Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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HON. WYATT AIKEN'S SPEECH. Made a Telling Talk on an important Question Before tho House. While the House of Representatives had under consideration tue bill mak ing appropraitlons for the naval sor vlce for tho coming year, Hon. Wyatt Aiken, of South Carolina, took ad vantage of the opportunity offered, and taking up a question that 1B of great Interest to the whole South, spoke as follows: Mr. Chairman: More than forty years have elapsed since the remnants of two great armies met for the last time at Appomattox. Whatever pre judice, whatever bitterness, whatever injustice survived this parting found no lasting place in the hearts of those who had borne the brunt of battle. In the shallow graves of those who did not live to see the dawn of peace blue and gray slept side by side, as do children of the same mother. Honor and valor had exacted the sac rifice, and the true soldier, North and South, standing over these graves, grounded his arms and said, "lt ls enough." If those who saved the Union in fact by offering their lives for Its ex istence had also been entrusted with the government's policy of reconstruc tion, the legislation that'I am going to ask for, and that I havo proposed in a bill-House Resolution 19747 would have been unnecessary. The bill to which I refer is as follows: A Bill to Provide for the Refunding to Lawful Claimants the Proceeds of the Cotton Tax Unlawfully Col lected. Be lt enacted, etc., That the Com missioner of Internal Revenue shall, immediately upon the pasasge and approval of this act, comr'.lc a state ment showing the amount of money illegally collected by the United States Government on account of the tax on cotton for the years 1863, 1864,1865, 1866, 1867 and 1868, respectively, In the several States, and showing, if possible, thc persons, firms or corpo rations paying the same, with the amounts so paid, which statement, When properly certified as to Its cor rectness, shall be filed wlt'i the clerk of the Court of Claims and a dupli cate thereof filed with the treasurer of the United States. Sec. 2. That the Court of Claims is hereby clothed with full and complete authority and jurisdiction to hear, try and adjudicate all claims made under this act by persons, firms or corpora tions, or their lawful heirs or repre sentatives, claiming lo have paid such tax for any or for all the years herein stated, and when said Court of Claims shall have adjudged a cinim just and lawfully made, in the name of the proper party or parties, it shall ap prove the same, and the clerk of said Court of Claims shall certify said ap proval and transmit the approved claim to tho Treasurer of the United States, who shall pay the same. Sec. 3. That a sum sufficient to cover the total nmount of cotton tax collected, as shown by the statement of the Commissioner of Internal Rev enue, ls hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the United States treas ury not otherwise appropriated, and the same shall . available for the payment of all approved claims for the refund of said cotton tax, claim ants to have five years In which to present and establish their claims, and the unexpended balance accred ited to each State, after all approved claims have been paid and pending claims deducted, shall be paid to the treasurer of that State, to bo used as a public school fund. Sec. 4. That this act shall take ef fect immediately upon its passage and approval by th? President. I refer to the reiundlng of the cot ton taxes illegally collected, mainly from the Southern States. That this LAX was Illegal, that it was unjust, from whatever stand point viewed, there is not a shadow of a doubt. In the only case brought before the Supreme Court of the United States tho eight Judges sitting were divided, four and four. Lead ing men who have stood in line of battle in the Union army, notably Hon. Charles H. Grosvenor, whose ability we all know, whoso zeal as a Federalist ls unquestioned, whose judgment ls worthy of the highest respect, freely state that this tax was wrong, Illegal and unconstitutional. This legislative body admitted ito er ror by repealing the act after 1868, even in the midst ot most hostile leg islation against the South. If the act of Congress could have been justified on any possible ground, the spirit of the Federal Government then prevalent would have kept that act on the statutes until the last far th ~<g of the expenso Incurred in the civil war had been paid. This was nothing more than an indirect effort to exact war indemnity. The quar rel with tho South could not bo Jus tified, except on tho ground of a far sighted expedlenoy. Eren the North ern point of view, the Southern States did not accomplish their withdrawal from the Union, and hence they were necessarily clothed with the sam?? 0 power, entitled to the same priv'leges and free from the same exemptions aB were all other States. If the South ern States were out of th? Uuiuu, then they were not amenable to the Constitution. If they were actually, or even technically, at all times a part of the Uuiuu, lli?u Iney wore en titled to that fair and Indiscriminate treatment that is guaranteed under