M DOLLAR CM ANNUM invariably in advance.
TO WAN IDA :
Thursday Morning, August 22, 1861.
Siltrttb HJwtri.
J. >
TtiS TWO FURROWS.
BY C. U- WEBB.
Thf Spring time came. but not with mirth—
The banner of our trust,
A nd with the best hopes of earth
Were trailing in the dust.
The Farmer saw the shame from far.
* And stopped his plow afield :
got the Made of peace but the brand of war
This arm-of mine must wield.
When traitor turn* that *']* nould slai ''
Their botn-ss let women keep ,
tntil its stars bum bright again.
Let others sow and resp.'
The Farmer—" s lifetime long
The pi""' bs been my trust;
111 truth it wcro an arrant wrong
ITo leave it now to ryul."
With ready strength the Farmer tore
The iron fr< m the wood.
And to the village smith he bore
That plow share stout and good.
The blacksmith's arms were bare and brown,
Hi, bellows wheezed and roared :
The Farmer flung his plow share down
Now forgo tue out a sword
And then a merry, merry chimo
The sounding anvil rung ;
,n,.d sooth, it ass a nobler rhyme
Than evet poet sung.
The blacksmith wrought with skill that day,
The blade was keen and bright.
And now where thickest is the fray
The Farmer leads the fight.
X ; as "f old that blade he sways
To break the meadow's sleep,
Bit through the rebel ranks he lays
A furrow broad and deep.
The Farmer's face is burned and brown.
But light i- on his brow,
Right we'd lie wots what blessings crown
The furrow ol the Plow.
•• Hut better is to day's success— *'
Thus rau the Farmer's word—
" For nations yet unborn "-Rail bless
This furrow ol" the Sword
\Uliiiai.
It film Address to the Republican Voters of
(fie i'tli Senatorial District.
ft rvrr.FjfEV ; Two years ago your voluntary
rffmgos placed mo in the Senate of this great
Loinmonwealth, a position of lienor ami inilu-
I t For this evidence of high regard, com
r? as it did unsolicited on my part, 1 could
t feel profoundly grateful, ami should now
xsich regret having done anything to justly
! ' it your confidence.
Between a representative and his constitu
ents there exist reciprocal obligations. It is
•re duty of tlie former to guard watchfully
'he interests of those he immediately repre
sents, and at the same fime he ever ready to
,-emote the prosperity of other sections of the
State, nnd do justice to all parties and all
interest.*.
On the other hand, constituents should re
member that their representative must neces
sarily legislate for others as well ns them, and
should have some reliance upon his intelligence
and integrity, nnd not pre judge his conduct,
much less impeach his motives and character
before the circumstances and merits of the
ra-e are fully understood. Hasty judgment
forur against, is always evidence of a shallow
understtiiiiiitig, while a greedy proclivity to
condemnation is sure proof of u debased na
ture With the principles advocated and votes
:ten by myself, I have heard no complaint
at? in one instance. During the last session
•'•the Legislature a bill was introduced, enti
•*'"An Act for th# commutation of tonnage
■" esThis lull passed the House, sixty
s-abers including the Speaker voting for it,
•ad thirty eight against it. The members
'"oat Bradford and khittpiehnnna voted in the
negative, while the member from Wyoming
'otrd for the measure.
the bill came into the Senate, nfter
'Wwtigating the subject with all possible care,
•ltd calling to my aid the advice ot reliable
men from mv own district, claiming at the
-J)e time th e right to think and judge for
fflyself. expecting to oc held strictly respond
'f- for every act, my rote was given in the nf
'-riaabise. Of that rote some have complain
their complaint, springing, as I think,
•rem a superficial or misunderstanding of the
e subject. I owe it to you to give the
"•'on of my action, I owe it to myself to vin
iJ lle conduct, a duty from which I have
•he first tremor of shrinking. I have no
* mmptring nor whining, no apologies to make,
• pardon* to ask, hut soberly aud frankly I
| -revs myself to the calm judgment of the
'"•rightful and unbiased.
should have given my views upon this
(t -Mlion in the Senate, aud thus to my con
wnts, hut for the fact that on the day this
_ *as under consideration, I occupied the
) '"tion of the Senators an hour or more in
eating another important measure, and
e.-y required that I should not monopo
... ) , re t ' ,au portion of one day. Since
■ rt " :ur, i home I have waited for the second
, bought to possess the public mind, act-
I? P Oll ebster's axiom, " not to sweep the
, u,ltl ' R L done snowing." Lest longer
t ' eilCe ' s i' (, u!d be con-trued into fear or guilt,
t / " v .""h to look at the history, facts
' merits of this question, briefly and cou-
Ce 'Jy staled.
