Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-16
SPEECH OF HON. JOHN F. HOUSE,
Hn the House of Representatives,
Tuesday, January 29, 1878

!
Tuesday, January 29, 1878
Mr.. Speaker. no people can pas
through a great war without eXpe
riencing as one of its consequence
taxation to an amount and Of char
acter unknown to a condition O
long-continued peace. Articles ac
customed to pass free from the de
mands of the taX-gatherer in peri
od of prosperity and tranquility, are
laid under tribute to meet the deb
and expenses Of an eXhausting war
But in framing system of revenue
in selecting the articles to be taxed
and prescribing the methods of tax
alton, no wise legislator will unnec-
essarily offend the genius or even
the prejudices of a people who are
called upon to meet with their SUBJ
stance the demands of the situation.
Excise or internal-revenue taxes
have followed all the wars of any
magnitude which we have ever had
in this country. But such taxes
have always been unpalatable to the
| people, and the statesmen of the
past who have had to deal with a
public debt, left upon the country as
heritage of war, in framing a sys-
tenn to meet the wants of the coun-
try and to supply the required reve-
nue., have always consulted, as far
as was consistent with the preserva-
tion of national honor and the ma
tional credit, the feelings and inter
ests of the people upon whom the
burdens of taxation were imposed.
They never babe defiance to the Just
and reasonable complaints of the
people and turned loose upon them
an undisciplined and irresponsible
army of revenue officials to rob and
plunder and Cypress them. They
never selected such articles for tax
alton as would create the deepest
and widest dissatisfaction, as if they
wished to insult their feelings while
they laid under tribute the property
of the people.
The law which went into effect in
1871, imposing tax on spirits dis
titled in the United States, possessed
as few distasteful features as posi-
BILE, consistent with the execution of
the law. The tax on spirits distilled
from articles grown in the United
States varied from nine to twenty
five cents per gallon. But nOtwith-
standing the smallness of the tax
and the precautions taken by the
trainers of the law to avoid needless
Offense to popular feeling and to pre-
vent irritating and oppressive acts
on the part of Government officials
charged with the duty of executing
the law, SO repulsive to the people
was the idea of taxing articles man
ufactured from the products of the
soil, that the western counties of
Pennsylvania rose in rebellion
against the enforcement of the law
and with arms in their hands disre-
garded the proclamation of Presi-
dent Washington and defied the
power of the Government. An army
drawn from the different States
marched into the insurrcctionary
district and quelled the disturbance,
but it cost the Government a million
and half dollars to do it.
Subsequent to the act of 1871, inn
posing tax on distilled spirits, other
articles were added on which an in
ternal-revenue tax was imposed,
such as stamp duties on bills of eX-
change, bills of lading, and many
other instruments; and refined sug-
ars, carriages, snuff, were likewise
included in the law. By this Sys-
tenn no restrictions were placed on
the sale Of leaf or manufactured to-
bacco, or on tobacco in any form ex-
cept snuff. During Mr.. Jefferson's
administration, and on his recon-
hn Nryb IyNtO Oeal
enue tax system was repealed.
The war of 1872, again, made it
necessary for the Government to re-
sort to some system of internal-rev-
enue taxes, and President Madison
in his message to the extra session
of Congress in 1913, after stating the
condition of the national finances,
says:
This view eff our finances, while it shows |
that due provision has been made for the |
expenses of the current year, shows at the |
same time by the limited amount of the |
actual revenue and the dependence ON loans, |
the necessity of providing more adequately |
for the supplies of the Treasury. This can |
be done by well-digested system of internal |
revenue in aid of existing sources, which |
will have the effect both of abridging the |
amounts of necessary loans, and on that ac- |
count, as well as by placing the public credit |
on more satisfactory basis, of improving |
the terms on which loans may be obtained. |
In accordance with this recon- |
of President Madison, |
Mr.. Albert Gallatin presented plan
of internal-reVenue taxes which was
adopted by Congress. BY this law
duties were imposed on carriages, |
salt, refined sugar, auction sales,
etc, with stamp duties on bills of
exchange, bank-notes and other
notes. Tobacco, in none ofits forms,
was included in this law. In adopt
ing the "well-digested system of in
ternal revenue" recommended by
President Modison, Congress was
careful to avoid the imposition of a
tax upon the products of the hus-
and, warned by expert
ence, refrained from taxing spirits
distilled from our agricultural pro-
ducts. This law was unpopular and
lasted only about four years, being
in 1917, during the admin
istratiOn of Mr.. Monroe and on his
recommendation. Thus disappeared
from the national statute-bOOk the
last internal revenue law that has
VeXed our people, until our late civil
war HldlS. II nS-CSSStIIy " Ndll tliC
system from its long repOse.
To that feature of our present in
ternal revenue law. bearing upon the
sale of leaf tobacco by retail and of
tobacco / desire to
call attention, and In the name Of
that portion of our agricultural pop
ulatiOn who produce tobacco to en-
ter my protest against the unsound-
ness and injustice of the principle
upon which the law is based, or
rather against the absence of all
from the law. Represent
ing, as l do, a people deeply inter-
ested in this question, / trust that
this Congress will not turn deaf
ear to their reasonable complaints,
and will grant them the relief they
ask, and which think they ought
to have, by the removal of the obi
Gus and unjust shackles which have
been imposed upon their industry
and the production of their fields. i
Every county in my congressional
district produces tobacco, some of
them so largely that it is the main
source to which the farmer looks for
the means with which to pay his
debts and support his family.
No candid and impartial man can
examine the law of which / speak
and saw that the producers of tObac-