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

be SO framed that the producers an
farmers of the country shall not !
: allowed to sell the article in its crud
or leaf state so as to come in compt
titiOn with me-" To this the Gov
ernment agrees, and the man who's
toll and labor and care bring int
existence the product which form
so large an item of our exports t
| foreign countries and contributes s.
greatly to the receipts of our interna
j revenue is debarred the privilege o
selling or eXchanginga a pound of to
bacco among his neighbors, hOweve
/ convenient or necessary it may b.
to him. Such restrictions upon tn,
sale of what grows from a mans
own soil and is produced by the In
Dor of his own hands will always b,
odiOus and distasteful to our people
1t is so utterly antagonistic to the
genius of our people, to all theil
ideas and experience, that they mus
cease to be Americans before they
can cease to abhor and denOunct
such legislation. They will never
cease to agitate the question and
clamor for repeal of the law, lay
ing their grievances and remonstran-
ces before Congress, until they are
permitted to reach the consumer
with the product of their own indus
try free of tax. They will always
regard it as an unjust discrimination
against their interests and an OPP
pressive infraction of their rights.
This discrimination against the
production of the soil from which
come the sinews of war and the arts
of peace, the necesSaries of life and
the wealth of nations, ought to cease.
Surely if any class of the commune
ty should be favored i'm this matter,
it is those whose care, skill and in
dustry have brought into existence
this important article of commerce
and opened up to the Treasury of
the United States this prolific source
of revenue. The farmer who grows
this important commodity should
not be dealt with by the law, as if
for every pound of tobacco he pro-
duces he has committed a crime
which merits commercial ostracism
and general condemnation.
/ can see no good reason why the
producer of tabacco shall not be al
lowed to sell or exchange this COM
modify as he does the other products
of his farm. To allow him to do so
would not be throwing open the
door of competition with the manu-
facturer to any disastrous extent.
What he would thus sell or exchange
would be confined chiefly, if not al
together, to the locality in which it
is produced, and the privilege of sale
being confined alone to the party
who produces the article on his
farm, the area of trade in the COM
modify would be circumscribed
within narrow limits. Thus, If A
grows tobacco on his farm and is al
lowed to sell it to B or exchange it
with B for some other commodity,
the sale or exchange of the article
stops with this simple transaction
between A and b, for b not being a
producer, not having grown the ar
ticle on his own farm, would not be
allowed to sell it to G or to exchange
it with G for any other commodity.
So l believe the producer could thus
be allowed to reach the consumer
free of tax without any great detri-
ment to the manufacturer or to the
revenues of the Government, and
hence, at an early day of the extra
session of Congress, / introduced
bill to strike the shackles entirely
from the agricultural portion of the
community in respect to the retail
trade in leaf tobacco.
l believe the damage that would
result to the manufacturer and to
the revenue by total repeal Of the
restrictions under consideration is
very greatly exaggerated and be-
sides such repeal would allay great
deal of dissatisfaction and quiet
many just complaints. The petty
and expressions to
which our people have been sub
iected would if written fill volumes.
The law has always been odious and
necessarily so because its operations
have been among a people born free
and wholly unaccustomed to be
treated as serfs or suspected felOns,
They have been dOgged and set upon
by pack Of deputy marshals and
detectives unkenneled and put on
their track to hunt them down. In
many instances as good, law-abiding
citizens as live in the world have
been seized and dragged hundreds
Of miles on charges either wholly |
false and founded upon the most dis
reputable testimony or which, If |
the color of truth, were |
Of a character trivial and contempt |
ible to the last degree. Often these |
irresponsible and INSCRIPTIONS de-
tectiVes have sneaked unknown into |
4 community where the epeople were |
not even aware of the provisions Of |
the law and induced men to sell |
them small quantities of tobacco |
that they might have warrants is
sued against them and levy large |
sums Ofblackmail upon them as the |
price of their ransom from the pen |
llties of the law. Corps of inform |
lntS and detectives have been organ |
.zed by revenue officers and paid a |
certain percentage of the spoils thus |
from citizens who, rather ]
han dance attendance upon a Fed (
eral court many miles distant from 1
heir homes, were willing to buy 4
heir freedom from the clutches Of
he scOundrels by paying whatever |
was demanded of them, which, as a /
general thing, was measured by 4
what these human vultures thought /
heir victims were able to pay. Un-
Ter such circumstances il Is not /
strange that the victims of such theft
md oppression should have no very
warm affection for the law and re-
gard it as more honOred in the breach
han in the observance.
There is no law on our statute
book which is more justly abhOrred
)y the people, who have been com
Delled to taste the bitter fruits of its
unjust exactions and oppressive adj
But it has become 1
nowadays to pay any /
to the people or their COM
plants. What right have they |
10 complain Of unjust legislation or
20 do anything more than quietly /
)bey the law and thank the masters |
hat it is no worse? Contempt for |
popular feeling and the wishes of /
he masses of the people is n most 4
striking and lamentable character
site of the times. Many seem to
.hink that the people have no rights
which their rulers are bound to re-
;pect. The thought of removing
restrictions and unnec-
sssary and irritating provisions Of
aw never seems to enter the heads