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tributed little to the oational treasury, and not 

 feeling any immediate thankfalness at the pros' 

 perit^ of his lot, woald be apt to rail at the 



change, declare it unequal and unjust; whereas, 

 tije latter would be more alive to the greater 

 cheapness with which he could provide for his 

 family, and be content to look closely to the ex 

 penditure of the government, that required him 

 to pay, in so tangible a manner, towards its sap- 

 port. Governnaents under direct taxation would 

 be administered more economically; the people 

 would require more accountability on the part 

 of their rulers. The disbursements necessary to 

 k3ep up and sustain custom houses, which must 

 already have cost this nation some fifty millions 

 of dollars, would not be needed in the simple 

 mode of assessment by direct taxation. Rev- 

 enue cutters, are the outside appliances to pre- 

 vent smuggling, and protect this interest are on- 

 erous, complicated and corrupt, only perhaps 

 equalled by the corruption that reigns within. 

 No other department of our government is, no 

 other can be framed, so utterly undemocratic; 

 that has so little direct contact or accountability 

 with the people. It stands, with its pile of 

 marble or stone, a huge colossus, not like the 

 one at Rhodes, which had au heathen grandeur 

 in it, or an Eastern Pagoda, whose gods look 

 down with derision upon the simple ones around. 

 The entry of foreign goods through the custom 

 house involves a delay to the ship of one week, 

 that is to say, five days are allowed for the en- 

 tries, which, with an intervening Sunday, may 

 be construed into a week, before the hatches are 

 open, "bulk is broken," the ship begins to dis- 

 charge. Now, can the whole nation stand this 

 week's suspension of its trade, when without 

 this system we could discharge our goods when- 

 «ver we choose, by sight or by day, at any place, 

 without the supervision of any officer or his 

 keys, or being subjected to any control not 

 known to the ordinary pursuits of life? Again, 

 this system infringes upon the laws of God s 

 providence, not within the line of corament by 

 the mere political economist, that assigns di£fer- 

 enccs of soils, climates, and productions to the 

 different nations of the earth, restraining each 

 from the other, placing barriers between them, 

 and breaking up those mutual relationships that 

 we may suppose these diflFerences were instituted 

 to promote. That there is no sudden or im- 

 mediate relief to this condition of things we 

 know, while the European world and those na- 

 tions that we have the most intercourse with 

 continue their tarifia and protection laws, we 



must continue our's as a countervailing efibct. 

 But let demand and supply be infringed upon as 

 little as possible, and trade will run into evener 

 channels. Place the ifewer impediments in the 

 way and more will engage in trade, fewer will 

 overdo, because monpolies will be removed. 

 We have said that the rich would feel this 

 change, and the circamstance would have a 

 beneficial effect in confiaing property within 

 simpler limits, in making it more productive, for 

 who would want unemployed land or capital? 

 and in the long run we are not so sure the gen- 

 eral benefit even to the wealthy, would not more 

 than compensate for their apparently heavy in- 

 dividual tax. 



Laziness and improvidence, some would say, 

 should not be exempt from taxation, but they 

 are their own reward, and a poll tax if neces- 

 sary, might be devised to meet their case, but 

 the enhanced rest of the houses tkey live in, the 

 e:rounds they occupy, and here the rich reap an 

 advantage, will always ensure for this class their 



share of the public burden. B. 



_ ,^ 



Chinese Sugar Cane. 



We have noticed the publications of in- 

 dividuals who have made experiments witli 

 the Chinese Sugar Cane, with a good deal 

 of attention, and so far we have not seen 

 the first thing to discourage the hope that 

 molasses and sugar can be made from this 

 cane. No regular attempts seem to have 

 been made for making sugar, but in- many 

 instances the molasses has granulated, and 

 those who understand the subject best ex- 

 press the utmost confidence that good sugar, 

 as we know good molasses, can be made 

 from the plant. 



We have now before us the American Ag- 

 riculturist, which contains several articles 

 on the subject of this cane. We select two 

 of them: 



Cold Spring Harbor, Jan .21, '57. 

 To the Editor of the Am. Agriculturist: 



Last year I found it produced a very 

 sweet juice, and I saved enough seed from 

 ten plants to put in half an acre. One half 

 I fed out, and found horses, pigs and cattle, 

 eat it with avidity, though when ripe, owing 

 to the flinty skin, the latter could not eat it. 

 The balance, after breaking the joints with 

 a mallet, I passed once through a rude self- 

 constructed pressing apparatus, and it pro- 

 duced, when boiled down, seventy gallons 

 of good syrnp or molasses, which I am 



