, 1879-05-03

sfstem. as app!ed 10 existing mOrtgae
! credits, will impair contracts, and vii
therefore, be unconstitutional and void; and, a
applied to new mortgage credits, will be il
operative Tor Increasing the revenue Or in pr
ducing results other than the unnecessay
trouble and expense involved in making tn
assessments and collections instead Of one.
will give no relief to the landowner, but rathe
| burden him additionally, through the higAe
rate OF interest he will have to pay to insure th
mortgagee against the uncertainty of til
rate of taxation from time to time
unless the rate Of interest is adjusted annuall
with the lcndcr after the rate of taxation ba
been annually established. In fact, the pro
posed system OF. taxing mortgages under til,
new Constitution is
cUMBERsoMR AND NOHsENs1CAIr 5:
and seems to be based solely on the pr!uciDl.
which proj3pts the puppy to chase, worry, auG
bite Ills own tall. 1t IS taxation oi mortgages
only in name and not in substance.
The constitutional provision which makes void
any obligation on the part of the debtor to nav
auE tax imposed on mortgage credit in name Is
also nothing but child's play. The debtor is left
at liberty to agree to pay an additional rate oil
interest," or additional amount Of principal; and
the provision in question, therefore, simply
amounts to a prohibition of names, and not
things, or the substance.
Again, while the taxution article of the Com
stitution regards mortgage credit not as prooer-
ty, but as representative OF property, it at the
same time treats credit unsecured by mort
gage not as representative OF property, but as
absolute property,-aat property,-and permits
no reduction of valuation OF the debtors visible.
tangible property On account Of any debt which
he may owe. This discrimination is inconsisteutlg
inharn onlous and Illogical. Property is the
embodiment Of labor, and cannot be made bv
constitutional definition. 4 credit is an incident
OF business or: property, Is produced By the
transfer OF right, and therefore may be increased
to any nominal amount without any appreciablc
labor. l. credit cannot be treated in anv
economic sense as property, for It Is always bal
anced or extinguished in any general estimate
Of values by an equal and corresponding
debt. 1t is created by the transfer Of property
or right, aud Is liquidated by transfer OF some
equiva1eu. property Or right back to the credit
Or. The creation OF credits does not operate
as the creation OF property, nor does their
liquidation extinguish any property. If an i'm
mediete payment for goods bought will not
create or produce any new property 1t certainly
is difficult to perceive how deferred payment for
the same class of goods bought In the same
open market, will have the magical effect of
PRODUCING OR CREATING PROPERTY.
Now, under the systcm proposed in the new
Constitution, he who buys for cash vii! Day only
on one valuation Of his property; but his imme- !
diate competitors, whose limited capital COM
pela them to make deferred payments, will be |
obliged to pay an additional, odious, aud dis |
eliminating tax in the increased prices of their |
goods. Merchants and others will not
ecH goods or commodities for taxed credits t
at the same price as they will sell them for un-
taxed credits; nor will money be loaned ut the |
same:lo rate OF interest on taxed obligations
rs upon untaxed obligations. Such system as J
this Constitution proposes, therefore, in effect,
1eprtVesa man Of limited capital Of equal pro-
OF the laws, and gives to the capitalist
); 7Ho Is " tic ladder an exemption from a hur-
ien which ia refused to his immediate compcti-
or who stands on the lower rounds.
line constitutional Convention can act the part |
u le3'co.rapher or def1ner. whether accurate
'r not III Its definitions, but 1t has no onnipo- |
md without the application Of labor. Your
convention seems to have been managed by a
'ana OF magcians, who have i great contempt
or LABOR or embodied labor, but great conf
lence IN their magical powers. 1t did
!ot stop at making unsecured credits
as property, but goes further, and proposes
Numerous cases to make legal, equitable,
easehold and other titles hocus-pocus property,
uo1ect to taxation. This is
BRILLIANT CONCEPTION s. |
save the necessity Of labor in producing prop .
rlf' II It could be realized; but oil titles are
Ut Incidents OF property, aud are never in
ocyance, and always inhere In the property,
III arc fully taxed when the property they rep ,
sent IS taxed. It Is, furthermore, impracticabe
r the State to go INTO legal Investigation :
tne abstract question. IN which the State has :
interest, OF fne nature. extcntt and duration :
every PERSONS title and interest In property. :
Inc taxation article Of yonr Constitution :
axes AL property" subject to taxation; and .
zen, in addition, defines and includes as prop !,
- 'aii stocks, dues or other matters or - -
iugs, capable OF private ownership" ~rhe =
:rporatloE, under this rule, must par tax on =
Its property, franchises ami dues, and :
ep the stockholders must agatn pay on. {
e e salab]e .valuc Of. their stock. This :.
u impose discriminating and multiplied tax =
ion On corporate capital, as compared with q
te oisineorporate1 capital employees in the
nc Kind ol business. Erery title which is | q,
pabIe OF being transferred BY delivery or as il
'nmeats Is capable of prtva:s oRnership 1t pI