Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
fiji ont showing how much stuff he has

fill out, showing how much stuff he has
raised during the year, that there may
be a tax put upon that. Then another
tax is levied upon the profits he has
made, the Government determining the
amount.
Take, for instance, the cafe in which
you take your coffee in the morning.
The proprietor, after paying his rent,
half of which goes to the Governments,
has to pay 100 tlorins a year for tho
privilege. He pays for the water, of
course, to the water company, but the
Government, in addition, makes him
pay 100 tlorins q year, for the privilege Of
taking it. His guests play cards in the
evening, and he pays forty cents taxupon
each pack of cards, the first cost of
which may be possibly ten cents. Hhehas
billiard tables, he pays six dollars a year
on each one; this, understand, after the
manufacturer has paid an enormous tax
on everything about it from the leather
tin on the cues to the bed of the table
itself.
He pays a separate tax for the privi-
lege of selling coffee, bread and beer,
and on every department of his bust
ness. Therefore, in a hotel the business
is all divided up. Unless it is a very
large establishment with a very large
trade no one man could afford to pay
for all the privileges. Therefore in one
room coffee. and bread. and eggs are to
be had, and in another regular dinners
with beer and wine. If you go into the
cafe and want beer, a waiter goes to
another room and brings it to you,
| charging you a few kreutzers addi-
tional, and if in the other you want
coffee it is brought from the cafe.
These taxes or privileges vary in pro-
portion to the size of the place. There
the proprietor has to pay on the gross
amount of business done and the profits
accruing.
A tanner pays for a business privilege
to begin with, then for the bark brought
in, for the hides bought, for each man
working, for the leather when it is fin
ishcd, for the privilege of selling it, and
so on. The shoemaker goes through
the same process, all the way from buy
ing his leather till he gets a shoe out of
his shop. l am not quite sure, but it is
reasonable to suppose, that there is a
tax upon picking up a worn-out boot.
The street peddler has to have a Ii
cense, for which he pays, and so does
the man who stands in the cold to run
your errands. There is nothing that is
not taxed, and taxed numerically.
The Government holds q monopoly OF
the tobacco trade, the same as in France.
The tobacco grown in the country is all
presumed to belong to the Government.
The Government Inspector counts the
plants, the farmer is graciously permit
ted to retain a small quantity, two
pounds or Whereabouts, for his own use,
and the remainder OF the entire crop, to
the last leaf, goes to the Government,
ut the price the Government fixes, which
is small enough, you may be sure, and
his pay is in tax receipts. Ii he plants
a great deal of tobacco he may possibly
have enough from this source to pay
the tax on the rest of his crops.
The Government has factories ir
which this is made into snuff, smoking
tobacco and cigars of various grades
from very bad to the very worst the
world ever saw. The Government fixes
the price on each grade, which is ex
tremely profitable business, for the Gov
ernment-but it does not let up on this
source Of profit yet. 1t has to get to til,
people somehow. Therefore privilege,
for dealing in tobacco are sold. For ont
little shop on a by-street, the entire room
not large enough to hold fifty dollars
worth, the privilege costs 800 forins
about $500 aycar, and the old lady who
pays that unmerciful exaction is onl,
permitted a profit of something lik,
half a cent Oh each cigar and a CORES
} ponding profit on everything else sh'
sells. Light and other of the sho,
tootup abouttwod dollars a day. The Gov
ernment also permits her to sell postag,
stamps at a profit OF one per cent, AM
she does a little business in newspa
pers, but on each OF these branches 0
trade an extra license fee is demanded
and vigorously collected. A few house
are sold the privilege Of importing bet
ter grades of tobacco, but the tax the,
pay and the enormous import duty 81
increases the cost that very few foreign
cigars are used. 1t is safe to say tia
more bad tobacco is consumed in Aus
{ tria than in any country on the globe
} So strict is this taxation on tobacco tina
If you purchase a box Of cigars and fine
them not to your taste (if you are al
) American that will be invariably yo,
can not sell them or give them away t,
/ some one whose constitution is strons
enough to smoke them. That would
constitute you a dealer, and to do thi
you must buy a ok. K. privilege
This is also true of all goods. 70,
cant sell half-worn playing cards, bu
must destroy them.-D. Il. Locke, IN TO
le00 Blade.
S-
Near Macon, Miss, is a remark
able pigeon roost. 1t embraces an are:
OF forty acres in a valley surrounded b,
n1.ncinito ono hills A o,.,,1- ~ ...f