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

hazards what he puts up on it on the
"bull" side Of the market. The com
mission and per cent. that he pays is
fully represented by the tax that he
imposes upon himself in the per cent.
he pays a merchant, that 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 il
the game goes against him. it IS swept
away, if he is 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 I
will not discuss. as am not inclined
to encourage this class of farmers to
engage in any character of gambling.
Ispeak in the preceding paragraph
of the tax that he (he 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 I will
denominate as an involuntary tax.
Now, as farmers for the most part are
great Objectors to taxation, In all its
varied forms, / desire to suggest to
them q few taxes that we may prop
erly 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 I
quote so eminent authority as the
great and good Benjamin Franklin,
who states it is an axiom that "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 q 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 a tax who
transfers It. He pays the railroad a
tax that hauls it. If meat he pays a
man a 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. have
known farmer to ride nine miles to
town on a tired mule, when his crop
was in the grass, to pay twenty-five
cents for 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 a 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 a
profusion of it. Now, instead of 60
ing back to his cabin, on the noun
tain-side, and cutting him straight
strong, sinewy, young mountain hlck-
ory, while with his wife by his side
land 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 a strong, strait grained
ax-hand1e, he quits'his field of labor,
throws 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 flmsiness
of this excuse; she knows too well
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 day and night, to the cabir
on the mountain side and its defense
less inmates, who had spent a 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 oil
high-priced cotton. prints and little
shoes that he had paid a 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.
i 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 i:
to raise your home supplies, thu:
lavoiding these self.imposed taxes thai
are more burdensome than you car
bear. Decrease your cotton acreage
and thus destroy this annual surplus
Il ,J,,,e{ tho II