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THE EXCHEQUER CHANCELLOR AND HIS TAXES. The newspaper Stamp is continued as a measure of Police, to prevent the working classes from having newspapers of their own ; but the advertisement duty is continued as a means of revenue. The Paper tax does answer that latter purpose ; but it has the serious objection of being the most odious of the three, as an excise tax, any species of which entails the necessity of domiciliary visits by a tax-gathering gendarmerie, who fulfil the triple duties of tax-eollector, policeman, and spy. Yet of the three, that odious tax is b y no means the one most essentially vicious, since neither of the other two answers its purpose. The newspaper stamp does not prevent the working classes from haying newspapers suited to their pockets; but it effectually prevents sound political papers from circulating freely amongst them. On this point we are able to speak at once with knowledge, and without selfinterest ; since, proud as we are of the support and confidence which we receive from so nu-
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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gamble in the chances of the two . This is not our own assertion—not the assertion of a journal devoted to propagating the doctrine , that the mutual welfare of men is a greater thing than the exclusive profit of one—but it is authoritatively announced in journals in public tribunals , and in Parliament , —by accredited writers , by juries , by official men . The adulteration which the Lancet has detected and proclaimed in the food that retail trade lays upon the table of the English consumer , is imitated by the shipowner and by the railway manager . The traitor of barbarous countries and barbarous times—the poisoner of
the East and of the Middle Ages , is now supplied in his place bj the shopkeeper of London ; and as tyrants of old set their creatures to poison each other for the benefit of their subjects , so tradesmen of our enlightened country as vendors set themselves to poison each other as consumers , andverily they succeed . Each man writes up alittle more to his profit , exactly apportioned to the amount of copper or verdigris which he has succeeded in inserting into the food of his next-door neighbour , who is exactly in the same manner writing up a profit apportioned to the amount of red lead or strychnine which he has insinuated into the stomach of the first . And that is the
last blessed result of competition in trade ! Butwe have thesame resultfrom competition on the highway . The railways of the country are bent upon underselling each other so as to attract custom , and at the same time to make up dividends out of wages or expenditure ; for which reason they keep their railways short of hands , their stock short of repair , and their lines decaying . It is so although the traffic has increased , the size of the engines has increased , and thus rails are made to bear a strain which was not intended . The fact is , that embankments give
way , bridges settle , rails soften , split , twist , and exfoliate ; carriages shake and crack ; trains run off lines , up cuttings , down embankments , over each other , and under each other ; and passengers are killed . That such result will flow from such causes railway directors have long known ; but they persevere in killing their fellow-countrymen rather than revise their expenditure and profits . Now , it is not we who say that . Captain Wynn has declared the rotten state of railroads . The Lancashire and Yorkshire railway , he says , is in parts in a state unsafe , and especially unsafe foi id at which trains
trains driven at the rapspeed have been driven on that line ; and he says , that this line is not alone in these peculiarities ; hut that " there are a great number of lines in tho kingdom where very great speeds are maintained , of which this line is only a type . " There has been an extensive adulteration and deterioration of railroads , with fatal results : the fatal results are known beforehand—Captain Wynn explained the whole process , as the Lancet has done : but railway managers have persevered to pursue their profit through the bloodshed of the railway . _ _
.... They do the same thing on the high seas . There is a splendid example in a company which at present enjoys a Government contract—the Australian Eoyal Mail Steam-packet Company . We have from time to time recorded the departure of vessels belonging to this company , and every departure has been attended by the loudest complaints on the part of passengers ; the vessels have been visited by tho most unwonted series of disasters ; and now there has been a ship for some weeks trying to leave our coast ,
and unalilo to do so , from tho sheer incapacity of the vessel to continue at sea . She tried to go , and waB obliged to put back ; she tried to go a second time , and a third time ; but her engines would not work , her pumps would not work satisfactorily , a leak gained upon her , the water was only kept down by the exertions of her passengers united to those of tho crew , and she was just able to struggle back to Plymouth . Thin appears to us to be an instance of commercial pertinacity carried to an extent oP recklessness quite ghastly . On