the Constitution. It wns apparent, even to the South's bitterest enemies in Congress at tho time, that the cot ton tax was unconstitutional, without the semblance jf legal justification, and so the acts were repealed. Can a government so powerful, so wealthy, so generous in its dealings with dependent subjects in far away Islands, refuse to restore to Its own citizens that which has been taken in violation of tho Constitution? It ls estimated that our efforts at sub Jugalon, education and assimilation in our oriental possessions have cost this government something like $800,000,000. .To refund thh? cot ton tax would require something like $68,000,000. Should we not be a little just before we are so very gen erous? If there was no Just ground for continuing the cotton tax, if there was even doubt of the legality of the tax, was not the money collected prior to the repeal of the act too questionable to be appropriated An ally by a just and powerful nation? May we not hope that justice has been retarded not because of smoul dering sectionalism, but because of lack of knowledge of the facts? Such exhaustive and conclusive arguments have been advanced in re cent speeches before this body, prov ing the illegality of tho cotton tax, that I shall not enter extensively into this phase of the subject. But I hope that in the brief review that I shall make of the law and the facts the legislativo conscience will be awakened. All that is contained in the Con stitution giving Congress the right to tax is found in the following pro visions: 1. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be in cluded within the Union, according to their respective numbers, etc. 2. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, im posts and excises; to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States. 3. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census of enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 4. N? tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. Taxes may be divided Into two general classes--direct and indirect. Direct taxes are the duties levied on Imports Which the consumer pays in buying the imported article. The best, and yet the most erron eous contention, undertaking to jus tify this cotton tax, may be found in a letter of Hon. Israel Kimball, once Commissioner of Internal Revenue, In which he alleged that lt was an In direct tax, and lt was paid by the consumer. This would be partly true if tho cotton producer fixed the price of his product and could add the tax to the selling price. But who does not know that the price of cotton is ilxed In New York and Liverpool regardless of the pro ducer? Besides, at that time, there was no duty on any kind of cotton imported into this country, and the domestic artlcl $ could not be sold higher than the Imported article free of duty. Any attempt to justify the cotton tax on the ground that it was indirect, and hence not paid by the producer, ls too absurd to admit of serious argument. But suppose, for the sake of argument, tha? this was an indiroct tax, does lt conform to that clause of the Constitution which provides: "That all duties, Imposts and ex cises shall be uniform throughout the United States." Under the acts levying taxes on cotton for the years mentioned in my bill South Carolina paid $4,172, 429.16, while Connecticut paid only $193.64 and Delaware paid nothing. It is a well-known fact that climatic conditions confine the raising ol cot ton to a section of the United States. Congress knew that a tax on all the crops of the Southern States would have been too palpably unconstitu tional to recei re the sanction of a majority vote, even of biased recon structionists, and so, by a little leg islative circumvention, it was sought to give validity to a clearly unconsti tutional act. It was sought to give the acts the appearance of general application by using the following language: "There shall be paid by the pro ducer, owner, or holder upon all cot ton produced within the United States, etc." Siiopose a bill were proposed here levying a heavy tax on all sugar, hemp, wheat, or corn-that is to say, on any one of these articles exclu? sively raised in the United States. Would there not be a howl from the sections raising this article against such an unjust discrimination? While these products are confined to certain section* u? couu?ry, no one of them is so circumscribed as cotton. Cotton is not and cannot b? raised uniformly throughout the United States, and hence as an indirect tax it cannot conform to the -main re quirement-that lt shall be "uniform throughout the United States." The fact is, the tax on cotton was a direct tax. Let us see what a direct tax ls defined to be. Perry, on politi cal economy, uses the following lan guage: "A direct tax is levied on the very persons who are themselves expected to pay lt." I ne fact is, the producer did ac tually pay the cotton tax. An excise is one form of direct tax, and under this specific head th? cot ton tax properly belonged, if it had been legally levied. Judge Story says: "An excise is an inland imposition or duty; a duty or tax laid on cer tain articles produced or consumed at home." Here was an article produced and largely consumed at home. It