Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1884-01-25

lately upon those rho 9r0u the article. As soon
as the amount Of revenue derived from this
source shall be sufficient to extinguish the debt
contracted by the purchase Of those houses, We
think the tax should be repealed, leaving suf-
6cient sum to be paid in the form Of outage to
defray the Incidental expenses Of inspection
The committee use no argument in support Of
the position that the State cannot Of right i'm
pose tax. for the benefit of all, which will be
partial in its operation. The tax upon tobacco
is OF this nature. 1t might likewise be untime-
ly 10 urge constitutional objections TO a taI
upon exports, to greater amount than is sui
6cient to defray the expenses Of inspection.
These questions might be out Of the reach Of in
quiries at this time, but rM hereafter arise ehen
the State shaH hare paid for her warehouses f:om
the ardiis Of her inspection l0rs and We doubt
not that the propriety Of modelling the inspection
lace TO make the proceeds only sufficient 10 dtfrav
the ezpenses, riH READILY suggest Itself 10 some
future iesislature.'
From this as vel as the laws original
ing The system, it will he seen that the in
tention from the beginning was that the
tobacco growers should bear the entire ex
pense of the system originated at their So
lic;tation and in their interest, and that
for that purpose tax was placed upon
their product which would not otherw Use
| have been constitutional and the compul-
sorry clause was inserted. Thus did the
compulsory feature of the law become an
essential part of the compact between the
tobacco growers, speaking through their
representatives,, and the state government;
and, until the property Is fully paid for, it
would he breach of faith on the part of
the planters to ask its repeal. Upon this
point it may be said RICH here that the
great prcponderance of sentiment among
the tobacco growers has not and does not
ask the repeal of this feature of the system
or any other essential alteration therein.
By virtue Of the laws originating the
system it was provided that separate &C
count should be kept in the books Of the
treasury department to which all expense.
incurred by the State in behalf of the in
spection system should be charged and
all revenues arising therefrom should be
credited. Thus was inaugurated what is
known as the Tobacco Warehouse Sink
ing Fund" By an order passed by the
House of Delegates, March 9th, 1874. the
Comptroller was directed to prepare 3
statement showing the exact condition OF
the fund together with the cost of the ware
houses and amounts received into the treas
ury fro,nstobacco inspections. BY his re-
port, dated December 1st, 1875, the Comp
troler set forth in detail the receipts and
disbursements on account of that fund
from which it appeared that the cost of
the warehouses ETC.. had Leen 81 ,032 ,S29,-
81, all of which had been then paid ex-
cepting balance of SOL, 1853 N which, &C
cording to the statement, was at that time
still due the State in this behalf 1t ap-
peared, however, by the same report, that
the revenues arising from the use for other
commercial purposes of the wharves ap-
pertaining TO The warehouse property,
which previously to The year 1858 had
been accredited to the Tobacco Fund had
been, since that date, by some oversight
or defect in legislation, turned into the
treasury without credit to the fund
Those revenues amounted 10 about g., 200
per annum, so that in the twenty two years
previous to the report during which they
had been diverted, would probably have
amounted to about $4,000, and thus have
reduced the balance due the STATE at that
time to about $4,000 Since the date OF
the report referred to, owing to the undue
increase of salaries and other bad manage
ment, the revenues accruing from the to-
bacco inspections have been variable, in
some years apparently being charge up
on the State. So that it is doubtful whe-
ther the balance due the State has yet been
fully paid. An order has recently been
passed in the present Legislature requir-
ing the Comptroller to supplement his pre-
vious report with a statement bringing
the tobacco fund down to date.
When this report is returned, if it be
found that, after crediting the revenues
arising from wharfage, above referred to,
which have been improper diverted from
the fund since 1853, there is still balance
due the State, then the compulsory feature
should of course be be maintained unit
the balance is paid. If it be found that
there is no balance due, still we do not
think that in justice or in fairness the re-
representatives. from other portions of the
State ought to take it upon themselves at
the solicitation of the Baltimore tobacco
trade, any large railroad corporations anx-
ious to control the trade, or any newspa-
pers which are the known organs and adj
vocates of such corporations and their In
terests, to make any essential changes in
the system, not demanded or solicited by
the growers of tobacco in whose behalf
the system was originated and at whose
expense it has been built up.
We do not know what may he the SEN
timents of our present delegation in the