-arv B g o f j, e State constructed and operat
ion U r ailroad. forming a line of com
cation between Philadelphia and Pitts
lllis Wa * called the Main line In 1816
f ■i™^ ari * V W * s f° r,ue d Nnd applied to the Le
tOL* nrC f ° r 4 garter authorizing tbem to
i parallel Road betweeu the same
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
! points Foreseeing tbat this ltoad would ne
cesrarily compete with the State wcrk, the
Legislature granted the charter on condition
the said Company should puV to the State five
mills per ton per mile for all the freight car
ried on the Hoar], dunvg the summer vionths
when the Slate Canal would, be open. They
were not required to pay this tribute during
the winter, thus showing clearly that the ob
ject of the Legislature, was to protect the
business of the state work against a competing
Company, and not to raise reveuue. The
charter was accepted and the Road built sub
ject 10 this tax. The coal and lumbermen, the
transporters of iron and all heavy articles of
production soon found that this tax was well
nigh a prohibition nnd almost precluded them
from the ose of the lload. They could not pay
the freight aud then the tax (for they had to
pay it,) and get their products to market as
cheaply as other and competing producers who
were not subject to this taxation. That this
would and must be the result, any man can
see at a glance. In compliance, therefore,
with many and earnest petitions, the Legisla
ture in 1855, exempted lumber aud coal from
this tax entirely, aud reduced it on all other
' freight from five to three mills. In conse
; quence of this were your taxes increased?—
Was the State swindled ? Were those voting
for the measure branded as traitors aud rene
gades ? Not a whit of it. This tax the Com
! punv paid punctually into the State Treasury
until 1857, when the Legislature passed an
Act providing for the sale of the Main line.—
In this Act will be found the following pro
visions :
I •• Ai.d Provielt I further, That if the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company fchall become the purchasers of said
.Main line, at -aid public sale, or by assignment as afore
said, they shall pay in addition to the purchase money, at
1 which it may he struck uown, and which shaM not he less
; ih.ui the sum of seven and a half millions of dollars, the
sum of one and a half millions of dollars, tlie whole
amount ol sale to ho paid in the bonds of the Company,
i bearing interest at the rate of five per cent, rcr annum
payable semi-annually, ou the thirty-first day of January
anil July ot each year, and which bonds without further
record shall remain a lien upon the said Main line, one
i hundred thousand dollars of which said bonds shall fall
l due on the 31st day of July ls.">B. and sll*o.ooo tbeieof,
annually tberealler, until the 31st day of Jn!y,ls*Jo, w hen
one million of the residue shall fall due. and one million
| annually thereafter, until the whole is paid ; and upon
the execution and delivery ol said hone s to the treasurer
of the State, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and
and the llairisbura'. Portsmouth. Mouti. Joy aud Lancas
ter Railroad Company. Aa// in considrrat on thirruf, bt
dis harged by the Commonwealth foi tvet, from lite pay
ment ol all taxes upon tonnage and freight carried over
said Railroads : aud the said Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany shsil also be released Irom the payment of allcihtr
taxes cr duties on its Capital Stock . bonds dividends or
property, except for sch >ol. city, county, borough oi toun
ship purposes.'
Now mark. It was thus legislatively pro
vided that if this Company took the State
work at 7 12 millions, the minimum price,
and then paid one million and a half more
they,should be rt-leived from the tonnage tax
and from the State lax on their proper Iy, diri
(lends, furrier. For this bill the Senator
and Members from Bradford County voted and
their conduct was indorsed by the convention
held at Townnda, the following fall. Upon
these terras the Company were ready to take
the State work But at this juncture the
Supreme Court decided that part of the Act
exempting tiie Company from the State Lax
to be unconstitutional and therefore null and
void.
