The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-10-25
Letter from Judge Wilder in Re.
gard to Bounty Taxes.
BENSON, Oct. Is, 76.

to bounty taxes, &C., picked up on my
travels, and have read. shall not
reach Red Wing until the last Of the
month, and then for day or two only.
I therefore address you from this point
upon that subject, and in doing so must
speak from recollection only, as I can
not consult my books or papers, or the
records.
During the war of the rebellion my
property consisted mainly Of wild, un-
productive lands situated in six or eight
counties in Minnesota and in US many
counties in Iowa.
The General Government had the
power to, and did, in the year 1862, I
think, levy direct tax upon real estate,
and real estate only, which upon my.
lands amounted to no small sum, all of
which l paid, and paid cheefully.
The call for volunteers was to secure
personal service, and the prop osed
drafts were for the same end. Many
men, republicans and democrats, held
that this service was matter of person.
al duty resting upon individual citizens
of certain classes, with reference to age,
physical condition, ETC., and that this
was the theory Of the law. The APP
portionment of numbers, when made,
was generally by townships.
resided in Red Wing. Without
bounties or taxation we furnished in
that city our full quota Of men, and
more, and in advance of the calls, or at
least at day so early that no steps for
a draft were ever taken. In accom-
plishing this | was not less active than
others. More than one man volunteer
ed relying upon my personal assurance
that his family should be seen to and
provided for. During the war the num-
Der in Red Wing to be thus looked after
and in whole or in part provided for was
not small, nor was the amount required
for their relief by any means a trife.
How far co-operated in that duty my
neighbors and associates, to some ex-
tent know: and the families of some of
those soldiers know still better.
My lands above spoken Of were near
ly all and I think all charged with what
were called "bounty taxes" or local
taxes assessed to raise funds to hire
volunteers, and in some instances to
reimburse residents Of the town who
had, IN some manner, contributed funds
for that purpose. There were in num-
bers a very respectable minority. at
least, in many Of the townships, consist
ing of republicans as we'll as democrats,
who regarded that system of local taxa
rion as unauthorized and unjust,-men
who held that if funds for this purpose
were to be raised they should come in
some form from the residents of the
respective townships.
Whether this view was sound or not
l do not now propose to enquire.
simply state the fact, adding that one
Of the results of that system was that
in many instances the property Of a
soldier who in the early part of the war
had volunteered without bounty, was
taxed to pay bounties to others to save
his neighbsrs from the discharge of a
duty that he had voluntarily assumed.
It is true that this feature Of the law
was, at a later day, changed, but it ex-
listed for year or more.
These bounty taxes with the ex-
.ception of those in two or three town.
ships) amounting to nearly or quite
$500, Ipaid IN full, and arithout OBJ
lection.
The taxes in these two or three town.
ships, for special reasons, which had no
relation whatever to any question of
loyalty or disloyalty, or anything of that
sert, l declined to pay, as did other cit
liens. The result was an action to en-
join the collection of the tax in the
town of Featherstone, to which your
article refers.
The case was tried before a court
held by an able republican Judge, who
held the tax void, among other things,
for the reason that it was not levied to
pay bouuties, but to reimburse certain
citizens of the town for funds by them
voluntarily contributed for that purpose.
Like suits were brought and prosecuted
to judgment in Goodhue county by sew
eral Of her citizens, one of whom, at
least, was volunteer, and served in
the army, and two of whom were and
are republicans, of type not likely to
be termed .*copperheads'' or denounced
as 'disloyal.'
Writing as I do from recollection on.
ly, may not, in all things, be infinitely
accurate, but l am sure you have above
the whole matter substantially as the
facts exist.
And III conclusion allow me to say
that he who asserts that, from the time
the first gun was fred at Fort Sumter
until the surrender of Lee and Johnston,
I was not in favor Of vigorous prose-
cution of the war, and of the suppress
sion Of the rebellion by force of arms,
talks blindlv of that of which he knows