The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-01-29

| ne pays q merchant, tnat represents
the profit, that he pays the merchant
on these goods. The margin that he
would have to put up, we might say
could be represented by his land
which is frequently mortgaged, and II
the game goes against him, 1t is SWEEP
away, if he is a weak holder; II not
he can put up again.
I fail to see wherein there is any ad
vantage in this species of speculative
gambling over that that is done
through reputable broker, or upon
the floor of the cotton exchange; in
fact, the advantage, to my mind, is on
the other side, the reason for which
will not discuss, as am not inclined
to encourage this class of farmers to
engage in any character of gambling.
1speak in the preceding paragraph
of the tax that he the farmer) impos-
es upon himself. I will dwell mo,
ment upon this. The general accep-
tation of the word tax" is "a charge
or burden laid upon persons or prop
erty for the support of the govern:
ment." This character of tax l will
denominate as an involuntary tax.
Now, as farmers for the most part are
great 0biectors to taxation, in aH Its
varied forms I desire to suggest TO
them i few taxes that We may prop.
ferly call voluntary selfimposed that
IN their cumulative form are far great
er and more burdensome in the long
run than those levied upon US by
county, State or government, and [
quote so eminent authority as the
great and good Benjamin Franklin,
who states It is an axiom. that 1--WE
are more heavily taxed by our idle
ness, pride and folly, than we are tax
ed by government. The farmer who
undertakes to buy every thing that is
necessary to make cotton crop upon
voluntarily imposes an over.powering
tax upon himself. When he buysa
pound of meat or a peck of corn, he
pays the merchants he gets from a
tax. He pays the wholesale man a
tax. He pays the drayman tax who
transfers it. He pays the railroad a
tax that hauls it. If meat he pays a
man tax that butchers it, and he
pays the the original farmer who rails
es it a tax, for it is likely he is not
raising it for his health, but for his
profit.
A farmer always pays toll when he
goes to town, whether he rides upon
a macadamized road or not. I have
known farmer to ride nine miles to
town on tired mule, when his crop
was in the grass, to pay twenty-five
cents for a shuck collar, when there
were shucks wasting at home. 1 have
known them to do the same, who had
sold cotton for 4 and 4 1-2 cents, and
pay 20 cents pound for cotton plow
lines.
I knew farmer, who while plow-
ing his new ground field, one Satur.
day morning in July, suddenly re-
membered that he had broken his ak
helve, and would have to 60 to town
to get.an other. Now, this fellow liv-
ed in the mountains of North Alaba-
ma, where I live, and where we have
second growth hickory, that is the
best ak handle timber on earth and
profusion of it. Now, instead of 60
ing back to his cabin, on the noun
tain-side, and cutting him a straight
strong, sinewy, young mountain hick-
ory, while with his wife by his side
and his children playing around him,
with the butt end of the hickory
tightly locked between the logs of his
humble cabin, he drew down to the
symmetry of. strong, strait grained
ax-handle, he quits.hi field OF labor,
throws a guano sack upon the back OF
his mortgaged mule, and as he rides
out of the gate replies to the anxious
inquiry of his wife that he is obliged
to 20 to town to get an ak handle.
The tax begins when he rides
through that broken-down gate. First
and foremost, he is taxing the anx-
iety of that poor pale-faced woman,
that knows too well of the 6imsiness
of this excuse; she knows too we'll
that though he is generous, brave and
true, that under certain. influences,
the recklessness of his nature leads
him to imposing taxes upon himself
and family that human nature i'll
afford to bear and that God Almighty
Himself will not hold him guiltless
of.
Upon his return, after an absence
of a day and night, to the cabin
on the mountain side and its defense
less inmates, who had spent lone.
some night indeed in the absence of
their only protector, save the faithful
coon dog, after emptying his meal
sack at their feet of its contents Of
high-priced cotton prints and little
shoes that he had paida country mer-
chants 100 per cent. advalorem tax
upon, thus undertaking to alleviate
his own feelings by paying them for
the wrong he had done them, he
again called back to the error of his
way when his wife reproachfully asks
for the ak handle that never came. "
In conclusion, I will say to you, my
fellow farmers and co-laborers of the
American Cotton Growers Protective
Association, that my advice to you is
to raise your home supplies, thus
avoiding these self-imposed taxes that
are more burdensome than you can
bear. Decrease your cotton acreage
and thus destroy this annual surplus,
or in other words, adjust the supply
to the demand; then the laws of com
merce and competition will prevail
and prices will regulate themselves
equitably between the producer and
the consumer.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Lanes ad-
dress, committees were appointed on
permanent organization, credentials
and resolutions.