below forty-five hundred millions of dollars, as against sixteen hundred and sixty-four millions, one hundred and seven thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five dollars returned to the State Asessors, and upon which their equalization was based. Upon this statement of value, the whole aggregate of Federal, State and local taxes would be less than three per cent.

May we not take another view of the case and inquire whether that part of our population belonging to the productive class are able, from the annual profits of labor and enterprise, to sustain the estimate of one hundred and twenty millions of dollars taxation. The aggregate of our population, according to the census of 1865, referred to, was 3,831,777. Excluding from this number females, and males under twenty-five and over sixty years of age, as non-producers, we have left 742,166 persons. It is obvious, upon this theory, that these sustain the great burden of taxation, and that the average paid by each is about one hundred and fifty dollars; full one-half of which sum is for purposes within our own State. When it is understood that a large number of these seven hundred and forty-two thousand one hundred and sixty-six persons from their wealth, pay many times one hundred and fifty dollars, it follows that the remainder pay less, and so little, that the burden adjusted upon a real knowledge of the true value of the property each and all possessed, would be indeed light. It will be borne in mind also, that the amount will annually be diminished both from the extinguishment of debt and the increase of population and wealth.

It is an error, however, to suppose that females and minors contribute nothing to our practical resources as elements of productive wealth. It is to be remembered that all invested capital is productive to the community as well as to the party making the investment, and that a very large proportion of the wealth of the State is owned by females, by minors, and by citizens who have passed the limit of three score years. These, though not for the most part active laborers, are, through the investment of their property in the various departments of corporate enterprise, including railway and navigation companies, banking and manufacturing, and all other similar corporations, availing themselves constantly of the agency of others to advance our general interests and prosperity, and augment the wealth of the State. They pay a proportion of our State and National taxes upon the pro

perty thus invested, besides sharing the burdens common to us all, incident to the operation of the revenue laws.

The convergence of vast interests in New York, as the great commercial and financial center of the nation; our extensive operations, delicate as they are important, and the large share we are called upon to contribute to the support of the General Government, seem to justify more extended discussion.

In further considering the subject, it may not be profitable to discuss, or important to settle the question whether the rebellion could have been suppressed with less sacrifice than it has cost us. With a united North, none will doubt that it could have been. But the public debt is upon us, as the unavoidable result of the war; and notwithstanding its great burdens, we may yet congratulate ourselves that they are far short of the averted ruin of a divided country; and if we are called upon to deplore the disasters of the struggle, we may also rejoice in its compensations. Among these may be found its lessons of warning, its test of parties and their principles, its development of the patriotic endurance of our people, and the assurance it brings of the stability of our institutions.

A debt created in maintaining the perpetuity of our government and in defense of invaluable rights, is one which all honest men will agree must be paid. It is one for the payment of which we have all pledged our faith. It is our common interest to pay it. It is essential to the preservation of our public credit no less than to the maintenance of our personal, our State, and our National honor. There is hardly a man, woman or child that has not an interest in our public securities. There are three hundred and ninety millions in legal tenders and fractional currency, and nearly three hundred millions of bank notes secured by Government bonds. There are sixteen hundred national banks with four hundred and nineteen millions of capital, and five hundred and sixty millions on deposit, with their officers, stockholders and depositors. There are also State banks, individual bankers, trust, life, fire and marine insurance companies, with their numerous parties in interest, and to this add the savings banks, whose aggregate deposits in this State alone amount to one hundred and thirty-one millions of dollars, with over five hundred thousand depositors. All these institutions not only have directly more or less of Government securities, but all their debts and liabilities are payable in the legal tenders of the Government. Not to dwell on this

vast array of individual and corporate interest in our public securities, it is enough to say that, it is a debt due from the Government which was saved, to the people who saved it. It is just, however, to the Government and the people alike, that this obligation should be discharged in such a manner as shall most conduce to the interest and the honor of both. The public should not be subjected to undue burdens by forcing the premature payment of the principal; nor should we fail to provide for the prompt payment of the interest and such a reduction of the principal as will not impair our productive energies. Such a forced payment is uncalled for by a prudent regard to the public faith or the public good; and as it requires continued heavy taxation, we may wisely forbear to apply such a test to the forbearance and patience of the people.

