Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1886-01-22
The Tobacco Warehouse Property


The Tobacco Warehouse Property
In view o. the erroneous ideas which
still seem TO eSis. in some quarters as to
the status of the tobacco warehouse prop
srty in Baltimore ely. Of wEich the State
has lie, the Times will make 10 apology
for again at this tim reviewing the M t
ter, as it has done at several previous ses-
sions OF the General Assem- ply. These er
roneous ideas are manlf,stly entertained
by those who have grave'y coutended for
the s,lc of the warehouse property and
the turning of the proceeds into the State
reasurr, and they seem to have been shar-
ed by the overnor Of the State, when in
his message he called the attention of the
Legis' ature to the fact that the State to-
bacco inspections are not source Of rev.
snue to tie ate
co1s7 So. 10 4ovides t7at mo state 5 sEar1.
witt nseut of Congress, lay any
impj - q 81 =. les on imports or enpvtt-;
eT7cE svel A"Y Be e5soI.stely necessary .s5r
erccu{t,os sAA sr-sctioa luos;" and further
provides thai the net produce Of all duties
SO laid, outside Of the exception mention
81" shal! he for the use of the treasury
Of the United States When, Dy the acts
of 1923 aud 1925, the Stac determined to
purchase The warehouse property in B .ti
more city, To be devoted exclusively -
he purpose of tobacco inspec ion aud to be
paid for out the receipts from The outage
tax upon the tobacco inspected, and di-
rected separate account to be kept upon
the books of the treasury for 'ha, purpose,
the Legislature was not unmindful OF this
provision of the Federal constitution.
In the report Of the committee of Ways
and Means of the House of Delegates at
the session of 1923, of which Gen. Joha G
Chapman, of this county was chairman. in
which the proposition to purchase the
warehouse property in the name of the
State and impose an outage tax upon to-
bacco to pay for them was first definite V
set forth, We fad the committee expressly
stating that the outage tax upon tobacco.
which was essentially tax upon exports.
would not be constitutional except for the
purpose of making permanent provision
for the execution OF the inspection laws
as contemplated by them; and the com
mittee at the same time referred to tie
fact tha', when the warehouses were paid
for it would deyolvc upon soa.e fa.ure
Legislature to So reduce the outage tax as
to limi' the revenue arising therefrom to
the actual current expenses of the inspec-
ION system, SO as not to conflict with tie
provisions of the Federal constitutions.
As we have heretofore clearly shown, #
"a proper statement of the tobacco fund ac-
count were now rendered by the treasury
officers, it would show that al obligations
incurred by tho State in behalf OF the to
bacco warehouse property have already
been fully discharged by he outage tax
and the other Incidental revenues arising
from the warehouses.
If then this property has been paid for
by the proceeds Of special tax impose
upon tie tobacco growers of the State,
which would have been unconstitutiona', =,
except for making permanent provision
for tobacco inspection, it VIII follow that
the proposition Of hose who contend fer
the sale of the warehouses and the turn
ing of the proceeds into he treasury is
simply that the State at large shall now
avail itself of an unconstitutional tax ex-
tOrted from particular class in one sec
tion of the State by an indirection 1t
viii be seen a'so that the fact to which
the Governor referred, that the inspection
system is not source Of material revenue
to the State, merely goes to show that in
that respeci the ins )ect ion system is work
ing correctly. 1t may be fan rly question
ed whether, under the provisions of the
Federal constitution we have cited, if the
tobacco warehouse property were now
sold the proceeds would not revert to the
treasury Of the United STATES, ins'ead of
to that of this S ate.
A Western newspaper says that the lat-
est sensa ion is St. Louis horse that chews
tobacco but the greatest sensation is DR..
Bulls COugh Syrup, now used bY every