The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-03-04
The Prostrate Condition of the Country.

L
It is apparent to all rejecting minds that as
people we are suffering terribly from the ef'
feet of unwise legislation. Congress, eithe,
through ignorance or from corrupt motives
has so improperly directed affairs that the
wheels of commerce have been blocked, and as
the result, sore distress prevails throughout our
land, otherwise most highly favored of Provl-
dence Among the noble men in Congress who
have the wisdom to understand these matters,
there is one who dares to rise in his place and
declare the truth, though it condemns his party.
We quote small portion of the remarks OF
the Hon. Wu, d. Kelley, in the House of
Representatives, on the 18th inst, the tax and
tariff bill being then under consideration in
Committee of the Whole, and regret that space
will not permit its reproduction entire:
"Mr. Chairman, the effort to protect the sink
ing fund and to provide for the exigencies of
the Government by reimposing war taxes in
the midst of such general depression as now
prevails, is as ill,judged as it is inopportune.
1t will fail of its intended effect. If we adopt
this bill, confidently predict that instead of
replenishing the revenues it will deplete them,
and that the Administration will meet the
Forty fourth Congress with demand for a
further increase of taxes to supply deficiencies.
"The falling off in the revenues demonstrates
the poverty Of the people. They do not con-
tribute to the Treasury, because they cannot
supply their wants. They are unable to con-
sumo dutiable and taxable commodities, because
ace have By our legislation paraiysed their pro-
da.ctjve poaDer It is a maxim of mine, and
cannot too often rereat it, that prosperous
people not only supply their wants but crafty
their desires; while people suffering as the
laboring people of this country now are, not
only do not crafty their desires, but are unable
to provide themselves with the necessarles OF
life
"Water-power hitherto utilized to the advan-
tage of the country and its people now runs to
| waste; steam engines and the cunning ma
chinery they once impelled rust in repose and
more than million of willing, working people
are living in enforced idleness and want
Hence it is that the revenues decline; and not
by reason of the thrifty economy so glowingly
depicted by my colleague on the committee on
ways and means, the gentleman from New
York, [Mr. Ellis H, Roberts. Those thrifty
laborers who are living on public and private
charity, are not practicing economy or contrib
uting much to the public welfare.
"But we are asked to close our eyes upon this
suffering, and maintain the honor of the coun-
Treasury to purchase more than S31 900, 900 of
bonds. When the suferings of our people are
alluded to, it is asked, was ever any nation able
to put its bonds at q premium so speedily as
we have done? That is no answer to me, and
it is no answer to the men who, having accu-
mulated by long years of toll and economy
little homestead embarrassed by small mort
gage, have seen it pass under the sheritt's ham
mer at nominal price to the mortgage: 1t
is no answer to the worthy people who have
lived under noble sense of independence, in
view of their ability to maintain themselves
and their families by labor, and who now find
themselves forced to endure the torture of liv-
ing on the bitter bread of charity.
'Sir, I am as anxious as any gentleman on
this floor to sustain the credit of the country.
I have desired to see it gradually appreciated;
but when see our finances so managed as to
feed the gold and bullion brokers on the blood
of my constituents, I feel constrained to beg
my friends to order q halt, and if possible to
retrace some of theirAmistaken steps: My COL
league on the committee from New York MIR.
Ellis H. Roberts says that the public debt has
been reduced S6O0,000,000 Sir, l know that
these figures represent the reduction rs 1T ap-
pears in the books of the Treasury and in the
debt statements; but, sir, in its effects upon the
industries of the country the debt has not been
reduced. No, sir; measured thus, it has been
"What is the burden of debt on great
country like this, to which four hundred thou
sand people would gladly come every year and
identify themselves with its fortunes and share
the burdens of its debt if our unwse legislation
was not repeling them2 1t is not the ultimate
extinguishment of the principal. 1t is the
draught it makes upon the current resources,
the annual earnings of the people. Let us
measure our debt by what it required to pay
the interest when we owed the S6OO,OOO,OOO
which we have extinguished and what it now
requires Everybody that could work was then
empoyed; now more than million workers
are idle. Yet in days labor we now pay more
than two for every one the interest on the total
debt required We pay more than two pounds
of tobacco for one, more than two pounds OF
cotton for one, two bushels of wheat, two bar
rels of flour for one, and infinitely more than
two gallons of petroleum, and so on with all
the great staples of the country we are able to
export. And this is all due to the processes
we have resorted to for enhancing the value OF
our bonds in foreign markets. We have thus
doubled the burdens of the people while reduc'
ing the total of the debt. We have thus made the
property of the rich man more valuable, while
we have robbed millions of laborers OF their
whole estate. The wages of the current day
they waste in enforced idleness."
OBSERVING THE SABBATH.-The following
story is published by a Connecticut paper:
sThere lived in New Haven county, few years
ago, man whose wife, Tabathy, was widely
known for her strictness in observing the
Christian Sabbath, as he was for his remarka-
BILE patience in bearing with some of her un-
pleasant ways. One Sabbath morning barrel
of -four stood in the front hall which had been
left there late Saturday evening which, to the