We have been thoroughly educated in the doctrine that every generation, so far as possible, should pay its own indebtedness. There are exceptions, however, to this correct rule; most promi nent among them is the case before us, in which great trials have been endured and great sacrifices made, not only to protect the present rights of the people, but to perpetuate the blessings of good government. Weighed down by the derangements and devastations of the most formidable war known to history; for the benefit of the coming generations, as well as for the safety and security of the present, we require time for the renewal of our industry, to replenish our means, and to gather strength from reconstruction and increased population. It will be honor enough—when, in the not far distant future, from recuperated energies the burden will be lighter-to illume our history with the extinction of a public debt created in defense of our liberties. We are called upon, therefore, by every consideration of interest and of duty, to relieve labor from its oppressive burdens, and as most of the evils which the rebellion has entailed upon us center in taxation, to the solution of this problem the thoughtful consideration of all is invited.

Congress can, and doubtless will, in their good judgment, strike hundreds of items from the tax list which are more fruitful of annoyance than of revenue; and it should reduce and re-adjust the taxes so as to have them fall where they would be least felt, most readily paid, and most easily collected. With a judicious reduction and adjustment of taxes, wise retrenchment, and a firm and impartial enforcement of the revenue laws; with industry relieved and enter

prise encouraged, and the vast treasury of our natnral resources made tributary to our progress, we look to the future of the country with calm and assured confidence. Our national production has doubled in thirteen or fourteen years, and we may reasonably expect with taxes so reduced as not to impede national development, our power from production will be twice as great at the end of that period of time. At least, an estimate based on past conditions of growth, can hardly fail to be realized in the future.

The re-adjustment above suggested is the more essential in view of the high price of commodities and the low price of gold, which tend as stimulants to foreign importations. It is hardly to be expected, however, that we shall ever get back to the prices which prevailed prior to the rebellion. I need not advert to the causes further than to remark, that gold has depreciated or lost in its purchasing power from its greatly increased production within the last few years. In countries where a gold currency prevails, prices have steadily increased, and from the prospect and returns of the mines, this cause must inevitably continue to affect prices in a greater or less degree.

In regard to local taxes, I am convinced that our method of assessment is essentially defective. It cannot be doubted that a much nearer approximation to equal assessment could be attained if our laws provided for specific returns of all taxable property. No one can question that the personal property of individuals very largely escapes taxation. The personal property of this State in 1860, after deducting corporate property, left the amount assessed to individuals at about one hundred millions of dollars. This class of property in Georgia was assessed that year, after deducting the slave property at the estimated average value of four hundred dollars a slave, at two hundred and ninety-two millions; in Mississippi, at three hundred and thirty-three millions; and in South Carolina, at two hundred and sixty-two millions of dollars. In Ohio, for the year 1866, the amount was four hundred and six millions. The same year in this State the personal property indicated was about two hundred and thirty millions. How much of this was corporate property, in the States referred to for comparison, I am not informed, but it could not have been very considerable. Evidently the assessment is based on different principles, designed to produe a more just distribution of burden; for there can be no doubt but the personal property of individuals in this State is many times more than that held in the above named

States. The existing laxity and inequality of assessment operates with severity and injustice upon real estate, and upon those who are taxed more nearly or entirely to the sum of their personal property. It is likewise evident that this defective assessment of personal property throws an undue and disproportionate share of the State tax upon counties where but a moderate amount of personal property is held. Real estate may be, and doubtless is, generally undervalued; but a uniform increase in its valuation, while reducing the percentage, will not affect the amount of tax, and it is apparent that it would be reduced by just so much as personal property is brought to light and made to bear its equitable share of the burden. If discrimination may be made, it should not be to the prejudice of real estate, because personal property costs the public more for its protection, and generally yields a larger proportionate profit. We have nothing to fear from unwillingness in the people to contribute fairly to a just distribution of taxation, but unequal as it is, the murmur of discontent may be expected. A burden which may easily be borne when distributed uniformly and equally, placed on the shoulders of a few, or upon the many with unjust discrimination, becomes oppressive.

The laws in several of the States require individuals to furnish returns of their property as the basis of valuation. The tax laws of Ohio are represented to me as working satisfactorily, and I believe the same experience has obtained in some of the eastern States. In this or some other and better form, a remedy should be provided for the imperfections of our existing system. I commend this important matter to your early consideration, and respectfully suggest, that if the difficulties incident to the question should seem to you to require it, it might be advisable to provide for a competent commission to investigate the subject, and report promptly to the Legislature such facts as they can collect, with such recommendations as may be deemed advisable, in view of the practical results of legislation in other States in aid of this general object. The end to be attained is one in which the entire community is deeply interested. Every class of our citizens recognize the necessity of reform, and all will cordially acquiesce in such legislation as will secure a fair and just equalization of the general burden. Every citizen will be content to do his part, if he can be assured that he is charged with no more than his own equitable and legitimate share.