Year: 1866

long as they remain in their present dis
franehised conditionf Will the tax
payers of the North continue to be pa
tient unless their burdens of taxation
can be 1essened by being equally shared
by the people of the South Regarded
thus as a purely financial question, the
relation of these States to the Federal
Union is an exceedingly interesting and
important one, and as such it demands
the calm and careful consideration of
Congress.


The questions the Sec retary suggests
are only capable of one answer. The
nation can not he regarded as in heal
thy condition, the labor question at the
South can not be settled, the national
credit can not be elevated, nor
the public debt rapidly reduced,
nor will the taxpayers of the
North continue to be patient while
ten States are excluded from
representation, and fettered' with all
the disabilities which radicalism has
seen fit to impose. Every man who
owns one dollar in government securi-


ties is interested in restoring the South


to that financial condition that will en-
able her to do her part in preserving


the national credit In her present I'M


settled condition, condition which the


radicals are rendering worse and worse


every day, it is impossible for the South


to recover rapidly from the pecuniary


distress occasioned by the war. The


Southern people are dispirited
and discouraged. They have no
interest in maintaining the credit
of nation from all of whose


benefits they are rigidly excluded;


they will not willingly or cheerfully


pay taxes for the support of a govern


ment that denies them representation,


and heaps upon them oppression and


insult. We all remember with what


zeal the monied men of the North, the


bond holders of the government, labor


ed for the suppression of the rebellion
and, as they said, for the restoration of
the Union. They knew that without
Representation of the Union their bonds
would not be worth the paper upon
which they were printed. They knew


that the North alone would never be


able to pay even the interest accruing


upon the national debt, and that the
success Of the Federal government was
absolutely necessary to the maintain
ance of its credit both at home and
abroad. Well, now, the course that is
being pursued by the radicals in Con-
gress prevents the South from paying
its portion of the national debt almost
as effectually as if the independence of
the Southern COnfederacy had been
achieved. Under the radical programme,
the ability Of the South to pay is al
most as much crippled as during the
progress of the war. For all intcnts
and purposes, financial as well as poll
tical, the Union has been dissolved by
the faction that controls the national
Congress, and there is very little left of
the Union bequeathed to us by our fore
fathers except the name. Our national
finances must inevitably feel the effect
of the prostTation of the South, and the
holders of government bonds will do
well to prepare for the depreciation
which the continuance of radical rule
will bring.


Each individual taxpayer i'll the ma
ton has also direct interest iE the
restoration of the Southern
States, and the settlement of the ques-
tions now agitating the people. So long
as the South is excluded from represen-
tation, and ground to the earth by oner-
0us enactments, her people will be
unable to pay any considerable portion
of the expenses of the government.
The deficiency in the revenue from the
South will be added to the burdens of
the people Of the North, whose
own share of taxation is almost too
heavy to be borne. Nearly one-third of
the nation is, by radical legislation,
from bearing its proper bur
den, and thus the taxes of the North are
increased nearly one-third. When the
laboring man of the North pays three
dollars tax to the United States govern
ment, one dollar of that sum is
paid because of the exclusion of the
Southern States. When he pays the
exorbitant prices demanded for the
of life, let him remember
that one. third of the increase above the
price given for the same article before
the war is paid for the purpose of keep
ing the radical party in power and pre-
venting the restoration of the Union.