200 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



i dollar head-tax on every negro, without distinc- 

 tion of age. Shortly before the war the number 

 of the negroes was counted at 93,000 head. This 

 number was diminished by the war ; however, a 

 a considerable sum is thus raised. 

 A tax on capitals, as it were, a fixed per cent, of the 

 value of stocks in trade; and a species of trades- 

 tax for professional men. 

 The revenues from these taxes, which are consider- 

 able, were applied to the payment of debts and interest, 

 and to other needs of the state. The 2*^2 per cent, en- 

 trance-duty was to be devoted to the Congress, and 

 although this was really collected in Carolina there 

 was at the time a hesitation whether to deliver the pro- 

 ceeds to the Congress, none of the other states having 

 so done, and several of them having flatly refused, not 

 even collecting the duty. 



For the current year 1784 the Assembly has devised 

 1 ways & means ' to raise in taxes the sum of 104000 

 Pd. Sterling if it should be necessary ; but provisionally 

 the assessment has been fixed at only 79400 Pd. The 

 tax on negroes was raised from one to two dollars, 

 and it was a question whether 3 dollars would not be 

 more advantageous; especially as the proportional in- 

 crease of the land-tax from 1 to 2 dollars the 100 

 acres was strongly opposed by the inhabitants of the 

 back country. These would have less to say against 

 an increased tax on negroes, because in that interior 

 region few or no negroes are used. The civil dis- 

 bursements of the state amount to about 40000 Pd. 

 Sterling. The Governor alone receives 1000 Pd. 

 salary, and the other servants of the state are paid in 

 proportion. 



