Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1877-07-12
THEZNIERNAL L RE'VEN UE
SYSTEM.
ITS EVILS, EXPRESSIONS AND ABUSES
AND THE REMEDY.s

Letter from Hon. VIM. NJ. Robbins |
SrATEsvrLLE, N. c., June 80, III, |
To the Editors Of the Neaos::
SIR: A full response to your re-
quest for my "views on the Internal
Revenue system, its evils, oppres.
sions, and abuses, and the remedy"
would exceed the reasonable limits
Of a newspaper article. l shall
therefore confinc myself to few
observations on salient points,
More than this is needless, also,
after the many pithy touches You
have lately given this subject in
your editorial columns.
Three times only in our history
has the Federal Government resort
ed to internal taxation, and in each
case it was the sequence of a great
war, viz: The war of the Revolu-
ton; the war of 1912, and the late
war between the sections. The
system has in every instance proved
very odious to the people. The
first law was enacted i'll 1791--
There was much friction in its work
ing, and great discontents were pro
duccG. amongst others the whiskey
insurrcction in Pennsylvania i'll
1874. When Jefferson became
President, it was abolished upon
his recommendation. Under the
pressure of the war with Britain,
the system was tried again in 1913,
but was tolerated only four years.
President Monroe, in 1917, in his
first annual message, recommended
its abolishment, which was prompt
ly done.
Neither the revenue system of
1871, nor that of 1918, raised more
than four to six million dollars
annually; yet our frugal fathers
we're impatient of the burden, and
the great anti.centralizing popular
party of those days, under the coun'
sells of jefferson and Monroe, made
haste to do away with it.
In 1862 this system was revived
once more. Since that date, ac-
cording to the Reports OF the Com
? missioner of Internal Revenue, tho
:: taxes collected under this Law
: amount to the enormous sum OF
tuenty-three hundred nailJiom dol
: Lurs ana 0cer. This is considerably
/: more than the entire debt OF ths
: United States. The tariff and othel
: sources of income, within the same
: period, have brought into the Fed
: eral treasury another sum equall.
$ as large. No wonder the times ar
!, hard and business is languishing
II when we are thus taxed.
u IT there is craftsmanship lef
u among rs, surely it should addres
itself at once to the task of Tighten
, ing these crushing burdens. Th
country cannot expect to recove
! its prosperity until there is inaugn
" rated such an ail-pervading, thor
e ough-zgoing retrenchment of publ
expenditures as has scarcely bee
o talked about in our days. Thrus
.e in the pruning-hook and mercilesE
re ly cut away the sinecures, supernr
" merary place-ncn, and parasite
! till the public vine is shorn of Il
le multitndes of fruitless branches.
le If the administration of the go
IS ernment were thus brought back
q the careful economy of forme
ie times, the Internal Revenue systel
% could be abolished. The tarit
Or properly remodeled, would supp
7r ample means to meet all propt
10 expenses. Customs duties levied ft
= revenue only might be lower tina
'? they now are, and still prodn'
- mere revenue, at the same tin
nf % making prices lower for what v
IN buy; for with a view to prote
he manufacturers, rnaby articles are
he highly taxed as to check their il
nd portation, thus diminishing tt
ali amount of duties collected, and y
making such articles high priced
the consumer.
at One grand work which the Der
,te ocratic party has to do when
full comes into complete supremacy,
it will at the next election, is
'he revise this whole policy of raisi
70 money for the government. Ii
y. " is true to its own record and t
peoples interests, it will frame
tariff for Revenue solely, and W
YER uproot the Internal Revenue syste
las once more, as it did in the times
ct Jefferson and Monroe.
ev- The burdens this system impo!
.he are only small part of the cur
lis 1t tends to centralize all power
lno the Federal government. At t
sly moment, as one of its incidents,
nas are having a controversy with
aae Federal Courts as to whether Nol
Carolina shall be allowed to
- and punish those who may outra
tly and murder her citizens. The v
/. go long waged by the Radical pa