The works were then offered for sale by the
Executive without the release of taxes and no
purchasers could be found. It is a well Known
fact that no association of men except (lie
Penna. Bailroad Company could or would I:try
the Main line at the price fixed by the Legisla
ture, and they refused to buy save upou the
unconditional abrogation of the tonnage tax.
Gov.'Bollock therefore gavi tiietn his pledge
that if they became the purchasers at the price
fixed, he would give the force of his official in
fluence in favor of the repeal ot this tax, a
measure which he considered right in as much
as by the sale >f the wotk, the reason that
called the tax into being wouhl cease to exist.
Relying upon this plighted faith of the Gov
ernor, and never doubting but that the Legis
lature would favorably respond to a proposi
tion so paipsibly just, the Company took the
works and gave their bonds for the icvcn and
a half millions. True to his pledge the Gov
ernor in his next message, 1858, recommended
the repeal of the tonnage tax, as follows.
•• The law incorporating the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company imposed a tax of three mills per ton per mile
on all tounage passing over that road as an equivalent for
any decrease in the revenues ol the Commonwealth that
lnikht arise from the anticipated competition of the road
with the t usiiiess of the main line ot the public improve
ments. This tax is uot impo-cd upon the Company, but
upon the tonnage and is paid by the owners of the height
transported over the road, the Company acting as agents
in its collection and payment to the State. It i- virtual
ly a Lax upon the trade "and commerce of the Common
wealth,%nd upon the commerce of other States whose
productions seek an eastern market over this road ; and
thus bv increasing the rate .ot charges and the cost of
transmutation, the produce of the west is forced upon
competing Railroads of other States,and toother markets
than our own. The nece-sity that required this tax. as
regards the Commonwealth and her improvements, has
ceased. It should he the policy of the Stafe to invite the
transmission of the products of other States through her
territory, to her own markets, and therefore the propriety
of relieving the trade and bnsine-s of the Commonwealth
and country from this tax upou it, is respectfully submit
ted for your consideration.
The Legislature hesitated, and the session
passing away and the law was not repealed.
When the next installment of tax became due,
the Attorney General, as the law unrepealed
required him, demanded its payment. The
Company refused and said repeal your law ae
cording to contract. He sued them, obtained
judgment and they appealed,resolved to vindi
cate their rights to the last extremity. Not
knowiug but prejudice and illiberality on the
part of the Legislature would compel them
finally to pay iu violation of all agreements
to the contrary, the Company continued to
collect the tax of tne transporters from 1557,
the time of purchasing the State work, until
last winter, and the aggregate amount thus
collected was $850,000.
Thus stood the case at the opening of our
last session.
The Company held the above amount in
their hands collected since they purchased the
main line. The State had obtained judgment
against them for about $200,000, tor taxes
demanded since the sale of that line. Had the
the Legislature repealed the law at the proper
time as it was recommended and as they shoul J
have done all parties would have been satisfi
ed, this tax uncollected aod this judgment un
obtaiued. This being a fair and concise state-
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E 0. GOODRICH.
ment of the subject, what are the provisions of
the bill passed last winter, a bill condemni t
by so many and read by so few. (Wouldde
not be well for the County papers to publish
this bill entire for the information of their
readers?)
First. The Company is required in the ex
press language of the luw "to pay into the
State Treasury, on account of its indebtedness
to the Commonwealth, by reasou of the pur
chase of the Main Line of the public works, ou
the thirty-first days of January and July in
every year, uutil the thirty first of July, eigh
teen hundred and ninety, inclusive, snch sum
in addition to the interest ou its bonds owned
by the State and in addition to its annual
liability to the State ou account of purchase
money for said line of improvements, as will
increase each semi-annual payment on account
of said debt and interest, to the sum of two
hundred and thirty thousand dollars ($230,-
000) and the aggregateof all snch payment#,
to the sum of thirteen million five hundred and
seventy thousand dollars ($l3, 570,000).'' —
The plain English of which, is this, they are
required to pay to the State, each yeur for the
veil thirty rears lour hundred and sixty thous
and doliurs, making the above sum total. By
the saaie Act, also, this amount "is hereby
pledged to. and the same shall be applied only
to the payment and extinguishment of the
principal aud interest of the debt of this Com
monwealth, and to no other purpose whatso
ever."
