June 27th, Mr. Trumbull from the Committee reported adversely on all these references.
The requirement of this resolution was affirmed by the Senate, when it adopted the amendment of Mr. Gratz Brown to the Reconstruction Bill of the House, July 1st,[344] and it became a corner-stone of Reconstruction.
NO TAX ON BOOKS.
Remarks in the Senate, on Amendment of the Internal Revenue Bill, June 2 and 6, 1864.
The Senator from New York [Mr. Morgan] has proposed the exemption of a class of hospitals. I am in favor of his proposition. It is not now, however, under discussion. In similar spirit I move to strike out, on the one hundred and thirty-fifth page, lines two hundred and twelve, two hundred and thirteen, and two hundred and fourteen, as follows:—
“On all printed books, magazines, pamphlets, reviews, and all other similar printed publications, except newspapers, a duty of five per cent ad valorem.”
I make one remark on this tax. We do not tax wheat or corn, because they are the staff of life. In my judgment, a tax on books is less defensible than a tax on wheat or on corn. I believe books are the staff of life; and I believe that our country would do itself honor, if at this moment, when imposing a heavy tax upon all things, it deliberately exempted books. The tax proposed is applicable to all books,—books for family reading, for the library, and also for the school. All that we can get from the tax will be very small indeed. It will not add sensibly to the Treasury, but it will impose a burden upon knowledge. I hope, therefore, that the Senate will strike the words out.