Year: 1862

why not tax indentnrel apprentices and
persons held to service or labor" under |
the local law2 II net the apprentices and
persons" the relation which these sus-
tain to the men who derive the profit of |
their labor. compelling them (the masters,1
to pay the levy. There is nothing unfair
OF unconstitutional in the proposition. We
cannot, without stuldtying a great party
and doing violence 10 the Constitution, ad-
NIT that "persons held to labor or ser
vice. are property. That would be to con:
fess that the South is right in its twenty
years policy, and that the rebellion is jus
tlhable. Hence Congress cannot lay a tax
on slaves rs persons, oyer and shove the
amount levied on frecmen, because taxes
must be uniform. It cannot, for the rea-
son that we have stated, assess them as
property, because they are in no sense
property by the Constitution or the law,
1t remains then only to tax the relation Of
master and apprentice, master and slave.
and to include the apprentice Of the North,
as well as the persons held to labor or ser
vice by the local laws Of the South, in the
schedule upon which revenue is to be
raised. Surely there is enough legal inge-
nuity in the House and Senate to SO draw q
bill as to avoid the admission which
would at once be fatal to Republican pre-
tensions, and to accomplish the object de-
sired. Who will try his hand at the job?


There are four millions Of slaves in the
South, each one Of whom ought, by his
master, to pay Federal tax OF ten dollars
per annum; and this tax should be lien,
not upon the property, for there is no prop
erty in the ease, but when tue relation in
which the "person" stands to the owner,
! under the local laws-a lien taking even
date with the passage Of the act, and not to
be yoided by non-payment Of the assess
ment by reason Of the Intervention between
the tax-gatherer and the taxpayer Of any
rebellious or hostile poWer-a lien which
will, after defa.lt On the part Of the
owner or master, dissolve the relation and
set the slave at liberty aud release the ap-
prentice from his indentures. The oblga-
ton to observe uniformity in 1evying direct
taxes will compel Congress to include
Northern apprentices; but as they are few
! in number-the system Of indentures being
in most the States practically abandoned
| the weight thrown upon their masters will be
| cheerfnlly borne when it is understood that
| the cause Of the war will be compelled to
| pay a share at least Of its burdens.


Ihs TRIBUNE, as our readers well know,
! is for the emancipation or confscation
| Qhat's another name for emancipation oj
every slave Of every rebel in the land. But


Wesee no hope that the men who have been


sent to Congress to carry the country


through the war, will dare venture upon a
| policy so decided, though so e1ninently ne,
eessary, as that which we recommend. We


are compelled to accept the next best thing
If the cause Of the war cannot be removed
| by blow, it can be made to feel that it has


not csczped the burdens which it has ell


tailed upon everything else. Hence this
| proposition for a measure which is not only


in itself necessary and just, but in strict &C


cord with the Constitution. But even tllis


may not be accepted by those whose busi


ness it is to provide the ways and means


fer carrying on the fight. They have not yet
| enancipatcd themselves from the shack1es


in which the country has been helc


to slavcry, which is yet, in spite ofthe war


the master interest Of the Republic. Somt


prc1ext which slavery will suggest, somt


Gnc Of policy that it will recommend, o.


some fear that it will excite, will be para


mount If the plain proposition to bring


cotton to an equal footing with loyal wheat


and cattle can be defeated, what cain week


pect?