Secondly. " The Pennsylvania Railroad
Company shnll be liable to taxation for all
State purposes, and the said Company shall
pay tue same rate of taxation which is now or
may hereafter be imposed by any general law
operating upon all ot he- Railroad Companies
incorporated by this Commonwealth." Thus
they are required to pav their State tax, trom
which.they sought originally to Ire released.
Their State tax actually paid into the
Treasury last year was eighty-lour thousand
dollars. Will the reader compare figures here
for a moment. The State tax of this Senato
rial District is as follows :
Bradford pays $11,722,50
Susquehanna piys 6,869,95
U yomingpays 2,458,32
Sullivan pays i*53,98
Making the sum total twenty-two thousand
and five dollars and five cents. Yet this single
Company pays nearly four times as much State
tux us this whole district and they are required
to do it iu all coming t.iue by the very bill so
wretchedly misconstrued and so miserably
abu'eJ. The btate will realize from this
single company during the next thirty years
the following sums: Ju payments or indebted
ness,thirteen millions live hundred and seveuty
thousand dollars ($l3 570,000.) In taxes for
State purposes - , even should its assessable pro
perty be no more than last year, two millions
live hundred and twenty thousand dollars ($2,-
520,000 ) Swelling the aggregate receipts to
the vast sum of sixteen millions and ninety
thousand dollars ($10,090,000.) Leaving
them still liable thereafter to the same taxa
tion for State purposes to which other pro
perty holders are subject. Does this look
like relieving corporations from paying tribute
to the Treasury and casting all the burdens
upon the poor farmers as clap trap, twaddling
demagogues assume 1 It would he understood
also that there is no financial quackery in all
this. Those amounts are as sure to be paid as
the years are to roll round.
Thirdly. They are required to rednce their
charges on freight just the amount of this
t:nnuge tax, and a failure on their part to
make such reduction shali render the Company
itself liable to the Commonwealth for double
the amount of the tonnage tax heretofore
chargeable against them.
Fourthly. That there may be no collusion,
the Company is required to file its toll sheet of
charges with the Auditor General, under the
oath of the President of the Company, which
has already been done.
Fifthly. The $850,000 collected in tonnage
tax by the Company since they purchased the
State works, as already explained, they are
"authorized aud required" to invest in certain
unfinished roads located in that part of the
State where the tax was collected. Some have
complained that the Company was not required
to pay this into the Treasury. It did not be
long to the State either in justice nor equity,
for she had induced this Company to purchase
her public works on the condition that the law
imposing this tax shouid be repealed, and had
she fulfilled her part of the contract this sum
never would have been collected. Mustjshe be
paid for her own deriliction for a manifest
lack of good faith? As well might a creditor
demand annual interest on a book account
already paid because forsooth he had neglect
ed to balance the book according to promise
Neither did this 6um belong to the Company
for it was so ranch collected over and above
their regolar freight. It belonged legitimately
to the transporters from whose pockets it was
wrung. The Legislature could not replace it
in those pockets and therefore did the next
best thing and required its investment in ten
specified roads, thus further developing the
Commonwealth, increasing the facilities and
enhancing the value of the property of the com
munities that had actually paid it. Was this
a swindle ? Anything in this that should awak
eu storms of muttering wrath, or call down
upon any one the crashing thunders of public
reproach ? The thing is but " even handed
justice " and whoever is displeased with that,
his censure is as impoteut as his approval
would be worthless.
Upon these conditions the famous tax was
exonerated Such is the history of this matter
and such are the provisions of the bill passed.
My reasons for voting for the bill are briefly as
follows ;
First. The State through its Executive had
contracted with the Company to repeal the tax
if they took the Main line at 7 1-2 millions of
dollars The Company took the works at this
figure and the State was iu honor bound there
fore to fulfil its agreement.
