Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-16

y,ithout the tax he could buy for two-thirds
that price the very best quality Of tobacco.
&uch 4 rate of tax must decrease conSump-
ffon and must diminish production or as
ronsum ption would decrease at an enhanced
price tile producer must lower his price to
{ndnce the same Quantum of consumption.
Thus this heavy excise must tax consumer
and producer, and this especially Will oper-
ate upon the producers OF the lower grades
oftobaoco. These results are clearly proved /
by the evidence of a most intelligent wit
ness, Mr.. spence, of Cincinnati, largely en-
sTasTed in the rnanufature of tobacco, and are /
Confirmed by Messrs. Hudson & Catltn, man i
ufacturers, of st. Louis, who testified before |
Bnf this reason is sought TO be met by the |
assertion that tobaccOis aluxury, and should /
he taxed more heavily on that account.
The Commissioner of international Reve- |
nue. estimates that two-thirds of the adult
males in the country use tobacco: If, there
fore il be luxury, it IS well nigh a univer-
sal one and would seem to have become a
necessary TO the American people.
But your committee cannot cOnSent that
by the use of this delusive term ali injustice
should be done.
luxuries of a past age are the neeessaIles OF
a past age are the necessaries OF the present.
1t is one of the blessings OF providence
that in the extraordinary prod eness
ofthe present era, due TO modern Inventions,
The consumption of the bountir of nature
and the products of art is so wonderfully
increased that the ordinary comforts OF
door. are those which the wealthy OF ancient
lines never enjoyed. Nothing can be called
a
among all classes. The viands and wines,
the silks and the velvets, the silver and the
gold, the diamonds and the jewels, which
the millionaire counts as essential to his
happiness, fall TO the share of the wealthy
few, and may still lie classified as luxurleS
but il cannot b. said that the pipe of the day
laborer, or his plug of tobacco, or his brown
sugar. and his coffee and tea, or his ale,
(which lends an hours enjoyment TO the
poor mans heart, " are TO be counted as lux
uries in any proper or philosophic sense,
merely because life may be sustained or
bare subsistence be possible without either.
So far have only spoken of the
restrictions thrown around the sale
of leaf tobacco and the injustice
done to the producer by the combi-
nation between the manufacturer
and the Government, in which his
rights and interests have been to a
great extent sacrificed or ignored.
/ arraign as unjust and unsOund any
principle of legislation which places
a burden upon one class of the COM
munity and divides the spOils of an
unjust discrimination with other ia
VOred classes. When the farmers
of this country ask the poor priviI-
eye of being allowed to sell or ex-
change to consumers a few pounds
of tobacco, grown upon their own
should be ashamed to deny it to
them. / have no disposition to do
injustice to the manufacturer,
though, in his haste to be rich,
think he has done injustice to the
producers. If the tax on the manu-
featured article is too high, if the
demands of the Government on the
manufacturer are exOrbinant, let
them be lowered and let justice be
done him without doing injustice to
that class whose lands and industry
give to the country the very article
out of which the manufacturer
makes his profit and the Govern
ment collects its revenues.
/ am not unmindful of the fact,
nor do / wish or mean to ignore it,
that there is no necessary antagOn-
ism between the manufacturer and
the producer. If the manufacturer
is dependent on the producer to
furnish the raw material, the pro-
Queer is largely dependent on the
manufacturer for market for his
produce. That therefore, which de-
strOys the manufacturer strikes a
blow at one of the markets of the
producer. This mutual dependence
should cause a Just and liberal
spirit on the part of one toward the
other. The more buyers there are
in the market, the greater will be
the competition and the better will
be the prices which the farmer will
get for his tobacco. The higher the
tax which the Government places
on the manufacturer, the less he
can afford to pay the producer for
the leaf or raw material. / know
the speciOus argument is made that
the consumer pays the tax and the
producer is therefore not affected,
whether the tax be high or low.
But the manufacturer must make
his profits somewhere and out of
somebody. If he is compelled to
pay the Government a high tax,
his interest will force him to pay
the producer as low a price as pos
sible, as we'll as to charge the con-
sumner as high a price as success of
trade will allow.
The direct tendency of the present
high tax on manufactured tobacco
Is to crush out and destroy the men
of limited means engaged in the
business to lessen competition, and
Will. IL LIlt@ kalA 10 COIlLllluCu IluOll
longer, result in concentrating the
whole business in the hands of
hugh mOnOpolies, whose cOmbina-
tions will place the planter who
grows tobacco, suited for manufac-
turing purposes, completely within
their control and at their mercy.
When few large and wealthy
firms have succeeded in absorbing
or driving out of the trade the men
of smaller capital, the market Of the
farmer for the raw material, SO
far as he looks to the manufacturer
for a market, will be destroyed, and
he will see his business of raising
tobacco ingulfed in the same mael-
strom where the small manufac-
turers went down. The present
contest before Congress is simply a
battle between the smaller manu-
facturers, who are fighting for their
lives, and the powerful mOnOpOliStS
of the East, who have surrounded
their antagonists, captured the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
and are now moving on the Com
mittee of Ways and Means, and
will soon summon the Congress of
the United States to surrender to
their demands.
In the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer
of January s, 1878, L find an inter
view with DR.. Spence, a Cincinnati
manufacturer of tobacco, he truly
says:
The chief opponents are few eastern
manufacturers of immense capital. They
have very rapidly during the last few years
absorbed the manufacture of plug, and if
their ratio of increase continues, il will not
be but comparatively short period before
that portion of the trade will be Substan-
TALLY in their hands. This is what has shut
up multtudeS of small plug factories all
over the country during the last few MONTHS
and not as claimed by them, the agitation
for the reduction Of the rate of tax.
DIR. Spence further says that the
manufacturers of Louisville, Dan
vile, Lynchburgh, Toledo, Chicago,
Milwaukee, and other points are
earnestly in favor of a reduction of
the tax. Some of the representa-
tiveS of those cities are now here
urging Congress to reduce the tax.
Everywhere, from every section of
the country, the manufacturers,
save few eastern mammoth