol used for mechanical and manuiac-
turing purposes. This sum exceeds tho
total value of all the farm productions,
increase in live stock, and value Of I'M
provements, of the year 1870, according
to the l.. $. Census, in the seven best
counties of the State, and by just about
the same amount, the value of the pro-
ductions of forty five smaller counties
during the same year. The wheat crop
of Virginia, for 1870, was, in round
numbers, 100000 bushels This, ut
$3.50 per bushel, which is more than
was received. makes exactly $4,000,
0o0. la brief. Virginia drank up lis
entire wheat crop Ia the last gill
Mr. Rutther presents other il!uslra-
tive estimates, but nothing can odd Ia
the force of those which we have cited.
He then gocs on 20 show that the total
taxation for State purposes. including
legislation. salaries, courts, institutions
for dumb. blind and inSmc. public
schools, and interest un the pnblic debt,
only reaches the sum Of $S,5Oo,OoO.
while 10 add ,o this sum all the local
taxation. would not equal the burden
which the people voluntarily lay upon
themselves. Bu, this is not all. The
injury done 10 public order. and to pri
vate health and enterprise, is TO he taken
into account Mr. Ruifner believes that
the Time wasted the injury done 10 bus
mess and the cost of crime. panperisln,
insanity, and litigation resulting from
inten,perancc. would bc more costly
than the liquor itself. Then the super
intcndent. with figures furnished by the
distinguished English actuary, Nelson,
i'm the interests of Life Insurance, shows
how much valuable life is thrown away
in the State. Between fifteen and
twenty years of age, the number oi
deaths Of temperate and intemperatc
persons, il rs 10 to ~; between twenty
one and thirty, 10 to 81 between thir-
ty and forty, 10 TO 40. At twenty years
of age temperate persons chance Tor
| life is IA years ars-intemperatc, loo; at
thirty, the temperate mans chance "a
36.5 years; incorporate, 1873; at forty
years, the proportionate chances a'e
2S.S TO ll.6 years. Thus money, health,
morality industry, good order, and life
itself. in enormous sums, go into this
bottomless caldron. is there any re
turn of good for all this expenditure
None. The loss is entire, aud IRENE
diablc. If the whole had gone over Nj
agara Falls, something would be picked
up. OH the shore below, but nothing ia
lett from this waste A bushcl Of grain
transformed into alcohol, aud swallow
cd as beverage, is bushel Of grain
annhilated. II all that is spent'fo j.
quor were put into huge furnace, aud
burned, we should have the ashes but
as IL Is, we have no ashes, except such
as, with shame and tcars,we are Obliged
TO bury.
We have not displayed these figures
for the special purpose of reading les.
son TO Virginia, for that State is 30
worse than the rest Of the States oi the
Union; but one Of her faithful officers
has brought out the statistics, and the
country ought to feel very much obliged
TO him for them. They give MS the
facts that account for all our public dis
tress. Our taxation for the Legitimate
purposes of government and the pay
nicnt of the pnblic debt is mere baga-
tele by the side Of the taxation 10 which
the people voluntarily subject them
selves, for that which harms them. We
consume, as nation, sG9o,0o0,00o a
year in spirituous liquors, SUN which
Only needs very few mnltiplicaiionsto
pay the ehole public debt OF the coun-
try. II this tax could be entirely aba
ted, the impetus that would be given.
not only to our prosperity. but TO onr
civilization. would soon place us in ad-
vance of every nation under heaven
Dr.. J. g. HoBonj, h Serib.ers J~
Juiy
Tug THE SOLUTION. the United
States Senate. Oh the 1iih Of June,
Senator, Thurman said:
elf the passage of the .iIl would stop