Second. As this tax was most assuredly
imposed originally to protect the commerce of
the State line, when the Company purchased
this line there was no longer any equitable
" REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
reason for exacting the tax. If A. rents B's.
farm for one huudred dollars per year, and thus
pays punctually for ten years and then buys
the farm, should he be required afterwards to
pay the rent ? Aye, but ibis Company is rich,
you had them by the tbroat, they should have
been beld to it that thereby our State reve
nues might be increased. To increase revenue
by legalized robbery, whether of Companies or
individuals is unwise policy, and he that re
, commends it has more of ihe attributes of u
laud pirate than of a legislator. Besides if
reveuue is to be rait-ed by ton nage tax let it
be imposed upou all roads and not upon one
only. Treat each fairly and alike. As this
was the only road in the State subject to this
tax it was but fair either to remove this or
impose the same upou all otheis, and the latter
course would drive from our markets the pro
ducts of surrounding states aud hopelessly
cripple our internal commerce. Believing firm
ly that the continuance of this tax ou this road
alone as a means of revenue was partial and
unjust, and believing farther that by the sale
of the work, for the protection of which the
tax was originally imposed, the reason for its
imposition was thereby wholly and completely
removed, my vote was given in favor of the
measure.
Third. The Company itself never paid a
dime of this tax but was collected by addi
tional charges heaped upon the transporters
of our own tState who were obliged to use the
Road. The Company could not impose the
lax upon the western produce seeking a market
over this Road, for that would drive such pro
duce to the Erie Road on the north and to the
Ohio and Baltimore Road ou the South, thus
robbing the Road of business nnd our own
State of a large amount of western commerce.
For be it understood that this Pennsylvania
Road is the great thoroughfare connecting
Philadelphia with the vast and teeming west
The tax was therefore imposed upon the
way freight, upon our own citizens who were
obliged to use this Road or none. These citi
zens appealed to the legislature against this
system of unequal taxation. They inquired
wiih an unanswerable pertinence, why shall
we be compelled to pay this tribute to the
State when all other citizens using other Roads
and Canals an exempt therefrom? They elect
ed Members upon this issue among whom is
the present Speaker of the Senate,they poured
in their petitious and crowded the Hails of
the Legislature iu person praying lor the same
thing.
The Board of Trade of Pittsburg, the press
of liarrisburg of loth political parties, the
commercial, political and religious papers of
Philadelphia, of all shades and sects, earnestly
plead for the repeal of this tax. It may be a
luet worth stating that in 1857 when the Dem
ocratic party were in power in Philadelphia,
the City Couucils unanimously adopted a
memorial addressed to the Legislature beseech
ing the same thing. This petition covered some
twenty pages ot printed matter, attested by
the Presidents ot Common and select Councils,
and accompanied bv a special message from
the Mayor. Will certain Democrats of this
District stick a pin at this fact.
To the credit of this party however I am
happy to say that its intelligent members
agree with the above memorialists and aiso
with my vote. A prominent writer in a Phil
adelphia paper sums up his views iu tho fol
lowing synopsis :
" Snail we by continuing this tax drive business and
freight off the Ruad, away from our City and Suite, to
seek other roads'!
" Miali wo restrict the trade of the State and the com
merce or Hiiladeiphia, to an infinitesimal proportion of
what it might be lor the sake cl a certain sum ol money
paid annually into our State Treasury, paid too in iarne
proportion by our own citizens out ot our own pocket?
For this poor pittance shall we deprive ourselves ol the
imnieuseand ever increasing traffic of the gigantic em
pires springing into unparalleled greatness ail over the
teeming West ?
" Is it better to do a small btisiniss on this Road at
high prices ? Or having, a? ail must acknow ledge, the
best route, and the amplest lacilities, is it not the part of
wisdom to do the largest possible business to the lowest
pos-ible prices?
Viewed as a matter of justice, is it right that he who
resides near the Reading Railroad, or any other road.save
the Pennsylvania, shall pay, only the usual Railroad
charges on all he sends to market; and that the farmer
or manufacturer who is so unfortunate as to dwell beside
the Pennsylvania Road should be compelled to pay in ad
dition to the usual freight charges on his grain or his
manufactured articles, a tax to the State lor daring to use
that Road?
" While you may carry what you please over the Roads
of Ohio, New York, Maryland, or any State in the Union
save our own. by paying a reasonable price therefor, is
it right that Pennsylvania shall step in and say to the
citizens ot those States, If you briug your produce or
merchandise here through the old Keystone, you must
not only pay the full price lor carrying your goods over the
Railroads, but you must pay the tribu'le—the odious tax
which a Pennsylvania Legislature levies on you tor pass
ing over her great highway ?
