Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-30

wire fences IN fact, steel is taking the
place Of iron aud literally driving iron
out Of the market, and even la the
iron market, we, Of the South, have
heen compelled to send our iron north
t0f the Ohio river to find i market,
and then compete with home pro-
ducts, with a freight charge added OF
from f2.50 to $500 ton, and vet we
have kept our furnaces in blast while
J nearly half of the furnaces Of Penn
! sylvania have been out of blast, dur
Ing the long depression. We have in
Tennessee but one great drawback
and would do injustice to the little
reputation have made for speaking
. my convictions, If | did not here refer
to il and truly state what it is
The legislation of Tennessee for
sometime past has been, towards
all corporations, so hostile that
more or less crippled, and
hope that such injustice will not be
continued. 1t may not be generally
known, but the finance committee of
the House in the last Legislature IN
hicted q blow on the industries Of the
State that threatens ruin to every cor
poration in existence, and but for its
partial arrest in the Senate it ouid
have produced paralysis in all our in
dustries in Tennessee, as destructive as
If they had been swept away by a
commercial cyclone; indeed more so.
for 1t was not only death to the living,
but warning to all future enter
prises.
This committee controlled the
House and abandoned the
old system of double taxation for
a new system Of double taxation
much more odious, by taking all cor
porate property out of the hands of the
assessors, and, making an arbitrary
legislative assessment, taking the ag.
gregate of bonds and stock as a basis
this to be done at the headquarters
and then going into all the counties
where the company owned property
aud taking it there. This legislative
enormity passed the House, but the
Senate arrested it, and made some
amendments which the House refuse
to concur in, which resulted i'll con-
ference committee, in which there
was deadlock until q representative
from Davidson, Mr.. Morris, interpos-
ed an objection in the way of delay to
the appropriation bill which proved
effective as to the worst features. This
committee was composed of Col John
II. Savage, chairman, Thos. Morris,
! w. j. Whitthorne, John T. Buchan-
an, Andrew Patterson and K. A. Cd
lum.
| The bill as it passed is literally driy-
/ ing millions OF capital out of TenLes
see. The great STEEL worss at Chatta
noogs, which have already referred
to, by far the most important enter
prise yet inaugurated in the South
made up almost entirely of Tennessee
men and Tennessee capital, whichsis
the dawn of new day in the South
lis ali Alabama company. The gen
tlemen who put two millions of money
lin it, and we can't live under Ten
nessee discrimination and hostility,
and they went to Alabama aud OBJ
tanned charter, only a small part OF
the property being in Alabama. So
far it mas been difficult to get a Ten
nessee legislature to regard all our cor
porations as anything but enemies to
be literally driven IRON the State by
double taxation. They blindly look
upon all Incorporated om,anies as
combinations to rob the public.
All intelligent men agree that quasi
public corporations, having exclusive
privileges, as for instance street rail.
road which gets monopoly on the street
ought in addition to being taxed on
their visible property, also be taxed on
the franchise. The franchise is prop
erty aud is valuable because il has tx.
elusive rights, but to put double taxes
on cotton factory OF furnace char.
tered under a general law, by which
others may exercise the same right,
until competition stops the business, il
legislative indignity
In tennessee to-day II one rich man,
man VINO is rich enough to need no
help, comes to Clarksvile and builds d
furnace or cotton MILL he is taxed
like other citizens of Tennessee. But IL.
100 men, home people, men who are
not rich, put in 81 600 cash each, aud
build "a furnace or a cotton factory,
because a charter Is Indispensable they
are charged under an arbitrary rule,
and it amounts to about double what
the one man Is taxed on the same
money.
Why should Legislature discrimi-
nate against people who put their
money together aud go to manufact-
uring? Ii capital is united a corpora
ton is essential, because it is the only
mode of perpetuating combined CAPT
tai beyond the death of member.
In the South individuals are not rich
enough to go to manufacturing, and
manufacturing can only be done by a
nnton rNf aO1oIi oanifaIfofc
And pray, when every man takes
his choice in business, when there are
no exclusive rights, when factory after
factory may be put down side by side,
one after another, why should capital
so used be doubly taxed?
That the men who inaugurated this |
system of diversified industries such |
men as James c. Warner, a. NJ.
Shook, Geneal Wilder, Mr.. Chamber
lain, Fred Sloss, Tennie Hillman,
Enoch Ensley, James Bowron, MIR.
De Bardelebden, Mr.. Woodward, |
Louis Colyar, Senator Joe Brown !
have done the South a great service
than any equal number OF office hold
ers, | think will be conceded.
What we need. If may be allowed
to speak some plain words, is 10 look
mUre after our business interests, even
at a sacrifice of some small share of
the political ambition and the fervor
which have so eminently character,
lied us as people.
Public life has its duties and obliga-
tions and to dignity it by giving to it
the best and wisest men in the coun-
try has, would be the delight OF all in
telligeut people. But no Que will re-
greet, | suppose, that so much OF the
South,s talent has been turned. since