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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



plenimde of his po.ver aud inllueuce, neret saw the day he 

 could have banished him from that " gem of the oceau." 



Whea the pig first crossed to this westera world remains iu 

 doubt. Whether he came with the Pilgrims, pressing with 

 the foot of a pioneer the Blarney-stoue of New England, and 

 scanning with fearless eye the cheerless prospect before him, 

 or whether, regardless of liberty of conscience, and careful only 

 of his own comfort, he waited till the first trials and toils of a 

 ne.v settlement had been mot and overcome, we have no record ; 

 enough for us that he is here ; how or where he came concerns 

 us not. He is among us and of us. From souse to sausage 

 we have loved him ; from ham to harselet we have honoured 

 him ; from chine to chops we have cherished him. The care 

 we have shown him has been repaid a hundred-fold. He has 

 loaded our tables, and lighted our fire sides, and smiling plenty 

 has followed in his steps, where hungry famine would have 

 stalked in his absence. 



But still further towards the setting sun has been the arena 

 of the pig's greatest triumphs ; there have been the fields of his 

 widest influence. Beneath the vast forests of Ohio, raining to 

 the ground their yearly harvests of mast — tiirough her broad 

 corn-fields, stretching as far as the eye can see, he has roamed, 

 and fed, and fattened. Prom him, and the commercial interests 



he has mainly coiitributed to establish, has grown a mighty 

 State, scarcely second to any in this confederacy ; from his 

 ashes has arisen a new order in society — the " Bristleocracy of 

 the great West." 



A broad levee bustling with business, lofty and spacious 

 stores aud slaughter-houses, crowded pens, and a river bearing 

 on its bosom steamboats in fleets — all attest the influence 

 which the pig has exerted on the agricultural and commercial 

 interests of the great State of Ohio. He his filled the coff'ers 

 of her bankers, and has bought the silks which cover her belles. 

 He has built the beautiful palaces which adoru the " Queen 

 City of the West," and feeds the princely luxury of those who 

 inhabit them. There he is almost an object of worship, and 

 his possession is considered as sbout equivalent to a patent of 

 nobility. Fancy dimly paints the picture, when a few years 

 hence, the wealthy pork merchant, who justly boasts his nume- 

 rous qunrterinrjs, shall, iu the true spirit of heraldry, paint on 

 the panel of his carriage, and on the escutcheon over his door- 

 way, a lustrous shield, bearing in brilliant colours a single pig, 

 his bristles all rampant, his tail closely curlanl, and his mouth 

 widely opctht, till the lions, the griffins, and the unicorns of the 

 Old World shall fade into insignificance before the heraldic 

 devices of the New." Geokge S. Tait, Chairman. 



VOLUNTARY TAXATION 



Sir, — Methinks I hear some of your readers repeat the 

 words, and say, " Voluntary taxation ! what can that mean ?" 

 Paying taxes is no such pleasiug duty ; but to be freed from 

 them is, I believe, the desire of every individual, and to reiti- 

 gate taxation constitutes much of the labours of every states- 

 man. Seeing, therefore, that freedom from taxes is so 

 ardently desired by all, how, it will be asked, are we to recon- 

 cile this with the expression " voluntary taxation," or the act 

 of a man's taxing himself ? Perhaps the quotation of a pas- 

 sage from the works of Dr. Benjamin Franklin will serve to 

 introduce the subject upon which I propose making a few re- 

 marks. " Friends," says he, " and neighbours, the taxes are 

 indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were 

 the only taxes we had to pay, we might more easily discharge 

 them ; but we have many others, and much more grievous to 

 some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, 

 three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by 

 our folly, and from these taxes the commissioners cannot ease 

 or deliver us by allowing an abatement." Now, Sir, we live iu 

 an age in which the discoveries of science have done much 

 towards enlightening the minds of the people, and, as a neces- 

 sary consequence, this increase of knowledge is wielded in the 

 production of evil as well as of good. The progress of civiliza- 

 tion hai also extended our ideas of luxury, and given scope to 

 the development of pride in the gay world of fashion ; conse- 

 quently the inducements to this description of taxation have 

 been considerably cxteaded since the days of Dr. Franklin, and 

 may afford an opportunity of enumerating a few of the different 

 ways in which this taxation is palmed upon the public, aud 

 through which, in a great many instances at least, people 

 voluntarily tax themselves. My remarks shall bear as much 

 as possible upon subjects connected with agriculture, although 

 a passing glance at the impositions through which many of all 

 classes allow themselves to be taxed may not prove uninterest- 

 ing ; aud I shall not refer to the first and second means men- 

 tioned by Dr. Franklin, through which individuals tax them- 

 selves, further than to remark, that, by instituting a rigid 



investigation into the amount of taxation we impose upon our- 

 selves by idleness and pride, wc will be enabled to discover 

 results which before we had but little anticipated. It is, 

 therefore, to the third means, viz., folly, or want of due consi- 

 deration, that is to be attributed much of that voluntary taxa- 

 tion of which I am about to speak. 



The ills to which mankind are subject are numerous, and 

 often very acute ; and however incurable our affliction may in 

 reality be, the most distant ray of relief is nevertheless generally 

 grasped at with the greatest eagerness, aud the history of the 

 present age is "every man for himself," and how he can prey 

 most largely upon his neighbour, or impose most successfully 

 upon the credulity of the public ; hence much money is spent 

 for that which profiteth not, or, in other words, is a certain 

 description of taxation. We have only to unfold almost any 

 Loudon newspaper, and run our eyes over its advertising 

 columns : there we will see remedies the most simple for all 

 diseases — chronic, acute, or hereditary — so that one might al- 

 most expect to see mankind freed from the numerous ills to 

 which they are subject, and even death itself overcome. Or, do 

 we want assistance in the diflSeulties and troubles which beset 

 us iu life? then observe such advertisements as the following: 

 " Money to be lent, at a moderate rate of interest, on the 

 borrower's personal security." " A most lucrative business can 

 be obtained by any one who can advance the moderate sura of 

 500/." " Partner wanted iu an old-established lucrative business, 

 who can advance a capital of 1,000/." " The advertiser can pro- 

 cure for any young man of good business habits an excellent 

 permanent situation, on payment of a small premium." In fact 

 there is no difl^cult position in which we can be placed, no 

 want with which we can be assailed, no requirement which 

 fancy can suggest, for which this wonderful mart cannot supply 

 an antidote. But when we come to examine more closely the 

 pretensions of most of these advertisers, we shall find that the 

 M.D , F.R.C.S., appended to the name of the would-be 

 physician, is often a complete forgery; that the easy means of 

 obtaiuiug mouey, the lucrative business, the faithful partner, or 