" Was it not humiliating that Pennsylvania should seek
to impose a tribute not only upon the citizens of other
States, but upon her own people, who used her great
highway ? That many of her own Legislators should
remonstrate against any change iu her policy in this re
spect : that they should wi-h her any longer to force the
payment of tribute upon her trade and commerce as
odious as that which the Barlatry powers continued to
levy lor years ou the commerce of the Mediterranean ?"
All these facta, statements, circumstances,
and considerations combined, afforded another
and well nigh overwhelming feasou why this
odious embargo, this commercial nuisance
should be abated, and hence again my vote
was given in the affirmative.
Fourth. The imposition of a tonnage tax is i
a measure to which my own constituents would
not approvingly submit. The Lackawanna
Western, the Williamsport & Elmira Rail- ;
roads, and the North Branch Canal are your
chief outlets to the maritime .world. If a bill
had been introduced imposing this duty npon
these works, subjecting you thereby to in- j
creased charges on all your exports and im
ports, wonld you have thought 'it magnanim
ous in your own and other members to support •
aud carry the measure through ? Would you
applaud them for so doing ! Would the far
raer and merchant, the grain bnyer and for
warding man as they counted their bard dol
lars in payment of the tax, say, this is the
thing, grapple these companies to it, Decreas
es the reveuue? No! No! Far, very far
from it. You would have cursed with eternal
opprobrium ail members voting for a scheme
so narrow in conception and so prejudicial to
your immediate interests. Well, gentlemen,
when I fail io treat other portions of the
State with tbat justice and magnanimity which
yon demand for yourselves, I shall be no lon-1
ger worthy to fill the piece yon have assigned
me, no lf*~;*er competent to cast votes tbat
must necessarUy affect the well-beiug of indi
viduals as M the prosperity of a vast and
growing '[.wealth.
Confident that you would seek the repeal of
this tax if you had it to pay, and willing to
deal by other constituencies as fairly as I
wonld have my own treated, I felt justified in
doing by others as I would have others do by
you, and th' refore voted in favor of the bill.
I am thankful to know that iu tLia district
are not a few men of high standing and wide
busiuess experience, men who have no private
piques to gratify, nor selfish practical interests
to promote by catering to public prejudice ;
men, whose mental visioo overreaching the
bounds of a siugle county, comprehends theiu
terests of toe whole State ; men, who have
investigated and comprehended the whole sub
ject, and are therefore competent to jndge—
not a few have signified to me their approval
over their own signatures.
I held in my possession enmerous letters
from the foremost men in Bradford, and other
counties, containing the following and similar
expressions :
" Had I been !□ yoar place I should have voted as you
have voted, and il you are censured it will be by others
and uot by rue."
From another correspondent, whose name
i 3 a tower of streugth :
" Y'our votes upon the Railroad bills are perfectly cor
rect and right, and statesmanlike."
From a third :
" The business men of the county wili sustain you, and
no matter what fools or demagogues may say."
The judgment of experienced men is cer
tainly worth quite as much as the unsubstan
tiated opiuion of those who decide from hasty
impulse or vague flying rumors. Some indi
viduals talk vociferously of corruption, bribe
ry, fraud. Uuiversal observation uttests the
fact that men who use hard names generally
lack arguments or brains, or both, and those
wo't ready tc suspect others are ever found
to be the cheapest men when so successful as
to worm themselves into the market sham
bles.
Their suspicion of others springs from an
inward consciousness of what they themselves
would do if favored with au opportunity, and
their harsh accusations are intensified by a
felt regret that the felicitous occasion should
ever fly their approach. The vixen is always
first to cry " cuckoldTo all such cormo
rants of slander, greedy Harpies, ravenously
devouring political ofl'al, dropped by the way
side, and then vomiting it forth again as a
fresh entertainment'to birds of their own fea
ther, we have but to sny, put your charges in
a tangible shape, publicly, over your own sig
natures, and you shall receive all merited at
tention. So long as you play the part of
skulking, scalpiog cowards, giving your thrusts
in the dark, bebiud one'a back, by innuendoes
and anonymous squibs you must expect to be
passed by in silent contempt. With you I
have done, and only beg pardon of the decent
reader for lifting you so lar out of your na
tive meanness as to make you visible to re
spectable eyes.
