New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1878-10-19

which stand SIS the bases Of the banks,
which yield this large tsxation, are not
themselves taxable, and that if you can
remand them to their owners and take
from them the franchises Of the bank,
you would necessarily, in this city and
everywhere else, lose that amount Of tax
alton. And that brings me to observe
another point of this discussion. For the
last fifteen years in this country there has
been large amount of sgitation at diff
terent times, still going on with more in
tensity than ever, in regard to the bonds
of the United States not being taxed.
They say that every species of property
should pay its full and fair taxation; that
If pay on my house and you on your
farm and another man on his merchandise,
that the bondholder ought TO pay taxes
on his bonds. Well, that is q strong pro-
position, and / am not disposed to object
it. ! think so too. / think United
States bonds ought not to escape taxation.
Applause But I go a little further.
say they not escape taxation. Laugh
ter and applause go just a little grain
further. l say they pay fuller and
larger share of taxtion than any other
form Of property in the United States, the
national bank stock alone excepted. That
Is pretty stiff proposition, probably
some Of you think. But / repeat that,
with the exception of the stock of any
national bank, the bonds of the United
States pay fuller and heavier amount of
taxation than any other form of property
in this country, and they pay it in adj
vance, too. Now, let us argue that little
bit. see two gentlemen out there who
look to me as though they had about ten
thousand dollars they wanted to invest.
Laughter
One of them is conservative gentle
man, and he thinks that he will put it in
United States bonds. And he puts on his
glasses tomorrow morning and looks
over the price list of the stock market to
see which class of the bonds he will take
Well, will save him some trouble on that,
for If he will step into any brokers' Office
on State street they will tell him, think,
that however he may invest in United
States bonds, he can not possibly get
more than four per cent. on his money.
The four per cents he can get at par. If
he takes any of the skies or tives or fours
and half that are out, that are not yet
funded with lower bonds, be will pay inst
enough premium to make his interest four
per cent, and it is calculated to the nine
5AhOO Va u udlEs A4huRlb6Is
So he can save himself all trouble when
he comes to invest, and he had better put
his money in straight tours. But my other
friend, there, he does not look quite SO
conservative, and would not be content
with four per cent, and looking over the
price list he thinks he will take Chicago
sevens. Big city, great wealth, large
amount of bonds in Boston, most all of
them here [Laughter1 He thinks he
will take Chicago city sevens. Well, the
gentlemen who puts his ten thousand
dollars in United States tours gets only
four hundred dollars year, and the other
gentleman is quite justified, in the gener-
al view, in trying to get seven per cent.
and so he takes his ten thousand dollars
in Chicago city sevens. Now, of course,
in the city of Boston, where everything is
done just according to the square, laugh
teri where sin has not entered and guile
is unknown [laugbterl of course, in this
city of Boston, the gentleman who took
the ten thousand dollars of Chicago city
sevens will go the very next day to the
assessors of the city of Boston and tell
them he has got them Laughter. You
all do that way. You would not think
OF buying q city bond, or any security
whatever, without Immediately advising
the assessors that you had got them, and
ask them to tax them. Laughter. Well,
honest as we are down in Maine, we do
not always do that. My judgment is, we
don't get great deal of that sort of thing
taxed by your assessors even. 1t is kind
of property that is very hard to get hold
of, generally kept In little tin trunk
with patent lock, and it is so easy to
place it in by-way place 1t is in your
wife's bureau drawer, and it is the prop
erty of your brother that lives in Colo
RADIO [laughter]; or your son left it with
you when he went to California, or it is
the property of your widowed sister in
Europe. The truth is, that the vast mass
of that kind OF property escapes taxation,
and am afraid that the gentleman who
buys that ten thousand dollars of Chicago
city sevens would not go right away to
the city assessors to Boston, but he would
quietly tuck it it away and get seven
hundred dollars for his ten thousand dol
lars annually. Now, to place him exactly
the same as ih9 govern ment bond man,
he should pay three hundred dollars taxes
Which of these two men do you think has
really paid his tax, the man who took the
ten thousand dollars of government fours,
agreeing to take only four per cent, be-
canse taxation had been taken out in ad-
vance and the rate made low by reason of
that fact, or the man who takes the seven
per cents, and runs for luck as to whether
the assessors will find him out or not
[Applause.]
But suppose you could tax the govern
ment bond. Suppose, for example, that
government tomorrow by proclamation
would say that its bonds were taxable, do
you suppose there would be long process
sion in Boston with little bank trunks
under their arms going to the assessors
Office and presenting them for taxation |?
This whole idea OF taxing government
bonds proceeds upon the absolutely wrong
assumption that if you had the power Of
taxing them you would do it. Why don't
you tax the man WIN the Chicago city
sevens2 Why don't you tax all bonds
whose INTEREST," paid by coupons In the
State of Maine we have debt of seven and
half millions. Three millions of these
bonds are quite well known to be held in
the State, yet there never has a hundred
thousand of them turned up for taxes yet.
Now, the government of the United States,
If it would make its bonds taxable, of
course, it would have to pay six per cent
on them, and all you would realize would
be that the people of the United States
would have to raise. two per cent more,
that is, one-half more than they now have
to raise by taxation. 1t is only yesterday,