The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-15
HON. 7. ]. sEMMEg PLAN OF RELIEF.

gerOus doctrine advanced by Mr.. Semmes,
utterly antagonistlc TO our theory Of govern
ment, that the State may be pursued In the
Federal courts like an ordinary creditor and
It's sovereignty stricken down by a judicial de-
cision. That Mr. Semmes will be elected to
the convention we have no doubt, since he
has no opposition; but when he there enun-
ciates this proposition, we trust there will be
few to join and multitude to condemn him.
We propose just now to discuss the distin-
guished candidates peculiar plan Of at once
exacting the FIVE and a half mills interest
tax and relieving the people of the burthens
Of the debt and excessive taxation. Very
frankly and unreservedly, he declares that he
Is In favor OF maintaining this interest tax as
fixed by the funding aot Of 1874; but, says
Mr.. Semmes:
hold that our contract with the bondholders
Il fulfilled by the imposition Of the five and 0
half mills interest tax they cannot require. and
have no right 70 demand. any other provsio
for the payment OF the principal or Interest OF
their bonds.
If. therefore. the Ave and half mills inter
g. tax Injuries the prosperity Of ibe state; rea
revenues will be derived from the interest tax.
and The bonds will necessarily be reduced In
value
There are many able iurIsts who entirely
disagree with Mr.. Semmes as TO the law on
which he holds that the five and half
mills tax is contract, but we believe there
are few men who will disagree as to the tone
and quality of the craftsmanship of the
methods by which he would tighten the bur
then of that tax. A statesman, or even q wise
| and practical legislator, 1t seems TO us, would
| never think OF relieving the people OF an
| oppressive tax by keeping up the tax rate
and forcing down or depreciating the value Of
property. That Is the subterfuge Of the prop
erty holder who, ieeced and robbed
for years by proiilgate government,
undertakes the value of his possessions
and finds some poor relief In false
assessments. This has been the policy Of re-
lief to which the people OF many OF the par
ishes have resorted, and to which those OF
this city will resort very soon. MIR. Semmee
has not, therefore, discovered or proposed an
original or novel scheme OF relief for the
people. Warmoth and, Kellogg forced the
people Of Louisiana to adopt just the same
plan he suggests eight years ago, and they
are pursuing 1t with all the vigor they can
command. Under It's operations the value OF
the property OF the State has declined more
than one hundred millions Of dollars and thio
year will decline fully twenty millions more;
the State has defaulted on the interest on the
debt; Its bonds arc not worth fifty cents on
the dollar; the treasury is empty; the public
employees are unpaid and the constitutional
officers, led by a portion OF the judiciary. are
making an unseemy effort to clutch every
dollar the sweating tax gatherers wiring from
the unwilling taxpayers. In short, the State
has tried tie poor dodge Mr.. Semmes pro-
poses as a great policy Of relief In the fu-
ture, and the result Is, that the State is scan-
dallzed from one end Of the Union to tine
other.
Mr.. Semmes now proposes that we shall
go on with this ruinous policy. And to
what end and for whose relief He Is cam
dictate for the convention from ward In
which there are large number of poor men
and small property-holders To these, who
suffer most from the burthen OF taxation, Mr..
Semmes' plan aocords no relief 1t may afford
some relief to the wealthy property-holde
with fine houses and wide estates. These
may and will assess their property, when
overtaxed to pay fraudulent debts and ex-
travagant salaries at many thousands OF
dollars less than Its real value. But
the poor man, or widow, or orphan, who
owns an humble home or other property worth
a thousand dollars, or two, or five thou
sand dollars, has not the same influence as
the rich man, nor the same means Of decep-
ton, and, too often, not the necessary
shrewdness or intelligence for pro-
tecting himself or herself against the
mercless exactions of the State. The
small properties are almost invariably
assessed at their full value-very often they
are over-assessed. Hence, under Mr. Semmes
plan Of settling the debt, the owner of prince
ly properties pays really but two or three
mills interest tax on the actual value of his
estate, while the poor man, the poor widow,
and the orphan pays the full five and hall
mills on the full value OF their little posses
sions. In other words, Mr.. Semmes, contem-
plating with holy horror any scaling of the
debt or reduction of the rate OF interest 1t
bears, proposes scheme to maintain the
cruel letter Of the law and relieve the rich tax
payer at the expense of the poor man.
| And, after all, will the credit of the State be
maintained; will confidence be restored by
! this trinity Of wrong? BY no means. The
credit OF the State has been gradu-
ally declining under Its operations. In
deed, Mr. Semmes does not seem to be
| solicitous about the credit Of the State. He
| Is only eager to maintain the technicality 81
| the law. He tells us that IL we reduce the
assessment the five and half mills will not
nav the interest on the bonds, and the bonds
will decline in value and the bondholders will
have to grin and bear it. 1t required no great
profundity Of brain to discover this fact
The assessments have already gone down
many millions; the five and half mills have
not paid the interest by something over $780,.
OOO and the bonds have declined greatly in
value. Indeed, Mr.. Semmes proposes simply
to continue slow and exceedingly pernicious
system of reputation, during the throes
of which all our property and industrial In
terests must be depressed, thepoor overtaxed
and the credit OF the State kept at discount
and the bonds used as gambling capital. Car