The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-02-04
The vale. from the s,ouutry.

The Voice from the Country.
Editors of Diypatch,-In your very cour.
teous and appropriate comment upon my
communication published in your Satur-
days issue you unintentionally q make
no doubt) misquoted me. You quote
me as assuming that the merchants
tax is imposed upon his profits. l do.
not think my language will warrant that
assumption, and assuredly had no intention
OF conveying any such idea. My design was
to institute slight comparison between the
ability of the agriculturist and the merchant
to pay the tax imposed upon them respec-
lively. And my assumption was that the
tax, II paid at all, must be paid out of the pre-
ifs realized by them respect lively, and assessed
upon their respective capitals. assumed,
aud supposed very properly, that the
merchant would pay bis tax out OF the pro.
fits realized from judicious investments and
refreshments Of his capital stock. and that
the farmer would do likewise. presumed
that the merchant would be very likely to
realize bis profits out of sales made to the
farmer, and that these profits would be in.
proportion to the general expenses incident
to his branch of business. Including in these
expenses his taxes. II he does not realize
these necessary profits l suppose must say
of all such as Edmund fendleton says of the
Door old farmer: let their storehouses be
shut ND and then go into some other branch
of business that will pay them better. can
not pretend to say exactly how it Is In the
CITY of Richmond, but / am pretty well as
sured that as a general thing the merchants
in the rural districts realize more from their
business than most any other class OF Our
citizens.
do not say that The tax upon the agricul-
turist IA more than he shOulVequitably bear
in proportlon to his realized profits; but 1t
was nv intention to declare that in proper
ton to the profits realized from bis bushes
his tax IL equally as onerOus as that imposed
unon the merchant. To corroborate this
truth and strengthen me In my preconceiVed
opinion have to thank you for the narrated
incident of the western farmer who carried
his grain to Chicago 10 his own wagon, and
whose "eXpenses not only absorbed all that
he got for the grain, but he had to sell bis
boots to get back home" There are some
thousands OF poor farmers in Virginia who
have to cart their produce to market, and
possibly may be as badly of as our western
friend in their speculations. And my excla-
nation Yas, when / read the incident, and
now is, / wonder exceedingly where these
unhappy men get the money from TO pay
their taxes
agree with you entirely in the sentiment,
so wisely and judiciously expressed in many
past editorials, that Richmond will be bene-
flied by every pound of freight that passes
through her az well. as that which finds a
market within her bosom. And I, with
every farmer in Virginia, would gladly see
Richmond flourish until she becomes, il pos.
sibe, the queen city Of the continent; and
we would eheerfully contribute our Offering
to secure an end so devoutly to be wished
for, but we would like to have credit for
1t. When the Ia 'mers all along the line OF the
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad pay the heavy
rates of transportation on the meagre produce
coayed from q reluctant soil and unpropi-
tious seasons to insure the successful build
ing up of through freight they like 10 have
credit for it, They think they deserve the
more credit when they reflect that this great
corporation, justly the States pride, has
opened up competition in their staple pro.
ducts of corn and wheat with those Of the
rich lands OF the West, and that in the mat
ter of transportation of these the western
producer has equal If not superior advan.
tage. They reflect upon this, and they re-
collect with vivid earnestness that this
road was built with d large integral
part of that public debt whose in
terest is wrung from the meagre profits Of
that production which has been SO severely
crippled by that competition which this road
has brought about. This reflection gives us
still less comfort when we bear in mind that
this corporation, owning, suppose, some
forty or fifty millions of property, does not
now, and has not for the past few years. paid
one cent in taxes towards aIleviating the
burden of interest on that debt created in
considerable part for its benefit. We all re.
collect that few years ago the Legislature,
in locking around for subjects Of taxation
to prop up the public credit, which YVES
slightly furnished and q little shaky, were
about to lay violent hands upon this corpo-
cation. They had already gathered to the
feast, when 10 the threat that the road would
pass into the hands of foreign and hostile
company fell in their midst and scattered
them to the four winds, and the scheme
scarcely saw light ere it died. | have always
thought that we acdyfdrerS would not
have been the losers had the scheme been
carried into execution, even with the prog
nosticated results which caused its aban-
donmeni. Then, however detrimental it
may have proved TO the State in general,
which was doubtlessly foreseen by the legis
lative wisdom, the farmers at this. end of the
road would thereby have realized the effect
Of having it run more decidedly In their in
terest and many pound Of freight would,
in consequence. have found market in Rich.
mond which has been and is now kept back
by undue cost Of transportation.
One word more in defence of the former.
lo,, NJ I'll Il
Pendleton seem to think that the poor farm.
er, who has one thousand acres Of land and
cultivates only one or two hundred acres of
it, ought to be sold out tor taxes and put at
something else. / know not what sort of
land it Is that Mr.. Pendeton cnltiyates, but I
suppose it must be very different from that
which prevails throughout this section of tie
State. Lands In this section, cultivated year
after year for few years, with no means of
procuring fertilizers las is the case with
nearly all Of our farmers), would not be
worth the trouble of taxing them, 4
Orators may puff and blow about the pa.
triotsm Of the French people, who made
such noble sacrifices to pay oil their war-debt
and free them from the claims of Prussia.
They thereby entitled themselves to uni
versal admiration. Butt dare affirm that
there is not more patriotic people on the
globe than the rural population Of Virginia,
nor people who would more cheerfully
make sacrifices to sustain the honor and in
tegrty of their State, whose history they have
helped to write in characters of undying
splendor and glory. think I may safely
say that there Is scarcely Virginia farmer
who would not cheeriully contribute one
tenth Of his real estate to be relieved from
the onerous taxation incident upon the pub
lie debt. 80 .---. - Rus.