The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-06-16
The Whisky Tax.

LOUISVILLE, Miss, June 8, 1886.
EDITOR CLARIoy: In your issue of
2Gth ult., in speaking of the Internal
Revenue tax on whisky, you say "there
j. not citizen Of the State, no matter
what his occupation, who would be ben
eftted by the repeal of the tax" etc.
Without advocating the cause of either
Mr.. Barksdale. or Mr.. Hooker, / would
ike 10 submit few thoughts for The
consideration OF your readers:
! must differ with you in your con
clusions. am sure that the repeal of
the tax on whisky, which would carry
with it the repeal of the whole internal
revenue law, would materially benefit a
large number Of our citizens. / would
be benefited thousands OF dollars by the
repeal Of the tax on whisky alone, and
yet ! am not a dealer in whisky, nor do
] use whisky as beverage, but on the
contrary 1 am prohibitionist, except
as 10 native wines, and | am citizen of
Mississippi, and have been for fifty
years. Ia the manufacture of certain
medicines IL - necessary TO use alcohol,
and on every gallon Of alcohol so used,
have TO pay a revenue tax of one dollar
aud eighty cents. So you see, | would
be benefited to that extent, at least, by
the repeal of said law. Again, large
class OF our citizens use whisky as a
beverage, and Of course they pay the
heavy tax levied on whisky by the
United states government; they would
he benefited by the repeal of said law
not only 10 the extent of the tax, but
much more, because dealers add per
cent. not only on the cost of the whisky
but also on the taxes paid. Hence
whisky dealers do not complain of the
taXes-they are benefited thereby; and,
again, if said whisky tax was abated
aduIterated and poisonous whisky would
almost disappear-thus abating a great
curse, because by the use of impure and
poisonous whisky very great evil results.
1t is one cause of so mony outrageous
murders, etc. Men are made maniacs
by the use of such whisky. Pure whisky
would cause much less evil-and drunk
eness would decrease. Why? Because
pure whisky does not dethrOne the reason,
like the impure and poisonous article
j nave seen men made drunk and almost
raving maniacs, by two or three drinks
of impure whisky. You no doubt will
say, that if men will drink whisky, they
about as little sympathy for the intem-
perate man as most men. If the drunk
ard was the only one that suffered, |
would say, too, let him pay the taxes;
but the wife aud poor children of the
drunkard are the greatest sufferers. The
money that goes to pay this whisky tax
should be used to buy bread and cloth
ing for the drunkard's ) wife and children.
A. go Il. l. s. .
would be saved to the citizens of Mis-
sissippi, by the repeal of the Internal
Revenue law. You must admit that
our people ere being almost impover-
ished by taxation, and you say that if
we can't get a certain tax abated we
don't want to be relieved by the repeal
of the other. do not agree with you
We have been waiting over twenty years
for the tariff to be reduced, and year
after year, we are disappointed; there
fore, | say, repeal the ln6ernal Revenue
tax, and relieve the over-taXed and
burdened people to that extent. If the
tariff cannot be reduced, why continue
the Internal Revenue tax? Both are
unnecessary. The large surplus in the
Treasury has caused very great eXtrava-
gance by Congress, Our own most prom
inent members of Congress vote to in
crease and extend the pension acts, al
ready outrageously extravagant; thus,
twenty-one years after the war, they con-
tinue TO add new names to the list, and
increase the pay of those already on the
pension list, seeming to have no stopping
place, but say by their actions, LAY on,
McDuif, and damned be he who cries h0td,
enough, enough" Yet when a few
old men of the South, bowed down with
age, and oppressed with poverty, come
before Congress and ask for their pay
for mail service rendered the United
States under contract before the war,
these same Southern Democratic Con
gressmen say" No, no, that would
make us unpopular with the Northern
people" Thus voting millions of dol
lars to parties that the government does
not owe, and refusing few thousand
dollars that the Government does
owe for services honestly and faith
fully rendered under contract. Thus
by discrimination in favor of one sec
ton against another, the Southern peo-
pie are becoming poorer and poorer
year by year; and our own Representa-
lives are aiding in this direction. They
may all get to be Presidents of the
United States by this course, but very
much doubt it.
Our citizers say, reduce the tariff
before you repeal the Internal Revenue
law, and at the same time they extern
sively patronize Democratic newspapers
that advocate high protective tariff.
Under such circumstances, how do you
expect TO reduce the tariff ? Again |
say, that if you can't get relief from the
heavy burdens which are impoverishing
our people by tariff reduction, accept
even partial relief by the repeal OF the
Internal Revenue law. Yours truly,