Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-08-21

believe that the south either does or can
regard the national debt as the north re-
CARDS it? To the south the debt is per
petual AppomattOX; a golden monument
OF It's crushing defeat; a cap of Gessler
to which it is compelled to pay daily
homage. 1t is not in human nature to
love the hand that smites, even when one
sees that the blow was deserved-which
the south does not admit and can never
see. The national credit was the sprin G
OF all the southern woes. 1t armed our
soldiers and disarmed theirs; it pension
ed our soldiers and disgraced theirs Will
the south respect it? The federal const1-
tuition alone cannot protect it; for no
constitutional guarantee can prevent re.
pudiation by indirect methods,
Again, the national debt, although pro-
tected by the Hgis of the constitution,
may be repudiated by national bankrupt
cy. The democracy have shown, by their
ongressional action, that they are eager
to travel on that broad road leading to
national destruction. With every pru-
Dental motive for conceallng and post
poning their plans Of assault on the ma
hOnal treasury, during the present session
OF congress, the measures already intro
duced involve the. expenditure of nearly
these things are done in the green tree,
what shall be done in the dry? If, with
the lion of republican senate in their
pathway, they venture on such wild ex-
penditures, what would they not dare to
attempt with democratic congress and
a democratic executive? They are blind
to all the teachings of history who i'm
agine that the men who did not stop be-
fore civil war would falter before national
bankruptcy. The south believes that it
has nothing to lose by the most desperate
financial raids on the national treasury.
During the last congress the southern
claims actually placed on the records ex-
ceeded in amount the entire national
debt! Under Mr.. Riddles bill, presented
in 1876, the new claims therein recognized
would have nearly equaled it in amount.
That bill provided that reasonable COM
pensation" should be paid to "dW citizens
of the United States for the use or occu-
patton of Their property by the United
States army, or any part thereof, during
the late civil war" This bill would have
enabled every rebel in the southern states
/ to present a claim for every tree felled,
every fence burned every house destroy
ed, every potato eaten, every bushel of
corn used during the four years of war !!
1t opened wide the gates for robbery, and
perjury, and fraud, to enter, by enacting
that the only evidence required for estab-
fishing claim should be "the affidavit
Of the claimant, supported by the compe-
tent testimony of any reputable citizen -
1t is entirely probable, therefore, that
the national debt would at least be trebled
under a democratic administration. The
north, as the wealthy section, would be
called to bear this Himalayan debt. 1t
could not do it. The nation would be
bankrupt -af ... sa~
What has labor to expect if the south
ern democracy should triumph? Does
any working-man expect justice or relief
from the rule Of politicians whose ira
ditional creed was that capital should
not control the service only, but own the
bodies of the laborer? Throughout the
southern states, for ten generations, labor
was held to be degrading. No laborer,
white or black, was esteemed worthy of
honor. Work was not worship, but dis
grace. In southern political articles Of
faith it was declared that the black la
borer was a "chattel," and the white
labOrer "mud-sill."
/ And they '1ived up to' their creed
Taxation was levied with a merciless
rigor on labor, while capital was permit
! ted to dictate its own terms. One exam
ple will suffice to establish this fact |
select the state that gave the confederacy
its president By the laws Of Mississip
pi, before the war, and during President
Johnson's provisional government-be-
fore negro voted, or the republican par
ty existed there-the taxation on land
was limited to ten cents on one hundred
dollars of valuation. The owner was
constituted the sole judge of its value
What was the result? In Hancock coun.
ty, for example, according to democratic
testimony, mot one-half of the taxable
lands were assessed at all, and the assess.
ed portion was generally rated at five
cents an acre ~ In thousands of in
stances the assessment was only one dol
4 lar an acre. In other words, cultivated
lplantation of a thousand rich acres paid
j only one dollar in taxes! Three illustra-
tons will show how this iniquitous
Ischeme actually worked - rJss.
Colonel Benson Blake and wife owns $500
acres of the best cotton lands in the state, incud
ing a magnificent house, and the finest improve
ments, in the county of Warren Tax 500. rs
Colonel Joseph E. Davis owned 3793 acres of rich
+" bottom-lands' on the Mississippi river, includ-
ing the famous Hurricane plantation. Tax, $141-
ID! This estate sold for $4,000 The heirs OF
General John A. Quitman owned 6S10 acres OF
the same rich bottom lands, handsomely i'm
proved. -. IL 1ncludeQ q plantation which was
rented for $4,000 per annum. 1t was taxed S134 )
64! Thus, these three splendid plantations, EN-
bracing 1900 acres OF the best land in America,
worth at the lowest estimate twenty dollars an
acre. paid into the state treasury only $439 Sc in
taxes. Thus the lords of the lash were favored
How did the working-men fare? By an act OF the
democratic legislature of Mississippi, in 1865, it
was provided that all blacksmiths, bakers, butch
ers, brick-lnakers, carriage makers, carpenters,
dealers in timber, lumber or shingles, gas compa-
MES contractors of bridges, printers, gunsmths,
| saWmillers, shoemakers, tailors, tanners, watch
I makers painters, milliners, and others, shall pay
Twenty-Five cents on every hundred dollars worth
of gross receipts-not Of capital or profit, but CT
! gross receipts of earnings; while innkeepers,
apothecaries, and others, besides their licenses,
shall pay one dollar on every 500 Of gross re-
ceipts. Under this law, in V1cksburg, d livery
stable keeper, in license, and one dollar On every
hundred dollars of gross receipts. paid a tax OF
$671 .03 firm Of apothecares, $500 S5 a butcher
S243 .70 firm of bricklayers, on their own work,
/ $o7 rs; a shoemaker S752S; a clerk in hardware
store, with no property except salary Of 81 200 a
year, 1913; barber, with 10 assets except his
soap, shears and razor, S1O7 49, q colored dray-
man, for his dray and two mules $33 50; soda
| fountain man, $115. So. r. .fFs.5f