was properly subject to an excise, If levied In accordance with the constitution. But hear again the language of the constitution: "All (huies, Imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." That is, they shall fall with impar tiality on Maine and Texas alike. Does a tax on cotton come within the requirements? Again the constitution says: "No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless In proportion to the censas." By the census of 1860 the total population of the United States was 31,445,089, and of the eleven cotton States 9,103,333. The total cotton tax amounted to $68,072,388.99. Of this amount, eleven cotton States paid $64,701,352.76. Georgia paid over $11,000,000 and Maine paid nothing. How Is this for laying the tax In conformity to the constitution: "In proportion to tho census of enumeration." Again, tho language of the consti tution: "No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State." At the time of the collection of the cotton taxes more than half of the entire crop was exported abroad. A strict definition of the word "export" includes shipment from one State to another. In this sense more than four-fifths of the entire crop was ex ported. Nothing could be clearer than that the cotton tax was, In this respect, violative of the constituion. There are some who do not pre tend to justify the cotton tax from a legal or constitutional standpoint,but claim that lt was a war measure and that the country was justified In sus pending the constitution. While this ls the only honest contention that can be set up, it certainly could not be applicable to the taxes collected in 1867 and 1868, amounting to three fourths of the entire collectlons.when peace reigned throughout the land. As for the taxes collected during thc war, they may have been justified by the rule of might, but not by the rule of right. An army may be Justified in confiscating or destroying proper ty, as a legitimate war measure; but that a rich, proud and powerful gov ernment will defy its own prescribed rule of conduct, to tax, under the guise of law, a poor and bleeding people, I refuse to believe. If, blinded by prejudice and exas perated by the resistance that had for so long set at naught the Federal forces, the government did in haste that which was unwarranted under the constitution, has not the day of restitution come? Perhaps few of tho original tax payers are living to enter their claims. The descendants, In many instances, could establish just claims and any unclaimed amount might be turned over to tho various State Treasurers, for use In the common school fund. This appeal is to the mind, after the passions have subsided. It is not made in the name of charity, nor yet is it a demand, but plainly and unequivocally It ls a call to the per formance of a duty, which If longer neglected must reflect upon the hon esty of the nation. (Loud applause on the Democratic side.) Catarrh Cannot be Cured with LOCAL APPLICATIONS, as they cannot reach the seat of the dis ease. Catarrh ls a blood or constitu tional disease, and in order to iure lt you must take internal remedies. Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken Inter nally, and acta directly on the blood and muoous surfaces. It waa pre scribed by one of the best physicians of this country for years, and ls a regular prescription. It Is composed of the best tonics known, combined with the best blood purifiers, acting directly on the mucous surfaces. The perfect combinations of the two in gredients ls what produces such wonderful results In curing catarrh. Send for testimonials free. F. J. CHENEY & CO., Props., 9 Toledo, O. Sul? by all druggists. Price 75c. Take Hall's Family Pills for con stipation. TO ACT QUICKLY. Delay Hos Been Dangerous in Wal halla. Do the right thing at the right time. Act quickly in times of danger. Backache is kidney danger. Doan's Kidney Pills act quickly. Cure all distressing, dangerous kidney Ills. Plenty of evidence to prove this. W. D. Moss, living on Main street, Walhalla, S. C., says: "I have used Doan's Kidney Pills, and am pleased to say that I received great relief. I had several symptoms of kidney dis ease. Occasionally my back would ache, and at times the kidney secre tions were Irregular in action. I Anally procured Doan's Kidney Pills at Dr. J. W. Bell's drug store, and I have felt a great deal bettor since I began taking them. They are all that they are recommended to be, and I cannot endorse them too highly as a reliable kidney remedy." For sale by all dealers. Price 60 cents. