The National tribune., 1888-03-08
rHE souTus suAnE VERY SNAIL.

j
The rodomontade of Berry, Vest, ct al, in
regard to the vast amount which the South
has paid on the war debt sounds very ridicu-
1ous when compared with undeniable facts.
The truth is, the people who were in re-
bellion have paid astonishingly little of the
war debt. The reasons are not far to seek. |
The Government raised the money to meet |
its obligations by taxation upon articles |
which had very little sale and consumption |
in the section where the rebellion fourished. |
The mass of the people there were and always |
had been exceedingly poor; they had few |
artificial wants, and as far as possible they |
supplied their needs by homemade products
More than one-third of the entire popula-
ton were ignorant plantation negroes, who
had few wants above suit of coarse clothes
once year, half peck of meal and 81
pounds of salt pork week, with occasional
jugs of molasses and whisky and plugs of
tobacco for luxuries. The majority Of the
whites were not ambitious of much more
than this. They bought scarcely anything
compared to the purchases of a Northern
man, and these purchases were not of arti-
cles which paid taxes to the Government.
Where the Northern man bought box of
pills, or bottle of patent medicine, when
he OF his family were sick, and in SO doing
paid for several cents worth of stamps, the
Southerner dosed himself with decoctions
of herbs and roots, upon which there was no
stamp duty. Where the Northern baby was
quoted with soothing syrup, the Southern
baby was hushed without the use Of that
nostrum.
Where the Northern man used highly-tax-
ed matches to light his fire and his lamp,
the Southerner, as rule, got his eight"
from the brands which burned in his fire.
place, Summer and Winter.
Where the Northerner smoked cigars of
all grades of fneness and cost, and chewed
fne-cut tobacco, the Southerner as rule,
smoked pipe, and got his tobacco from his
own or his neighbor's fields.
; Where the railroads of the North paid
500 taxes on tickets sold and net earnings,
those in rebeldom did not pay 81.
Where the Northern women bought LOCO
yards of the heavily dutied silks, satins,
laces, etc, the Southern women did not
probably buy 10 yards
Where $1,000 worth of high-priced cham
payne, brandy, cigars, etc, were consumed
in the North, not SO was sold to and used
by the South.
AS great discrepancy existed in the pay
ments on those two great bulwarks of the
Teyenue-distilled and fermented spirits.
OF the tens of millions of dollars which the
Government has collected on beer and ap-
piled on the debt, very little, comparatively
speaking has come from the South, for
the reason that it is only Of late years
that there has been any considerable drink
ing of beer in that section. Though it is
usually believed that the average South
erner drinks much more whisky than the
average Northerner, this, if true, is no evil
dence that he pays as much into the Treas
ury through the internal revenue. The con-
! sumption of spirits in the arts is vastly
greater than for beverages, and one fair-sized
chemical factory in the North viii use mp
more distilled liquor in day than brigades
l of inveterate topers viii in year.
; So we can go on through the whole list
of articles which the Government taxed tc
!. get money to pay the interest and the prin.
cipal of the war debt. Every one of them
i we viii find was very largely consumed il
9 the North, and but sparingly by the people O
g that at no time have these latter paid NOR,
than one-seVenth of therevenue ofthe country
g even when they were credited with the col
g lections on tobacco and whisky, which the,
s produced, but which were mainly sold in thu
= North.
L It was the loyal people of the country tina
IL paid the great bulk of the war debt, and an,
1t assertion to the contrary ia arrant dema
ie gogery. Were not the loyal people the mos
magnanimous the world ever saw, the,
n would not have shouldered this burden a
ia they dido and deliberately arranged it 9
10 that the men whom they had fought an,
L overcome should bear but trifiDg portio
a of it.
INTRIGUEs OF THE REVENUE TINKERs
The motive of the revenue thinkers in try
ing TO rush through bill reducing th
: revenue s82, 100000 before any pension legil
oN = ;ao al 4