NOTE 20--page 193.
_Taxation._
It has repeatedly been made a question of late, whether the United
States were more or less heavily taxed than France. The subject may
be considered under several points of view. The systems of Taxation
in the two countries are very different. The taxes in the United
States are less numerous than they are in France, and are differently
distributed. The country population, that is the great majority, pay
much less in the United States than in France; but in the large towns
the inhabitants pay nearly as much as with us, except in Paris. The
disproportion between the two countries becomes much greater, if
instead of estimating the amount in money, we give it in day's labour,
which is the most rational manner. The day-wages of a labourer being
about threefold as much in the United States as they are with us, and
other things being in the same proportion, it follows, that, in the
former, a tax of three dollars to three dollars and a half, which
is about the general average, is not more burdensome to the mass of
the people, than a tax of one third that sum would be in France.
The average tax in France, or six dollars a head, is equivalent to
twentysix days' work in our country; while the average in the United
States is only equivalent to four days' work in that country.
It is true, that, amongst us, all the public expenditures are comprised
in the budget; all our taxes amount to 190 million dollars. But in the
United States, there are various expenses supported by individuals and
companies, which do not appear in the sum of the public taxes. Toll is
paid on a very large number of roads: public worship is maintained at
the expense of the worshippers; hence heavy charges on the rich.
It is important to remark, that the public revenue in the United
States is almost wholly employed in a productive manner, in useful
undertakings, in public works, schools, and various kinds of
improvements. There is no Federal debt, that of most of the States
and towns is inconsiderable, there are no retiring pensions, and the
army is small; whilst more than half of our budget, or 118 million
dollars, is devoted to the charges on the public debt, pensions, and
the sea and land forces, we cannot expect to restore the balance in our
favour, because we cannot dismiss our soldiers, nor declare a national
bankruptcy; but we might diminish our present inferiority (paradoxical
as it may seem), by adding some millions to our budget for useful and
productive works.
The military service itself is a public burden and a very heavy one;
but it is difficult to rate the amount of this in money. In France it
takes one man out of eighty inhabitants from labour, but in the United
States only one out of 2,300. This tax might be lightened, by employing
the army in public works.
We may also notice the two following differences, which appear to me
essential ones, between American and French taxes:--
1. The American taxes, whether it be from the mode of their assessment,
or from the difference of conditions of the two countries, never press
heavily upon the taxables nor give them any uneasiness; they never
embarrass transactions nor interrupt business. On the contrary, amongst
us the tax is often an oppressive burden; our registry dues, and excise
on property changing hands, often occasion serious embarrassments and
even insurmountable obstacles in the way of enterprise.
2. In the United States the treasury fears to incur the public odium;
amongst us the most respectable citizens are subjected to the most
vexatious treatment; our officers of the customs have adopted practices
unworthy of a civilised people; our wives and daughters must submit to
be searched in the most shameless manner by vile hags, and these brutal
proceedings have not the poor excuse of being useful to the customs.
Their avowed object is to prevent the smuggling of articles, with
which, in spite of three lines of custom-house officers, the country
is inundated, and which it is well known are brought in by dogs[EL] on
a large scale, and not in the pockets of private persons. The branches
of industry, which they are designed to protect, are altogether of
secondary importance, and cannot be weighed in the balance against
public decency.
NOTE 21--page 11.
_Construction and Cost of Steamboats in the West._
The western steamboats are on the high pressure principle, with a force
of six or eight atmospheres. The boilers are on deck, in the bow of
the boat; the cylinder is horizontal; there are two wheels, one on
each side. Formerly, a single stern wheel was generally used. Only one
engine is used to a boat. The pistons are not of metal, an arrangement
which necessarily involves a great loss of power, but which renders
repairs more easy, an important consideration with inexperienced
engineers. The engines are of very simple construction and cost little;
those for the largest boats cost from 10,000 to 14,000 dollars; the
engines of the French government packets in the Mediterranean cost
nearly 60,000 dollars. The cylinders of the most powerful engines in
the western boats are of 30 inches diameter, and seven feet stroke.
These boats consume enormous quantities of wood; the larger ones
burning from one and a half to one and three quarters cords an hour;
the rate of speed rarely exceeds ten miles an hour even down stream.
In the east a good steamer from 175 to 200 feet in length with copper
boilers, which are necessary to resist the action of salt water, costs
from 70,000 to 80,000 dollars, including the furniture. The carpenter's
work of the hull costs about thirty dollars a ton, exclusive of the
iron. The engine, when there is but one, costs from 12,000 to 15,000
dollars, exclusive of the boilers. The North America cost 100,000
dollars; a good boat, well taken care of, lasts about twelve or fifteen
years in the east. The eastern boats are very fast and safe, and of
late years, great improvements have been made in their construction,
principally by Mr Stevens of New York. They move at the rate of
fifteen miles an hour in still water, and generally carry nothing but
passengers. Their usual length is from 180 to 200 feet, with a breadth
of twentyfour or twentysix, without including the paddle-boxes; their
usual draught of water about four or five feet in the rivers, and from
six and a half to nine feet in the bays and seas. Their engines are
on the low or mean pressure principle; the cylinder is vertical, and
they often have two engines; the stroke of the piston has been carried
to ten or eleven feet; the diameter of the cylinders, in some of the
boats, is five feet four inches. They consume from twentyfive to thirty
cords of wood an hour.
The number of steamboats in the United States, at the end of 1834, was
386 of an aggregate of 95,648 tons, of which 237, with a tonnage of
64,347 tons, were on the western waters. [In 1839 the number of boats
was about 800, with an aggregate tonnage of 157,473 tons; of these
about 300 were on the western rivers and 70 on the lakes.--TRANSL.]
There were in France, in 1834, 82 steamboats, with a total tonnage of
not more than 15,000 tons, beside 37 belonging to the government. The
whole number of steamers in England is about 480.
NOTE 22--page 268.
_Summary Statements of the Public Works in the United States._
The six tables which follow present a recapitulation of the statements
given in Letter XXI., with the cost per league in francs. [Many of
the statements in the Letter are slightly varied from the original,
in conformity with official reports, and the cost and distances have
there been reduced to English measures and Federal money. In these
tables the author's statements are given without change because
sufficient materials for a total recasting of them are not accessible
to the translator. In reducing federal money to francs, M. Chevalier
assumes the dollar to be equal to 5.33 francs; the league is of 4,000
metres, and consequently equivalent to two and a half English statute
miles.--TRANSL.]