The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-09-22

/ S6tl IL as you alI0" VIC IeaA IL "
; wheat, corn, beef and pork anywhere
} everywhere, and TO whomsoeyer h'
t can, and place all your tax on th'
manufactured article alone in The
manufacturers hands What weulc
, be the result? Is it not clear yor
will have accomplished all you pro
pose 70 do by The existing law? And
is it not equally clear you will have
by the same act restored competition
and crushed out monopoly and re-
leased the planter from the clutches
of capital and increased the reward
of his labor, and all this without di'
miuishing the revenue by enc dollar
But, sir, / would not have you or
the country to infer that the grow
er5 of tobacco are desirOus of escap-
ing their duty TO the Government
because they seek the modification
of the partial and unjust features of
the internal revenue laws. On the
contrary, they fully recognize and
are perfectly willing to pay their just
| proportion of the national debt. They
would scern to shirk their proper
share Of the burdens Of the Goyorn-
I'ment. But they appeal to Congress
in the name of justice aad right to
hdisburden their labor of inequitable
and ruinous taxation because they
fail to discover any sound argument
of law or reason or policy TO Justify
discrimination so repugnant to
right, so hostile to the rit as well
as the very let.er of our fundament,
al law, and so disasterous to their
interests.
One other matter germane to the
subject in hand | desire to present
while on the floor to the eonsidera-
sion of Congress. In some sections
Of the country people once in easy
circumstances are so reduced that
| luxuries common even to the very
poor have been long since banished
| from their home. Yet these people
are the owners Of money in the shape
Of property rotting before their
eyes. True their property might
procure for them necessary comforts
but for the law of fine and imprison-
ment forbidding them the use OF
their own property. Under such
bloody restrictions property ceases
to be property. Certainly it is not
their property. They own orchards
| loaded with fruit, but their apples
must turn to dust unused. They
cannet sell them in the market, be-
cause they live far away from the
railroad, embosomed in the rugged
mountains. The cost Of marketing
would be more than the apples wonld
bring. Why not make them into
brandy? The revenue law intervenes
"a bond is required-for a poorman
an Impossible bond-with solvent
securities, and besides revenue tax
Of ninety cents on the gallon. That
bond and that revenue tax finish the
job. It is impossible TO hjm; and 30
his fruit yields him nothing but Vex-
alton and deeper poverty. His store
debt drives the cow from his chill
dren, and the sheriff leyies on his
land for taxes he expected the bran
dy to pay. But the bond 4! What is
it for anyhow? Simply to secure the
/ Government against loss in case the
poor fellow should steal few of his
own apples Now, suppose he could
give the bond, what will he profit in
the end? Nothing, for notoriously
the tax swallows up all the profits,
the mammoth distilleries excepted,
which turn out whole creeks and riv.
ers of whisky and brandy.
Alas what floods Of temptation
are let loose upon poor frail humani
ty by this legislation for rings and
monster monopolies Contemplate
the unhappy victim of moonshining
AWAY out among the laurel and the
ivv, in some obscure mountain gorge
shrouded in deepest shadows, he
tolls at his crooked art. His right
TO his land and his orchard has nev.
er been questioned. The fruit he
thinks is his own, aud on this be
lief he acts. The proceeds of tha'
orchard have supplied the comforts
of life to his wife and children fol
many a year. The memories Of pas
enioyments tempt him with resist
less arguments, and he yields, for
bond is impossible and the ta2
would leave no pay for. his fruit o.
labor. He is simply deyoting wha
, he always believed to be his owl
property to his own use. Unfor
: tupate man The hired minions Q
, the revenue have spotted him. Thei
despicable subsidized decoys and dc
{ tectiye pformers, like the blood
D hound, are on his track. Like Judas
D they sell their victims and the
: souls for money; and, like Judat
: betray them with kiss. He is a
q rnstndl He ia hnrried a.mau frnl