Year: 1867




Taxation and the National Banks.


There is an animal, the most oppressed
and worst abused of animals, which is re-
garded as the emblem of patience, and we
have seen him kick and refuse to go furth-
er when burdened beyond his strength
Though accustomed to blows and oppres
sion, he sometimes revolts; and once, we
are told, he spoke out boldly against his
oppressor. So it will be with the people of
this country. They have shown SO much
uncomplalning good nature under the
most frightful weight of taxation, that the
Government, Congress, politicians, the
bondholders and privileged capitalists
imagine there is no limit to their patience; !;
but patient as they have been they will not
always endure heavy and unnecessary
burdens. While the war lasted, while the
great struggle for national uni absorbed
every thought, our people bore these
heavy burdens without q murmur. Ever
since the war ended they were not unwill-
ing to bear the burdens as long as they ap-
peared to be necessary for reorganiZing
society and establishing permanent peace
and harmony. Now, however, dissatisfac-
tion and alarm seize the public mind. 1t
is two years and half since the warclosed,
yet we have war taxation, war revenue,
and war expenditures. Seven years ago
the revenue or entire expenditure of the
Government was not over seventy millions
of dollars a year; now it is five hundred
millions. There is no parallel in the histo-
ry of any country to this enormous aug
mentation OF taxation within so short a
period. Never, indeed, was any govern
ment before SO reckless and eXtravagant.
Millions upon millions are lavished where
there is no necessity for spending dollar,
and often for the most corrupt and danger
Gus objects. ,ri3.s,5 't E4 isH-q
We might notice specially the enormous
expenditure of maintaining military gov
ernment over ten States and nearly third
of the territory of the country. which was
absolutely unnecessary; for these States
might have been restored long ago and need
not have been dollars expense to the Fed
}eral Government. We might show how all
this cost, probably not less than hundred
millions, has been solely for party purposes
| solely to keep the Radicals in power
We would refer to the Freedmen's Bureau
"a sort of great poorhouse to feed negroes
in idleness-upon which have been reck-
Ilessly lavished nearly twenty millions a
year. We might expose the monstrous
bounty and pension laws which call for as
much money annually as would support all
| the departments of Government. The rev
enue system, which seems to have been
made for the purpose of maintaining. an
| army of officials, and which gives birth to
frauds of frightful magnitude. might be
ventilated. These and many other cas- OF
astounding expenditures and loss of the
public money, through Radical Republican
legislation and and maladministration, il
thoroughly exposed would startle the pub
lie. -7o@-z


But we shall notice only for the present
the gross fraud upon the people in the Or
ganiZation of the national banks. The
clean gift, or bounty. as we may call it,
of nearly thirty millions a year to these
institutions exceeds anything in the way
of wicked extravaganza in the history OF
| legislation. The interest on a national cur
| rency which rightly belongs to the people
is clean gift of so much money to capi-
talisrs, without consideration or any bene-
| fit in return. 1t is robbiDg the poor to
| make the rich richer. 1t is taxing an over
taxed people to swell the incomes of capi-
| talists and national bank bondhOlders. The
! creation of such privileges was the most
wicked and stupid piece of legislation ever
heard of. The perpetuation of them is an
astonishing anomaly in republican coun-
try. The privilege given to the banks oi
national circulation, based on govern
ment bonds, was aptly characterized by a
former American statesman when discuss
ling the proposition of Mr.. Dallas to
establish a similar bank. with fifty millions
capital, founded on United States stocks
He solved the monstrOus proposition
by designating It as blending our credit to
the bank for nothing and borrowing it back
| again at six per cent. interest" This il
/ just what we do in the case of the national


banks. Worse than that, we create stu


pendous moneyed oligarchy, with its ram
/ ifications throughout every nook and cor


ner of the republic, which has power te
control all trade and industrial operations


to absorb the profits of industry. and tt


make the wealth thus concentrated the


government of the country. If these banks
should be allowed to remain in existence
| till they consolidate their power, the VOTE!


of the people will count for little. They
will constitute the political machine tina


will control the destinies of the republic
We are not without hope, however, tina
they are doomed to destruction. The sig
nificant vote of New York and other State
in the elections just over shows clearly
that both the negro and national bank pol


icy of the Radical Republicans has reached


its climax.