have stated also that we regard the existing taxes on the manufactured article 

 as so great that they are lessening the use of tobacco, and in the end will defeat 

 their sole purpose — the collection of revenue — and will also injure the grower 

 hy lessening the demand f')r the leaf. 



The published proceedings of this convention have been laid before us by 

 their able secretary, Mr. Edward Bmke, and his own address constitutes the 

 most important part of the proceedings. In so doing, our attention has been 

 called to the paragraph on the 11th page, btit it is one that arrested our attention 

 when first reading his address as published in one of the New York papers. 



We propose to examine the principle embodied in this paragraph, and in so 

 doing shall give our dissent plainly and freely, but we trust not disrespectfully 

 to one for whom we have no other feeling than the greatest respect and admi- 

 ration for the candid expression of his opinions. 



The paragraph referred to reads as follows : 



"In its tobacco trade this country has one of the most friiittul elements of national wealth 

 thatevfr blessed a nation, and in itsencmragenient and direction our statesmen have one of the 

 most intere-ting industrial problems that ever exercised the human intellect The crop of 

 ItJtiU, befoie alluded to, and the recorded manufacture of J8tJ4, requiting in its conversion 

 about 9-{,liUt.i,tiUU pounds of leaf, with the annual exports averag-ing in the neig-liborhood of 

 150,000,(100 pounds, convey a comparative idea ot the resjutx-es and importance of the in- 

 terest. To direct this interest aright, the government must take hold of it — must grasp it — 

 must clutch it with hooks of steel and bands of iron. Men must not have the opportunity 

 to manufacture tobacco without assessment in the towns or use it in the raw sta>e in the coun- 

 try. To pievent this is a duty which the government owes not less to itself than to the 

 manufacturers. Under any system, it is to the manufacture: s it must look for its revenue ; 

 and it is bound by every moral tie to see that no impediment stands between them and the 

 highest degree of prosperity. In a death-giapple likt^this which the nation is engaged with 

 insolvency, when it is calling upon eveiy man to give*liis mite, country people have no more 

 right to use tobacco iu tiie natuial state than the residents of the city have to manufacture 

 it and evade the tax, or than either have to smuggle goods through the custom-house, or to 

 rob a bank. The government calls upon the manufacturers for the tax; it stands face to 

 face with them; it calls upon them alone; there is no middle man between; the question is 

 not between government and producers; it is between government and manufactureis, and 

 mamifactureis, by virtue of this responsibility, are entitled to every guarantee that can be 

 ti^idwi) aiound tliem. They shuul I hacc a /jirpetunl lien on the entire cunsunipiiun of the 

 country; they bhoubl dictate ichat nti^ht be usid ; it is their in'lefensible ri<(ht tinder tlic cir- 

 cunnsttiiiccs, iind the gocernnient will be unnindjul of its duty if it do nit secure that riaht to 

 them. This is justice, simple justice — noiliing moie. Not to do this, is to bid a mason or 

 carpenter to build a house and withhold from tiiui the materials to do it with. Il'hile manu- 

 fdCturid tobacco in ec-ryform is taxed, no man should be allowed to taste a morsel of uiunnnu- 

 factured tobacco m any form. And this should be the case whether the limitation yieided a 

 laiger or smaller revenue. This is the view taken by European i{orernnient< of the q'lestion, 

 anU it IS the only view that can be taken if tite welfire of the trade be regarded. To him who 

 under- slimates the amount of illir, t manufacture curried on in populous c-ties, and irho knoics 

 nothing oj the quantity consumed in the raw state elsewhere, a restriction such as this would 

 seem to vtrge on sumptuary despotism. Kut let him uiice learn to what an extent the former 

 prevails, equalling, as is conceived, well-nigh half the legitimate manufacture, and theu let 

 him take a journey through the States and see, as I have rt-ceiitiy seen, the large number 

 who draw the ludely -twisted leaf just as it leaves the stalks I'rom tlieir pouches, and the demand 

 will not appear ihibeial. Ask the soldier what is the practice in the south a Jiong the com- 

 mon people. South, north, east, and west, the practice of usin^ tobacco in the natural 

 state prevails, and always did— now moie than ever; but it should be permitted to prevail 

 nowhere. On every pound raised and consumed in the country the government, fiist, to the 

 extent of the tax sought from it, and 'he manufacturers, second, hare a prior iluim; and 

 whatever impairs the value of that claim defrauds the one and robs the other. Every pound 

 rai>ed and cimsumetl here, whi.e internal revenue is a necessity, should be made amenable 

 to taxatiim, or the treasury will be cheated ot its dues, and the prervgutices of munufuciurers 

 shamefully infringed.'^ 



The words iUiUcised have been so by us, that the attention of the reader 

 might the more readily be drawn to those parts which embody the principle we 



