The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-07-04
A Good Speech in Congress by Hon. d.
Wyatt Aiken.

A Good Speech in Congress by Hon. d.
Wyatt Aiken
Mr.. SPEAKER: Since the House has
had the internal revenue bill under con-
sideration more than one member has
intiniated in his remarks that there were
sections of the Union in which the peo-
pile seemed to consider these revenue laws
so inimical to their interests, that they
assumed it privilege, if not a duty, to
resist their enforcement. Of course
these insinuations were so many indirect
assertions that there still fingered dis
loyal sentiment among the States of the
South, which pervaded the popular
masses.
Sir, no impression could be more erro-
neous. Perhaps the constituency of no
member upon this floor has been more
frequently accused, yes, and punished,
too, for infractions of these laws than
those whom l have the honor to repre-.
sent, and yet assert boldly that no sec:
ton of the country is populated by a
more law.abiding loyal constituency than
my own district
But, sir, they are loyal to the govern
ment-both State and national-and not
to the Republican party or those hire
lings who obey the behests of its minions.
/ am satisfied that if the administration
could see those creatures who execute the
revenue laws in South Carolina as we see
them, they would repudiate them at first
sight. They are not worthy Of affiliation
even with the Republican party. Who
they are or where they came from few
men seem to know or care. Suffice to
say they are men of no character and
destitute of every instinct of an honest
heart. And yet such men are invariably
chosen by the appointees of the President
to execute these nefarious laws among a
people upon whom they have been colo
nized. Remote from the appointing
power and amenable to men higher in
authority but of little more character
than themselves, at least in. the letter,
they throw aside every legal restraint
and become law unto themselves, often
times assaulting, robbing and numbering
their oppressed victims with impunity.
Gentlemen say there is no necessity for
the resolution offered by the member from
Maine, Mr.. Powers, because it simply
reasserts what is the law. If what the
resolution proposes is existing law, It is
not that law which is executed by the
subalterns of the Revenue Department.
Only two days ago 1 received the follow
ing letter from farmer friend of char
acter and integrity in South Carolina:
"Mr. Brayton, the collector of internal
revenue for this State, has recently deci-
ded that it was a violation of the revenue
laws for planters to keep tobacco for their
hands, selling it to them without profit,
to be paid for in the fall out of their
share of the crops. As this is very i'm
portant matter to planters and their en-
ployees, I thought it best to write you
upon the subject"
This is the second time such report
has come from South Carolina to me, and
when first made inquiry about it / was
told that the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue has ruled that a farmer who
buys box of tobacco upon which the
tax has been paid can without violating
law sell it to his employees. Ihave seen
a ruling to this effect in manuscript from
the Treasury Department; but, sir, I
would ask what is this official ruling
worth if those to whom it is issued can
and do violate it almost every day with
When I read the letter of the law I am
somewhat inclined to forgive these Off
cials for their abuse of authority, for
there is an ambiguity about it that should
not be allowed to exist. There should be
no law upon our statute books which con-
Germs the general public in their daily
avocations that has sufficient lack of
clearness about it to prevent proper
construction by the humblest citizen. !
hold in my hand g pamphlet procured
from the Treasury Department entitled
Revised Regulations, concerning taxes
on tobacco, snuff, and cigars, and on a
page I dnd this paragraph:
Farmers aud planters for selling TO-
bacco of their own production, or tobacco
received by them as rent from tenants
who have produced the same on their
lands, are not required to pay special tax
as dealers in leaf tobacco
And yet, sir, the very next paragraph
says:
shall sell directly to consumers, he be-
comes liable, as a retail dealer in leaf
to the special tax of $780,"
And it is upon the construction of this
latter clause that these devils in human
form presume to impose upon the ingen-
nous farmer, who, remote from any man.
establishment, frequently de-
pends upon the leaf tobacco grown upon
his own land as commodity with which
to supply the wants of his employees.
Sir, if the law exists to-day allowing
farmers and planters to sell to their en-
ployees manufactured tobacco which they
had purchased, and upon which the tax
had been paid, or leaf tobacco of their
own raising, why does not the Commis-
sioner so Instruct his collectors? 1t is
evident from the letter I have read he
has not so instructed the collector in
South Carolina, and he may construe
here in Washington till doomsday with
out exacting obedience from them unless
he issues his orders directly to them,
which he does not do, but awaits for the
individual aggrieved citizen to appeal for
q construction, and oftentimes red-tapeism
prevents his complaints ever being heard.
Mr.. Speaker, our revenue laws may be
all that this Congress desires them to be-
but unless they can be more honestly adj
ministered and humanely executed, they,
will be a source of trouble for all time to
come. I have characterized the men
who execute them in my district as out
laws. Sir, they are worse; they are a
band of thieves and murderers.
The editorial fraternity of South Car
olina are body of as honest, intelligent,
truth-loving citizens as can be found in
the United States. Latterly, scarcely a
paper received from that State but that