The question has been put to were you 1
not formerly opposed to a favorable entertain
ment of this Company's claim ? I answer
frankly, yes ; for 1 have nothing to conceal,
and wili never equivocate. I, with others,
supposed that they would ask much more than
they did, but when I fouud they claimed only
what had been promised them, and this claim
was both rational aud just, I put away preju
dice, and went for the right. Would you
have me do otherwise ? It has also been af
firmed that the passage of thi3 Act would ne
cessarily increase the taxes of the people.
Will those thus affirming please inform as
how this result wili necessarily follow ? Let
us look at it. There has been paid into the
Treasury since 1857, no tonnage tax. Mark
that. Yet during this period your State tax
has been reduced from 3 lo 2 1-2 mills on the
dollar, aud there has been paid on our public
debt a larger amount thau during any four
yuais previous, aud when the war broke cot
there was half a million in the Treasnry, ready
to meet the first appropriation. If, during
the past four years, without tonnage j
tax, your State tax has been reduced, how
will the Don-receipt of tonnage tax increase
your iudividual taxes for the next four or for
ty years ? So long as the assessment on the
dollar remaius what it now is, your taxes are
not increased. When this assessment is rais
ed then search for the cause.
Friends have said lo me, your vote was
right, but will it uot injure you? Our an-i
swer is this, we never paused to inquire. But
just acts can permanently injure no oue in the
judgment of the wise and impartial. He that
cowers to clamor and shapes his entire con
duct by its supposed reflex influence upon
himself, sacrificing great principles, overrid
ing vast rights, aud acting the fawning syco- j
phant for the paltry meed of personal passing
popularity, is too supremely selfish to fill any
responsible position iu this age of couflietiug
aud progressive ideas. The very public that I
praises the sycophant to-day for his pliabili- .
ly will spurn him to-inorrow for his lack of
independent manhood. Brave, true men, stl
dom full, while the timid and time serving [
pass away with the error that flung them into
life. Whoever falls for doing right, let him
die like a hero, and wait for the future to re
verse the judgment of the present. Jackson
was censured and Thaddeus Stevens ignored |
by his own constituents, for advocating our
present common school system. But the cen
sured live in the hearts of the great and good,
while their accusers are long since dead and
forgotten. The only retreat from reproach is
absolute obscurity, aud when a public man is
no longer censured, be assured he is of no spe
cial account, and is in no one's way.
We now ask all grumblers to suspend fault
finding long enongh to answer the following
questions :
Did not the Pennsylvania Company pur
chase the Main line for 7 12 millions of dol
lars, gi*iDg their bouds therefor, which to-day
are at good as gold, upon the express condi
tion that this tonnage tax should be repeal
ed ? This being the condition, shoold it uot
be complied with!
- VOL. XXIT. NO. 12
Did uot the commerciaiists and busiue&j
men along the Road, from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg, who paid the tax, and were there
for# directly aggrieved, earnestly ask its re
peal, and should they uot be beard ?
As the tax on tonnage was originally im
posed to prevent a diversion of freight from
the canals then owned by the State to tb
projected Road, when the Company bonght
these canals from the State, did not the rea
son for imposing the tax eease to exist ?
Was there then any reason for collecting a
tonnage tax upon this Road more than upon
any other in the State? If there was nol,
should not ii be exempt or all others b# tax
ad ?
When yoar Senator and Members in 18i",
voted for the Act providing for the sale of tbe
Main line and the repeal of this tax,did not
the very Dext Convention in Towanda indorse
their course by resolution ?
Having indorsed the initiation of the meas
ure why condemn its consummation ?
! Has not every surrounding State found
: tonnage taxes detrimental end has therefore
I abrogated them ? And shall our owu great
'Commonwealth be behind all others in the
march of progrossand liberality ?
Would not you yourselves oppose every soch
i tax if tailing athwart your own business op
erations and constantly depleting yon profits,
and will you not allow your fellow-citizens in
an other part of tbe State to be treated with
as much consideration as you would demaud
for yourselves 1
Are there not better modes to raise revenuo
than for one half the State to assess odiocs
and unequal taxes upon the business opera
tions of the other halt ?