board that ship there were not only goods ; there was not only staked in her the reputation of ft public company , but thero woro living persons ; and yVifc , rather than give up its project , the company tried to force across the ocean a whip Actually unable to keep at sea at all , and that after twopcrilous attempts . We say nothingofthohoedl © BBiioH 8 which must have presided over every stage in tho process of constructing that fillip ; nothing of tho very alone sharing of outlay winch
regulated the furnishing of it , and of others upon the same line ; but we need speak only of the obstinate attempts to force such a vessel to sea , with'human beings on board , for the profit of persons who remain safe in their homes . It is the newest and the sublimest illustration of what trade can make men do when they trust solely to the religion and impnlse of enlightened selfishr
ness . Perhaps these men are Christians , and have a balance at their bankers , and supposing as much , let us for their benefit again refer them to that noble story of David in the case of Adullam . He had longed for water , and three of his captains , breaking through the host of the Philistines , brought it to him from the well of Bethlehem ; but , saying , " My God forbid it to me that I should do this thing : shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in
jeopardy ? " he poured it out to the Lord . Shall these traders keep to their profit the money received from their ill-served passengers , received through the exertions of their officers , who have put their lives in jeopardy P Or shall they poor forth their treasure to the Lord—hasten to get rid of that which is an accursed burden to them , but might be a blessed water if poured out with the hand of charity on a good ground ? Perhaps , however , they are not so much Christians as " Protestants , " and would startle in holy horror from so catholic an infidelity to their credit .
The Exchequer Chancellor And His Taxes. The Newspaper Stamp Is Continued As A Measure Of Police, To Prevent The Working Classes From Having Newspapers Of Their Own ; But The Advertisement Duty Is Continued As A Means Of Revenue. The Paper Tax Does Answer That Latter Purpose ; But It Has The Serious Objection Of Being The Most Odious Of The Three, As An Excise Tax, Any Species Of Which Entails The Necessity Of Domiciliary Visits By A Tax-Gathering Gendarmerie, Who Fulfil The Triple Duties Of Tax-Eollector, Policeman, And Spy. Yet Of The Three, That Odious Tax Is B Y No Means The One Most Essentially Vicious, Since Neither Of The Other Two Answers Its Purpose. The Newspaper Stamp Does Not Prevent The Working Classes From Haying Newspapers Suited To Their Pockets; But It Effectually Prevents Sound Political Papers From Circulating Freely Amongst Them. On This Point We Are Able To Speak At Once With Knowledge, And Without Selfinterest ; Since, Proud As We Are Of The Support And Confidence Which We Receive From So Nu-
THE EXCHEQUER CHANCELLOR AND HIS TAXES . The newspaper Stamp is continued as a measure of Police , to prevent the working classes from having newspapers of their own ; but the advertisement duty is continued as a means of revenue . The Paper tax does answer that latter purpose ; but it has the serious objection of being the most odious of the three , as an excise tax , any species of which entails the necessity of domiciliary visits by a tax-gathering gendarmerie , who fulfil the triple duties of tax-eollector , policeman , and spy . Yet of the three , that odious tax is b y no means the one most essentially vicious , since neither of the other two answers its purpose . The newspaper stamp does not prevent the working classes from haying newspapers suited to their pockets ; but it effectually prevents sound political papers from circulating freely amongst them . On this point we are able to speak at once with knowledge , and without selfinterest ; since , proud as we are of the support and confidence which we receive from so nu-
merous a circle of readers among the working classes , we are quite aware that the inevitable cost , and the character of a journal intended for a different class , must prevent it from becoming the newspaper of the working classes . So far from viewing other journals in that field as competitors , we may declare that every fresh means of educating the mind of our labouring fellow countrymen increases our expectation of being understood and welcomed by them . But the
kind of journal which Would originate amongst themselves — be filled with news selected by them—animated by views peculiar to themcirculating information specially concerning them , is restricted in form , m size , in usefulness of every kind , by tho imperative necessity of evading cither tho law or the ordinary necessities of journalism . A real newspaper of tho working classes—a Times for themselves , is impossible under the burden of the penny stamp ; and that the existing law does prevent .
