Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-29
TAX ON TOBACCO.
A Case Of Now You See it and
Now You Don't.
How Artful Republican Speakers and
Writers Play on the Crsdulity of
Baokwoods Farmers.

| mChluiot OEdtOES 'lu tIle DdCk us
tricts frequently olnted with prid'
to the following words of the Ne
kinney act, says the Republic, a.
proof that the Republican party Wal
doing its best to be good to the far
mer. Under the head of "Interna
Revenue" section q, we read:
"That all the provisions o; the
statutes imposing restrictions Of ans
kind whatsoever upon farmers and
growers of tobacco in regard to the
sale OF their leaf tobacco and the
keeping Of books and the registra
ton and report of their sales of lea
tobacco, or imposing any tax on &C
count OF such sales are hereby re-
pealed."
This seems emphatic enough and
broad enough TO convince farmers
along the Missouri and Ohio Valleys
that they were at least free from the
many vexatious restrictions that had
for nearly thirty years helped to
make their tobacco crops unprofita.
BILE. II these farmers of the Ohio
and Missouri Valleys were not pro-
teeted by special tax against compe-
tition as are the tobacco growers o!
the Connecticut Valley, they were at
least to be free to market their farm
product of tobacco without obstruc-
tive taxation OF any sort OF espionage
from Government agent.
But after distinctly exempting the
farmer from all restrictions with re-
spect to "lhe keeping of books and
"report of their sales" section q
proceeds to take it all back by fixing
a penalty OF $500 on any farmer who
shall refuse to give "true and COM
plete statement, verified by oath, OF
all his safes Of leaf tobacco" to any
icquisitive agent ol the Treasury who
may happen to come his way and
ask 1t. 1t is a pretty game of now
you see it and now you don't see it,
this section II, The farmer needn't
keep any books, but il he DOESN'T
make "true and complete state menl"
OF all the tobacco he has sold he must
pay $500 or go TO Jail. 1t might be
cheaper to hire clerk and keep
books.
The repeal of all restrictions of
any kind whatsoever upon the far
mer in regard to the sale OF his leaf
tobacco conveys, to all except the in
itiated, the impression that the auth
ors Of the monopoly tariff act meant
to make the farmer as free in the dis
posal Of his tobacco as in the sale of
his corn and hay. 1t might be easily
understood to repeal the restrictions
of former acts which forbade the far
mer to go into his tobacco shed on
rainy days and twist the crude leaves
into more portable and less perish
able shape than that in which they
came from the field. Any tobacco
patch darkey can do this work as
easily rs shuck corn. Mr.. Harrison's
Secretary of the Treasury would
hardly claim that shucked corn is
manufactured corn, or that baled hay
is manufactured hay, but internal
revenue collectors are instructed that
If farm boy twists leaf of tobacco
the result is taxable product OF
manufactured tobacco, with penalty
of fine or Imprisonment for selling it
without stamping at the rate of six
cents pound.
So the net result of the Mckinley
repeal OF all restrictions of any
kind whatsoever" upon the farmers
sale of his tobacco crop is practically
The language is fine, but
"a farmer who believes what it says.
will be fooled, as he has always been
fooled whenever he has trusted Re
publican promises. ....
New England tobacco growers
whose leaf is suitable for cigar wrap
pers are protected by a tariff of So to
$2.75 pound, and their lands are
worth very nearly town-lot prices
The Western grower of White Bur
ley must raise his crop on mortgaged
land because the theory of finance is
that the Western farmer was created
to bear all the burdens of taxation in
this country both on what he Iuys
and what he sells.
A Little Girls Experience in A
Lighthouse.
Mr.. and Mrs. Loren Trescot are
keepers of the Gov. Lighthouse at
Sand Reach Mich and are blessed