Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-07-11

| erly clothe and educate his family. The
| tax-gasherer comes around and he is CON-
PEELED to pay taxes upon his land, and up
on all of his personal property. That Is
/ right; out there lives a gentlemen In the
| same county who Is wealthy, worth his
thousands but his wealth Is not In lands
but in greenbacks. When the tax-gatherer
comes around and goes to this man for his
| taxes, he says 10 him. "All my wealth Is
In greenbacks;" they are not taxable.
And the result is. he enjoys all the com
forts Of the country, but pays no taxes to
help support its burdens. That, | saw, Is
not right. Yet 1t is aud will be so long rs
| we have greenbacks for our money. II
our paper money was all national bank
money, then the men who own money
would pay taxes on is the same as men
VINO own real estate.
Know some gentlemen say, why does
| not Congress make the greenbacks taxa
| BILE by the States7 Then this inequality
would not exist" II Is because the Su-
| preme Court OF the United States has de-
| cided that they are Government securities
aud cannot be taxed by the States without
violating the Constitution. In the Forti-
eth Congress I introduced bill to tax
| greenbacks on the ground that they were
money; but before the bill was disposed OF
made Its decision that they were govern-
ment securities. and could not be taxed BY
| the States. That ended all legislation on
| the subject.
II IL Is violation of the Constitution, as
the court has decided, for the States TO tax
them because they are Government securi-
ties, then has Congress the power to au-
thorize the States to do an act that would
be violation to the Constitution? IL Is
clear that Congress has not the power to
authorize the States to tax Government
bonds, because they are strictly Govern
| ment securities, aud to do so wonld be a
pslpable violation Of the Constitution H.
then. Congress possesses the power to au-
thorize the States 10 tax our greenbacks. Il
Is because they were Issued as money and
not as securities; but the court having de
cided them as securities, can they now be
taxed by Ihe States even with the consent
OF Congress! II they can | would vote for
their taxation; but under the decisions of
the court II il exceedingly doubtful wheth-
er Congress has the power TO do so even II
II desired To. Congress has no more pow
er To consent 10 a violation OF the Constitu-
tion than the States have to violate It.
The strongest argument presented by
the friends Of this bill, aud the one upon
which they rely in order to pass Il, Is this
that by breaking down the national banks
and Issuing Treasury notes TO supply the
place of the bank-notes. the Government
can with these Treasury notes purchase
the bonds upon which the banks are bank
lug, and by that means save to the people
the iniercst upon these bond., instead of
paying Il 10 TIE banks. That argument
presents very nice and plausible theory
but when the theory Is once put In prac-
tlce IL viii be found that instead OF being
a saving to the people TO break down the
banks, II will prove a serious loss Those
who favor this bill assume that the Treas
ury notes issued under il, IL passed into "A
law, will be equal In value all the time To
our present greeDbacks. And as they are
or soon will be equal to gold. therefore
these Treasury notes will be equal to gold,
aud hence the Government can purchase
bonds with them from the banks, dollar
for dollar.
But they forget that TO make our .Iern-
backs equal ~ gold it will cost u. for A
time about IL per cent. because wc have
To sell bonds that draw that amount of in
'a-a' l., ''+-l,~ =. sss' 'i.- ~ ..~gh.,.,c
for grcenbacks. Now, II wc pass thi, Tin
and make tins new issue OF Treasury notes
how will the Government keep them equal
10 gold unless 1t sells more bonds drawing
4 IL per cent. interest. with which to pur-
chase god in order To keep them 500 our
friends answer that these Treasury uote-
are not redeemable In gold. but in our
present greeubacks. am aware OF that,
bnt by compelling the Government first to
redeem It's greenbaCks with gold, aud then
10 pay them out for these Treasury notes,
II Will force the Government TO redeem its
greenbscks about twice as often as 1t would
otherwise have 10 do, aud therefore it will
have purchase tina; much additional gold
To do so, which in the end will make these
Treasury notes cost the Government, to
keep them equal to 'gold, as much as
though they we're exchan.eahc for gold
the same as our gfenbacas. But, say the
friends OF the bill. we are not IN favor OF
making our greenbacks equal TO gold. II
not, how will you purchase the bonds from
the banks: You cannot purchase them
with anything but gold or its equivalent,
aud If you do not make our paper money
equal TO gold, the Government Will have To
sell bonds in order to raise the gold; Tor it
cannot 90 into the market and purchase
gold with Its deprecated paper unless II
sustans loss as great If not greater than
the amount Of interest il would have to pay
on it, bonds. Then, If the Government has
TO sell bonds in order to raise gold with
which To purchase the bonds from the
banks. or sianG a shave upon its depreciat-
ed notes equal 40 the amount OF interest
that 1t would have to pay on its bonds.
what do the people gain by ii? Not cent
by such an operation il would cost MS a.
much as the interest we would save. It /.
simply taking the load froua enc shoulder
and putting II on the other.
The interest on these bonds NJ ) per cent
in gold would amount to SIG, 1903 go 80
which would be the amount We would save.
Let Us next inquire how much we would
lose.
To print the new Treasury
notes and keep up their j.
sue at the rates we are now
paving would cost per year
at least $500. 600, 90
The taxes on 1922 0S9 $40 Of
Treasury notes which the
people would lose each
year by reason Of their nor
being taxable at l.9 per
cent. the average rate of
taxation in the various
States, would amount to G,ll9.jlG 80
We would lose the taxes
which the banks pay npon
their stock, as it wnuld be
destroyed with the banks.
This stock, according to
the last report of the Comp
troiler. amounts of S419.-
467.77l. which at l.9 per
cent, the average tax
would amount to 9l09. sS7. Ga
We would also lose the per
cent. of taxes which the
banks pay on their circula-
tion, which amounts to 3220, ,79S, 10
(We would also lose what 1t
would cost Us In keeping
these Treasury notes equal
In value to our present
greenbacks, but as that can
not be known until tested
by actual experiment, |
will not include 1t in my
calcul ulations.
The above figures show our
loss would be SIS $50 POP l3
Now if we deduct the amount
we save as shown above l6, 1903 800, so