The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-02-26

aso+roant ,.so let us refer to facts, and exhibit
| +o The countrv our real internal or domestic
condition.
sortb Carolina is now State of the United
ctetes and by the fundamental law OF the land
the United States is bound to guarantee to her a
Republican form of government Ii there DC
| q test of Republican or free representative
government, better known, moro universally
Recognized, and more dearly priced perhaps
than anv other, it is that taxation and repre-
sentation go together. The meaning of this
is. that the people shall not be taxed without
their consent. Government is instituted to
protect property as well as person. Ana so
Jealous are all free peoples of the exercise Oh
the powers of taxation by their rulers that
this question or matter has been the turning
point of more y,bellions and revolutions tnan man
any other one cause that can be named. Our
own national independence was the result OF
an unjust and unrighteous claim OF the rlgnt
to tax. Numbers and property are tae t"o
great elements of society; and the art OF gooo
government consists in giving to each lts just
Teight and influence in the political arrange
ment It is not meant that each person snou!u u
have weight or representation accordlnS 10 nls
wealth, but that the great property interest,"
should be recognized and protected against oe-
struction or invasion, as we'll as that other IN
terest which consists of persons or numbers
It is simply solecism to call that's RepuDncail
government in which property is not only un-
protected by proper guards and securities, Dut
in which it is delivered over to non-property
holders to be dealt with under the forms Oh
law, as their caprices, interests, preludlces,
passions or necessities may dictate Ihere Is;
perhaps, no better or more intelllGlble dennl-
ton of one sort of tyranny than is contained IN
To comprehend the full force of our grlev-
- n
mind that by virtue of the reconstruction
policy of the United States, the civil or
political condition of South Carolina is anomal-
Gus: it is, perhaps, without parallel III the
history of civilized communities certainly OF
those which claim to be Republican communl-
ties. 1t is not proposed to consider tins mat
ter in the light of race or color or party, put
simply and exclusively in the light of property
holding and nor-property- holding. What has
been done in the matter Of citizenship ana
suffrage has been done, and we are not asking
that it be reversed. What we do ask is, that
in considering our condition and the mode OF
relief tor it, the facts about to be stated will
be kept in mind.
The first of these facts is
That the voting population of the State, that
which wields the political power, is divided by
broad, distinct line into two great classes
the one property-holding and taxpaying, the
other non property holding and non-taxpaying
The second is
That the great preponderance of political
power is in the hands of the non-taXpayers,
constituting large fixed majority, who are
banded together and persistently refuse to the
taxpayers fair representation for tue proper
ton of their property interests.
The third is
That the people who pay the taxes have sub
stantially no voice in laying or expending them,
and that those who lay and expend the taxes
neither contribute to them nor feel the weight
of them.
The sum and substance of all this is that the
great proprietary interest, representing over
$4,000, 0O0 of value, ls taxed ad lldltun With
out it's consent or due representation, by those
who do not feel any part of the burden, but
enjoy all the fruits of the spoiation.
lis not this condition of things without Its
like or parallel, whether i'll theory or practice,
wherever representative government exists
Could q similar condition of things be main-
tanned for any length of time in any free State
of this Union except by military force: Let
anv candid man who knows the first principles
Of free government give conscientious answer
to these questions.
The logical result is just what might be e1-
pected. Those who are to levy, expend and
enioy the taxes cannot lay them too heavily on
those who have nothing to do but to pay. Ca
pacitv to endure is the only limitation they
recognize. The property holders, who pay the
taxes are becoming daily Impoverished by the
process of contscation and legalized plunder;
while the favored leaders of the non-property
holders, who levy the taxes, comparatively few
in numbers and grown suddenly rich, flourish
in purple and fine linen, ride i'll stylish equlpa-
ges, and are dwelling luXuriously in sumptuous
PALACES. The former have not even the poor
privilege of resisting all illegal tax, for the
Legislature has closed the doors of the courts
till the tax be paid, when resistance would be
useless while the former hedge their officials
round with validating acts and Legislative con-
firmations and ratitcations to shield them from
responsibility to the law for illegal othcia! acts.
The statement of a few facts and figures
will demonstrate how utterly regardless OF all
property interests are law-givers who neither
feel nor acknowledge any responsibility to
tax-paying constituencies: nay, who have been
taught to believe that it is virtue to despol
them.
The taxable values of the State have been
reduced by war and emancipation from near
$500, 900, 600 to about ITS, 900; while the
annual tax levy has been raised from an
average of $4,000 to over $4,000 900.
It has been calculated that, taking into con-
sideration the loss and depreciation of property,
the exaggerated assessments, the Increased
rate of taxation, and the reduced ability OF
property-holders to meet the demands, the
people of the State are now required to pay at
least twenty times the amount of tax they paid
before the war.
In six years our bonded debt has boen
trebled, while there is fearful apprehension
of floating debt and unacknowledged bonds to
an underlined extent
The annual legislative expenses before the
war were about $4,000; now they are near
100000.
The annual stationery bill of tho Legislature
before the war Has about $500; now 1t is over
$4,000.
The public printing before the war did not
exceed S5,000 now it reaches the appalling
figure of S330,00O.
But why rehearse the sickening details OF
these enormites and that other long catalogue
of railroad frauds, land commission frauds,
State debt frauds, CENSUS frauds. furniture
frauds election frauds, and others too numer-
GUS to specify, all evincing all ingenuity and
audacity which excite amazement as well as
provoke disgust They are not denied; they
are acknowledged or proved, and made matter
of boastful defiance. Tho State and the coun-
try rings with the recital Of them from side to
side. The indignant press has blazoned them,
all honest mon denounce them. They arc the
opprobrium of good government; u blot on the
national escutcheon; reproach and disgrace
to the civilization Of the age. They are doubly
infamous, because they are visited not only
upon helpless people, but upon women and
children, from whose mouth the ta1-Satherer
is snatching the very bread of existence, and
from whose defenceless heads lie ls tearing
away the roof that shelters them. The most
ACCOMPLISHED official this State has ever known