The repeal bill rtceived tbe vote of sixty
Members and eighteen Senators, it received
not only the votes but tbe earnest support of
the Speakers of both Houses, it received th#
sanction' of the present patriotic Governor,
it was earnestly recommended us far hack as
1858 by Gov. Pollock.a man confessedly pura
in principle and honest in all his acts.
May we not reasonably suppose that theso
Representatives, Senators, Speakers,-and Gov
ernors have as much integrity and as compre
bensre views of this whole subject as the ma
jority, to say the least, of those who have
cried so hugely of robbery and wrong ?
We submit these question# for a candid
consideration.
Whoever lives long enough to answer them
triumphantly in the negative will "itrus tid
calutn redeat" —late to the kingdom of heaven .
Until they are thu-s ansieered fully and
demonstratively, we shall claim in the fu
ture as we have in the past, that onr vote was
Judicious and right. "With but little respect
for those who condemn withont evidence and
censure without cause, but with profound re
gard for the generous and impartial,
I humblv remain,
'GEO. LANDON.
HEKRTCK, An/?. 3, 18C1.
gtprfnunt.
State Teachers 1 Association.
This body commenced its ninth annual meet
ing, at Lewisburg, on Tuesday, the 6th inst.,
in Commencement Hall of Lewisburg Univer
sity. It was expected that owing to the war
excitement, and the consequent bard times,
tbe attendence would be small, but it was not
so. Several hundred were preseut, from differ
ent counties of the State, our county beiug
more numerously represented than any other
'except Union, of which Lewisburg is the coun
ty seat. Several prominent teachers and ed
ucators were preseut, among whom may be
mentioned Hon. Thos. 11. Burrows, State Su
perintendent, President Loomis, LL.D , Profs.
F. A. Allen, of West Chester Normal School,
•T. R. Wickersham, of the Millersville State
Normal School, J. P. Sherman, of the Potts
vilie High School, and W T. Davis, of Jersey
Shore.
At the opening. James Aiken, an old teach
er, welcomed the members in a witty, pointed,
little poem. TLe business of tbe Association
was attended to with promptness, and transact
ed with despatch. Tbe presiding officer, Vice
President, A. Smith, of Mifflin, was kiud and
geutiemauly, but decided iu his manueriu con
ducting tbe deliberations. The debates were
carried on with considerable spirit, althongh
at times the spirit of combativeness seemed to
need something to call it forth—indeed the
subjects brought before tbe meeting, were,
many of them, not susceptible of being debat
ed, being wholly one sided. One question,
however elicited considerable discussion, it was
based upon a report by VV. T. Davis, of Jer
sey Shore. The reporter advocated the piac
tice of having candidates for the office of Coun
ty Superintendent, examined before their elec
tion. The report was adopted unanimouly
so, those personages who have been in the ha
bit of scaring young girls almost cut of their
wits, every year, wili have to be " put through
the mill," themselves,when the Legislature pass
es a law to that effect. The whole affair passed
off pieasently and to the satisfaction of all con
cerned. The following officers were elected
for the ensuing year : Pres, A. Smith, of
Mifflin: V ice Presidents, S. D. Ingram,of Dau
phin, Isaac S. Grist, of Lancaster, Jog. E
Jackson, of Schuylkill, David He< kendron, of
Union; Recording Secretary, Wm. Sterling of
Philadelphia, Henry Honk, of Lebanon } Cor
responding Sicretary, 11. C. Johns, of Tioga,
Treasurer, Amos Row, of Lancaster. It was
found that abont four hundred dollars wonld
be left in the Treasury, after defraying the ex
penses for tbe year, and it was unanimously
resolved, that this amount, and such other
sum as may be necessary, be devoted to the
purchase of a cannou, to be presented to the
Government in the name of the Pennsylvania
State Teachers' Association, to aid in put
ting down tbe rebellion. A committee of
five,was appointed to raise additional funds,
said cannon to be purchased, aDd presented by
the State Superintendent.
Great credit is due to .the citizens of Lew
| isburg for their hospitality to those in atten
dance, Specially to tbe ladies.