1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 23 



"Were the property of this Societ_y reduced to cash, and there- 

 after converted into Federal Bonds, we should enjoy complete 

 immunity from taxation. Our investment is, however, in Real 

 Estate, improved by ourselves for the express objects of our or- 

 ganization ; and from the rental of a portion of it must be de- 

 rived the only income that we can apply to "promote the Science 

 and encourage and improve the Practice of Horticulture." 

 Should we fail to lease our first floor ; — unless we find a profit- 

 able return from the occasional uses of our main Hall ; — we 

 may as well surrender our charter. A Special Statute lias 

 enacted that taxation shall be remitted upon so much of our 

 property as is devoted to Horticultural purposes. It is but a re- 

 fined sort of casuistry, at best, that denies exemption to a part 

 when all is dedicated to one and the same end. But, if the 

 burden is rightly imposed upon us, how happens it that such par- 

 tial application of the law is restricted to Horticulture ) Why 

 should Flora, Pomona, and Ceres be taxed and Theologi-cus go 

 scot free ! The exemption of the Agricultural Society is abso- 

 lute and unqualified. Otherwise, — it might be asked why that 

 corporation should not be mulcted for so much of its revenue as is 

 derived from tlie exhibition of naked men, plodding for wagers 

 beneath a summer's sun, in a dreary and monotonous round, to 

 the disgust of an afflicted neighborhood ! But, in the matter of 

 the Meeting-houses, the Assessors can plead no valid excuse. 



fifty to a hundred clean, linen-clad soldiers, returning to barrack from bath- 

 ing, and singing in concert, were in painful contrast. 



The far-reaching claws of the despotic rulers are seen in the glistening 

 white turnpikes, straight as an arrow fi"om point to point. Useful for the 

 teamster? Oh, yes; but much more to hurry troops and artillery from cen- 

 tral points. At every railroad crossing, a man in the prime of life, stands in 

 military position as we pass ; all soldiers, ready at tap of drum to fall in. It 

 is not dark till ten; and as late as we can see, are these white women, slaves, 

 toiling in the fields. It ceases to charm, seeing such thorough cultivation, 

 when one counts the cost. What homes must these barefooted, filthy 

 wretches go to, at 9 o'clock or later, to leave at sunrise? I asked what wages 

 were paid. ' Those best ofi" are under contract with the big sugar factories ; 

 they have cotfee before they go out, and something warm when they return, 

 with 80 pfennigs (20 cents !) a day; those who board themselves get a mark 

 (24: cents) a day.' 



This is the ultimate result in a country whose industries are ' protected ' to 

 the extreraest extent. It results in having the strong, those in office, have 

 comparative sinecures, and the weakest portion of the community made little 

 better than slaves. C. W. L. 



Leipzig, June, 1886. 



