Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1882-01-20
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PORT TOBACCO:
Friday Morning, January 20, 1882.
Tobacco Inspections.

1t was never intended that the system
of tobacco inspection should be charge
upon the State treasury, neither was it
any part of the purpose of those who or
iginated the present system that the State
should derive any revenue from this
source. The same principles of public
justice that render it improper that the
inspection ofthis product, which is grown
in only a small portion ofthe State. should
be charge upon the people of the whole
State, operate alsoto preclude the State
from deriving any revenue from this
source. In addition to this, the State is
prohibited by the Constitution of the
United States from deriving any revenue
from her inspection laws.
The following extract from the report
Of the Committee of Ways and Means, Of
the House of Delegates, made to the House
by Gen. John G.. Chapman, ofthis county,
the chairman of the committee, in the year
1897, (the first session after the purchase
of the warehouses; furnishes satisfactory
evindence of the intention of those who
originated the system. In its report to
the House OF Delegates, made February Is,
1897, the committee spoke upon the tobac-
co inspection question as follows:
THE purchase of the tobacco inspection
warehouses is a heavy charge, and bears
Immediately upon those who grow the
article. As soon as the amount of revenue
derived from this source shall. he sufficient
to extinguish the debt contracted by the
purchase of those houses, we think the
tax should be repealed, leaving sufficient
sum to be paid in the form of outage to
defray the Incidental expenses of inspec-
ton.
1.-THE committee use no argument in
support of the position that the State can
not of right impose tx, tor the benefit
of all, which will be partial in its opera
ton. The tax upon tobacco is of this ma
ture. It might likewise be untime'y to
urge constitutional objections to tax
upon exports, to greater amount than
is sufficient to defray the expenses of in
spection. These questions might be out OF
the reach of inquiries at this time, but scill
hereafter arise, shen the State shall haue paid
for her warehouses from the aUails Of her an
spection lacs and zee doubt not that the pro-
priety Of modelling the inspection la,cs to make
the proceeds only sufficient to deray the
.sspsssss, aoiN readily suggest itself to some
future legislature"
The better opinion is that the State has
now been very nearly, if not fully, repaid
the expenditure for the purchase of the
warehouses. Although by the report OF
the Comptroller, made to the Legislature
in 1875, it appeared that the Tobacco Fund
was, at that time, ostensibly still indebted
to the State to the amount of SCI, 1884
yet when we take into consideration the
receipts from the wharves which constitute
part of the warehouse property, which
have been since 1858, through neglect,
diverted from the Tobacco Fund and paid
directly into the State treasury, it is
thought that the indebtedness is almost,
if not quite, cancelled,
The time for the remodeling spoken OF
by the committee of 1927, has, therefore,
now arrived, and it viii devolve upon the
present Legislature to take the proper steps
to make the inspection system strictly
selfsupporting, and to see that only such
amount is levied upon the tobacco in
spected as is absolutely necessary for the
economical conduct of the system. Eff
cient measures should also be adopted to
remove every reasonable doubt az to the
reliability of the State inspections. The
certificate of the sovereign State of Mary
land ought to be the highest possible guar
antee to the commercial world that the
commodities bearing her brands have heen
honestly placed upon the market.
The Legislature should thoroughly ex-
anime into the numerous complaints that
have of late reached us from abroad, ascer-
tain to what extent they are well grounded
and bona tide, and adopt prompt measures
to remove the causes that lead to them.
The inspectors should be required to exer-
else greater vigilance in detecting the
false modes packing sometimes resori ed
to, and stringent measures should be
adopted to prevent all tampering with the
samples after they are drawn.
We reprint to-day synopsis giving
the principal points of the bill to reg
ulate inspections of tobacco, intro
duced into the last Legislature by Mr..
Roberts, of Prince Georges. The
chief feature of this bill was that it
provided for the letting out of the
warehouses to private lessees, and in
vested these lessees with the right of
appointing all subordinate employers
in the warehouses, leaving only the
inspectors to be appointed by the
State. This bill avoids the objection
that sthe State ought not to be ware
houseman," and will do much to take
the system out of political influences
and promote its economy; while at
the same time, retaining the essential
features of the system. It also gives
liberty to planters to sell their to-
bacco anywhere outside of the State
without inspection. In our judge
ment the compulsory feature of the
State inspection system should not be
any further interfered with at present.
We observe that Mr.. Mudd, of this
county, has introduced in the Legis-
lature two bills on the subject-the