Middletown transcript., 1874-04-11
South Carolina Snubbed.
The LnssH to the Delegates from the Pal
mefto State at the While House--Ad-
dress of Mr.. Porter.

The Lnssit to the Delegates from the Pal
mefto State at the White House-Ad-
dress Of Mr., Porter.
Mn, PRssiDExr:-Ws are delegates
from the Taxpayers CsnveBtion Of South
Csrolins, and are charged with q mission to
the authorities st Washington to lay before
them great public grievance uadsr which
our people are laboring, aud to invoke the
sympathy aud aid Of the Federal Govern.
,nent to afford US the relief which We have
not been able to procure for ourselves.
We know the power, moral and political,
Of the Government, and believe that it
can. il il will. redress eur grievance. Il
10 difficult IN the few minutes that We feel
at liberty to trespass upon your time to
make an adequate presentation Of the pitt
able condition in which South Carolina is
placed. To give you any conception Of it
it is necessary to state her condition at the
close Of the war. No one knows better
than yourself. MIR. President. the exhsus-
tive processes of the war upon our State.
Her people, with sincere belief that the
enterprise in which they embarked involv-
ed their domestic peace and safety, and
/
cause. stsked their all upon the issue; aud
lost their all The single act Of emanci-
patton struck out Of existence $125, ,000,-
900 Of their property value Their moneys,
their bills, their securities, State and Fed
eral perished on their hands. They had
lands, without labor or meney to hire
labor; they had houses or cabins. but
without provisions to satisfy the hungry
cravings of men, women, aud children.
If ever there was people upon whom the
hand of taxation should have been laid
lightly and gently, it was the people of
South Carolina at the end of the war. If
ever there was a people whose condition
was a protest and remonstrance against
the heartless and grinding exactions Of
the tax -gatherer. it was that stricken peo.
pie. The reconstruction measures placed
South Carolina in an anomalous position
1t doubled her citizenship and her suf-
frage. We are not here to ask any change
or modification in this respect. We know
that this matter has been placed upon the
basis of the fundamental law by constitu-
tional amendments, and that, whether
wise or unwise, we can expect no altera-
tion of it. But there are some incidents
and results growing out of the reconstruc-
tion policy which are curious as well as
vital in their operation, and to the practi-
cal effects of which we invite your atten-
ton, with view to some relief. This
doubling of our citizenship and suffrage
has divided the State into two classes, or
strata, the one property holding and tax
paying, and the other non-tax paying and
non. property holding. Aud in the non
property holding and non-tax- paying class
resides the absolute political power of the
State, including the great sovereign pow
er of taxation; and this class is banded
together as fixed political majority which
refuses any substantial representation to
the tax paying minority. The practical
result is then this: that the people who
levy the taxes do not pay the taxes those
who pay the taxes have no voice in fixing
the amount Of them; and the taxes SO
raised are expended, not by those who pay
them, but by those who really feel no
part of the burden of them. We doubt
whether such condition Of things has
ever before existed in any government
which called itself free representative
government. With our knowledge of the
] entire American feeling on the subject of
taxation aud its exercise. we think it may
be truly said that no free State of the
North would submit to such a condition
of things either theoretically or practical
ly-for the practical results are precisely
snch as might have been anticipated.
Those who do not pay the taxes care not
how heavily they lay them on, and the
more heavily they lay them on the mere
money they have to expsnd In point of
fact there is no check, no limitation, no
responsibility such as exists where the
representatives feel that they owe an ac-
countabili,y to tax-paying constituency.
Allow us, Mr.. President. to group a few
facts which will serve to give some idea of
the condition in which we are placed.
Our taxable values before the war were
near $500. .000, 900; they are now reduc-
ed to Sl5O, 100000 or $3.50, ,000, 900.
Upon that $500. 900. 900 before the war
was raised, for the ordinary current ex-
peuses Of government, the sum Of about
S400, 900; but upon the reduced values
Of $3.50, 900, 900 there is now raised the
annual sum Of over $4,000. 900. Con-
sidering the loss and depreciation of prop
erty, the reduced ability of the people to
pay, and the false and exaggerated assess
ments made, 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 consider
alton. with what fearful weight Of op-
preston do these burdens fall upon them.
II is no wonder. then, that in one year
268. 900 acres of land were forfeited to
the State for non aymcnt Of taxes, and
that in the single county Of Beaufort some
800 out Of the 2 800 farms sold by the
4 United States to the colored people have
also been forfeited for the same cause. So.
too. the funded debt Of the State has been