Times are hard; money is scarce; taxes are high, and private debts push
us. What shall we do? Why, hear a few facts, stubborn facts, and then
take a bit of advice.
In the year 1637, our good forefathers declared an offensiv war against
the Pequot Indians. Their troops were ninety men. Weathersfield was
ordered to furnish a hog for this army, Windsor a ram goat, and Hartford
a hogshead of beer, and four or five gallons of strong water.[41]
[41] See the records of this State, where rum is called
strong water. This was soon after the first distilling of
spirits, and rum was not then named. It seems, however, that
our pious ancestors had a taste for it, which their posterity
have carefully improved.
This was ancient simplicity! Let us make a little estimation of the
expenses annually incurred in Connecticut. (I say incurred, for we can
contract debts, though we cannot pay them.)
I will just make a distinction between necessary and unnecessary
expenses.
Necessary. Unnecessary.
£. £. £.
Governor's Salary, 300 300
Lieutenant governor's, 100 100
Upper house, attendance and travel,
60 days a year, at 10l. a day, 600 600
Lower house, attendance and travel,
170 members, at 6s. a day,
60 days, 3,060 1,530 1,530
Five judges of the Superior Court,
at 24s. a day, suppose 150 days, 900 900
Forty judges of Inferior Courts,
at 9s. a day, suppose 40 days, 720 720
Six thousand actions in the year,
the legal expense of each,
suppose 3l. 18,000 1,000 17,000
Gratuities to 120 lawyers,
suppose 50l. each, 6,000 1,000 5,000
Two hundred clergymen,
at 100l. each, 20,000 20,000
Five hundred schools,
at 20l. a year, 10,000 10,000
Support of poor, 10,000 10,000
Bridges and other town expenses, 10,000 10,000
Contingencies and articles not
enumerated, 10,000 10,000
-------- -------- --------
£.89,680 £.66,150 £.23,530
-------- -------- --------
Now comes RUM, my friends.
£.
400,000 gallons of rum, at 4s. a gallon, 80,000
Allow for rum drank, on which excise is not paid,
50,000 gallons, at 4s. 10,000
--------
£.90,000
Ninety nine hundredths unnecessary.
This is a fact: Deny it if you can, good folks. Now, say not a word
about taxes, judges, lawyers, courts, and women's extravagance. Your
government, your courts, your lawyers, your clergymen, your schools, and
your poor, do not all cost you so much as one paltry article, which
does you little or no good, but is as destructiv of your lives as fire
and brimstone.
But let us proceed.
A million of pounds of sugar, estimated by the returns £.
of excise masters, at 8d. 33,333
(This is double the quantity we want; but as it is
pernicious neither to health nor morals, I let it pass.)
200,000lb. of tea, at 3s. 6d. 35,000
2,000 ditto hyson, at 14s. (Most of these unnecessary.) 1,400
Coffee, molasses, spices, &c. 10,000
Dry goods, 250,000
---------
£.329,733
---------
The whole settlement will stand thus:
£.
Necessary expenses, 66,150
Unnecessary, ditto, 23,530
Rum, and other distilled spirits, 90,000
Other foreign articles, 329,733
---------
£.510,413
---------
Interest of the federal and State debts, £.130,000
---------
Now, good people, I have a word of advice for you. I will tell you how
to pay your taxes and debts, without feeling them.
1st. Fee no lawyers.
You say lawyers have too high fees. I say they have not. They cost me
not one farthing. Do as I have always done, and lawyers' fees will be no
trouble at all. If I want a new coat, or my wife wants a new gown, we
have agreed to wear the old ones until we have got cash or produce to
pay for them. When we buy, we pay in hand; we get things cheaper than
our neighbors; merchants never dun us, and we have no lawyers' fees to
pay. When we see sheriffs and duns knocking at the doors of our
neighbors, we laugh at their folly. Besides, I keep a little drawer in
my desk, with money enough in it to pay the next tax; and I never touch
a farthing until the collector calls. Now, good folks, if you will take
the same method, you will save out of lawyers' fees and court charges,
on the most moderate calculations, 20,000l. a year.
2dly. I allow my family but two gallons of rum a year. This is enough
for any family, and too much for most of them. I drink cyder and beer of
my own manufacture; and my wife makes excellent beer, I assure you. I
advise you all to do the same. I am astonished at you, good folks. Not a
mechanic or a laborer goes to work for a merchant, but he carries home a
bottle of rum. Not a load of wood comes to town, but a gallon bottle is
tied to the cart stake to be filled with rum. Scarcely a woman comes to
town with tow cloth, but she has a wooden gallon bottle in one side of
her saddle bags, to fill with rum. A stranger would think you to be a
nation of Indians by your thirst for this paltry liquor. Take a bit of
advice from a good friend of yours. Get two gallons of rum in a year;
have two or three frolics of innocent mirth; keep a little spirit for a
medicine, and let your common drink be the produce or manufacture of
this country. This will make a saving of almost 400,000 gallons of rum,
or 80,000l. a year.
3dly. Never buy any useless clothing.
Keep a good suit for Sundays and other public days; but let your common
wearing apparel be good substantial cloths, and linens of your own
manufacture. Let your wives and daughters lay aside their plumes.
Feathers and fripperies suit the Cherokees or the wench in your kitchen;
but they little become the fair daughters of America.[42] Out of the dry
goods imported, you may save 50,000l. a year.
[42] I would just mention to my fair readers, whom I love and
esteem, that feathers and other frippery of the head, are
disreputable in Europe.
These savings amount to 150,000l. a year. This is more than enough to
pay the interest of all our public debts.
My countrymen, I am not trifling with you: I am serious. You feel the
facts I state; you know you are poor, and ought to know, the fault is
all your own. Are you not satisfied with the food and drink which this
country affords? The beef, the pork, the wheat, the corn, the butter,
the cheese, the cyder, the beer, those luxuries which are heaped in
profusion upon your tables? If not, you must expect to be poor. In vain
do you wish for mines of gold and silver. A mine would be the greatest
curse that could befal this country. There is gold and silver enough in
the world, and if you have not enough of it, it is because you consume
all you earn in useless food and drink. In vain do you wish to increase
the quantity of cash by a mint, or by paper emissions. Should it rain
millions of joes into your chimnies, on your present system of expenses,
you would still have no money. It would leave the country in streams.
Trifle not with serious subjects, nor spend your breath in empty wishes.
Reform; economize. This is the whole of your political duty. You may
reason, speculate, complain, raise mobs, spend life in railing at
Congress and your rulers; but unless you import less than you export,
unless you spend less than you earn, you will eternally be poor.
No. XIII.