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, New York, sole agents for the United States. Remember the name-Doan's and take no other. STORK AT LIBERTY BURNED. Chapmun & Callahom Lose Big Stock of Merchandise. (Easley Progress.) Chapman & Callaham, general mer chants, of Liberty, had the misfor tune to lose their store room and be tween $16,000 and $18,000 worth of merchandise by fire last Thursday night. The fire was discovered In the rear of the store about ll p. m., and the fact that the building was old and constructed entirely of wood, lt burned very rapidly, making a blaze that could be seen for miles In every direction. They carried only about $8,000 insurance on the building and stock, making their loss between $8, 000 and $10,000. Several nearby buildings were in danger, but by the heroic work of a bucket brigade and the use of a hose attached to a small gasoline engine, water was pumped from Will Parsons's well and thvy were saved. Chapman & Callaham are among the oldest merchants in Liberty and were doing a prosperous business. We understand lt is their intention to rebuild and try it again. Orino Laxative Fruit Syrup is best for women and children. Its mild action and pleasant taste makes lt preferable to violent purgatives, such as pills, tnblets, etc. Get the booklet and a sample of Orino at any drug Btore. FOR l\ Attractive Hat: and Ca Hats from $1 to $4. Men'* Caps from J Oe? to $1. Men's Fancy Vests, pr Best 50c. and $1 Shirts Hosiery, Suspenders ar Best $10, $12.50 and $ Try buying your good We sell everything in correct prices, with an iron ??'*.(..* ?t?k'tv<ntlft?vr?. .?*?at#? **** are just the covering needed they're fire-proof, storm- proc long us the building itself-c< SENECA HARDW rossi: CAPTURES DESPERADO. i Georg*? Outlaw, Wanted tor Murder, Captured and in Tolls. Knoxville, Tenn., April 29.- A special to the Journal and Tribune from Copper Hill, Tenn., says a posse of nine men, headed by Sheriff Clint Griff, of Fannln county, Georgia, has captured the outlaw, John Harper, In the mountains of Fannln county, five miles south of McCay's. Harper was a fugitive from justice for the mur der of Allison England, near Blue Ridge, Ga., committed about a year ago. He escaped from the Fulton county jail at Atlanta February 1, where he was Incarcerated pending his appeal to the Supreme Court for the murder of Sheriff Keith, of Mur ray county, Georgia. Harper was found at the home of his father-in law, William Wimbery, concealed In the garret. The posse surrounded the house and forced him to surren der under the belief that the house was being burned down. Rewards for his arrest aggregated close to ono thousand dollars. Charles L. Lovering Dead. Boston, Mass., May 4.-Charles L. Lovering, one of the leading cotton -. - e-*- _ ? AV - IT..i. . , ......... lllilll?l.H UUi Irt \JL kllO UUIWU >J?.???.V?, died here to-day. Mr. Lovering was president and treasurer of mills in Lowell, Mass., Roem G.a., in Ala bama, and in other New England and Southern States. The mills controll ed by him consumed annually 160, 000 bales of cotton. Mr. Lovering was prominent in the business and social life of this city. His father before him was a leading manufac turer. He ls survived by one bro ther, Congressman W. C. Lovering. ingani /IEN AND 1 ps for Men and Boys in all style i Straws and Panamas, from J etty lot to select from ; prices $1 \f cut full and roomy, pretty patti id Underwear, correct styles and 15 Men's Suits, in many styles, s here and you are guaranteed a Men's and Ladies' wear and h clad guarantee to please every ci \j\z?! DRESSED. :WEUi DRESSE LT GO ^E PLACE" WHFRB ',KNO?jHO$/.Tc? 1 M .NECA, S. for country buildings, because >f, easy to put on,' and. last as >me in ana see them. COUNTERFEIT CASE HEARD. Asylum Attendants Held on Charge of Passing Spurious Coins. Columbia, April 29.-R. M. Ken nedy and C. W. Brown, tbe two at tendants of the Hospita] for the In sane, who were arrested yesterday by Secret Service Operative J. M. Wright for alleged pausing of coun terfeit half dollars, said to have been made by Willis Drlggers, a Dorches ter man, in the Hospital, were to-day brought before United States Com missioner Verne'r for a preliminary examination. They stated that they secured the counterfeits from Drlg gers, but denied putting them into circulation. A number of witnesses were examined. Commissioner Ver nor sent the case up to the District Court, and Kennedy and Brown were released on $500 bond each. .fata tn th? hood-r?ln anywhere, baa Its Fain i?oqn?e*Uon, piin ls blood prewuro-nothing sb* vmmif. ? at 1?**. to MTI Dr. ?hoop, and to SOT* UM ha? crestad a UttYeplnk tablet. That feblet-^ftad Dr. 8bWa Headache Tablet ea prM?uro away from bain cent?n, iharynlnf. pleaalnaly dfUfhtrol. Gently, dy, lt fumy eqoaUaee the blood circu J rou have a nea dache, it's blood presouro. Jj lt1? painful periods with womer., same esuKv Il you are ?Toeplea?, rettie**, nerroo*, lt'i blood uurwUou-blood procure. That rarely la a dntr. for Dr. Snoop'? Headache Tablets atop 90 fldnutss ?nd Uio tablets ?Imply distribute anna taral blood pleasure, lae roar flnjer, and doesn't lt vet red. and mild n*ln mu? O? tvn,T it ,lr>**. If g (Vin. acn, blood pressure. You'll find it when pain always. Ifs simply Common Sense. . sall al 2? cents, and Cheerfully recommend Dr. Shoop's Headache Tablets J. W, BELL. J Hats 30YS. ts, best values. Men's Felt 0c. to $5. Boys' Hats and .50, $2 and $2.50. ems and good values. 1 attractive prices. gainst disappointments, [ouse Furnishing Goods at istomer or money back. May is upon us. Have you not already waited too long to prepare for Spring and Sum mer. You ? have seen the crowds in our store, does not that tell you that the choice things for the season aro fast disappearing. Remember, the sooner you get your new things the longer you will have to enjoy them, and can anything give you more joy ?ti _** than wearing attractive ap parel .