It does not prevent amongst them tho circulation of papers which are meagre in information , copious only in the lower kind -of news gossip , or animated by sentiments which no Government ought to applaud , though we verily beliovo that our Governments fear depravity less than independent thought in religion , morals , or polities . Tho Advertisement tax ( loos not produce revenue . Ostensibly , indeed , it raises about Iho
15 O , OO 0 A a year , but it stifles much more " prevention is plainer than it usually is in such cases . Notwithstanding tho high cost of advertising in English papers , it is plain that advertising " pays , " since tradesmen do advertise . It can only pay , by promoting tho consumption of saleable articles ; and tho Chancellor of tho Exehequor can say how many articles consumed by tho British " people am exemp t from tax . livery advertisement of " No . I , St . Paul ' s Churchyard" pays 1 * . Od . to tho Advertisement
duty , but causes a payment of infinitely more to the Tea duty ; and it is the same with every announcement of Bass's Pale Ale , or a thousand other things . In all these cases , the receipt to the revenue by help of the advertisement is much greater from the duty on the articles advertised , than from the duty on the advertisement itself . It is true that some articles advertised pay no duty ; but not the larger proportion .
It is equally true that the AdvertiseineJit tax prevents an immense number of advertisemesiits , and restricts the form of those which do appear in a mode detrimental to the seller , and therefore to the revenue . For example * house agent * must pay duty on every tenement advertised , and cannot include many in long comprehensive lists ; and thus the agent is debarred from multiplying arid varying his advertisements as he would like to do . The fixed charge of 1 * . 6 d . prevents all small advertisements—those single ^ nned or two-lined announcements which are so common in the American papers ; or if it does not prevent them for very rich advertisers , it restricts them to the very rich .
It has another effect : by totally preventing very cheap advertisements—shilling , or event sixpenny advertisements—it bears hard on servants , and wholly debars the great bulk of working people from using that method of announcing their own want of work ; or those detailed improvements which often originate among working people , and sometimes require the workman himself to carry into execution . By this irieaflsv as well as its operation on the small trader , it restricts the income of working-man and shopman : but income is the very fountain-head Of revenue—income mostly to be expended in taxable articles . Thus the advertisement tax is that absurdest
of all taxes , —a tax upon revenue . The last point may be interesting to the Chancellor of the Exchequer . The special wants of the working classes can have little interest for men who are so removed from the most trttmerous class of their conntrymen , by station , and still more by habits of life ; and accordingly on Saturday , having been badgered for a very long time by the merchants and other grandees of London , the Chancellor of the Exchequer
could not wait to hear the operation of the impost on the working class explained to him . Nor yet , although he appeared to be very little informed as to the working of the tax on the very subject of it , wearied as he must have been , and thirsting for a little refreshing intercourse with his visitors , could he refrain front encouraging light chat rather than close information . This accounts for his not being able to understand how a reduction to 6 d . —of which he talked
in his pleasantest way—could be comparatively valueless ; or he might easily have understood that the worst way of augmenting revenue is to put a tax upon revenue . Imagine a tradesman making his customers pay a tax upon his own handbills ! But the Chancellor of the Exchequer" , pressed for his budget , and badgered by deputations , and suspected of heterodoxy in university affairs , has no time to learn the working of the sources of taxation . He must strike out his taxes by gome great a priori process ; and thus it is , no doubt , that our Chancellor * df tho Exchequer have struck out the bright idea of a tax upon revenue .
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THE COMMONS , HONOURABLE BVT NOT CHRISTIAN . Me . Newdtcgatk asks tho House of Commons , " Whether tho Atheism of England shall be represented P" We can tell Mr . Newdogato and his coadjutors that thoro is one thing which ought to bo represented in tho House of Commons which is not , and that is—the people of England . Tho Atheists of England are not represented aa Atheists , and wo are not aware at tho present
moment that they are urging their Parliamentary claims as a distinct class . If they were to come out in that form , wo believe that they would include many persons whom Mr . jNewdogate would be aghast to view in that capacity ; and wo can tell him that not unfroquently ho sits amongst Atheists disguised by that very thin mast which Sir Robert Inglis prefers to conscientious candour . Tho Atheists of England , perhaps , aro not moving for a Parliamentary representation , since virtually they have it already in quite eufilcient proportion—in a much larger proportion ,
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278 THE LEADER . [ SatpbpaV ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 19, 1853, page 278, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1978/page/14/
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