the steps, which the Commission defer
for the present, toward the discontinuance of all charges upon
transportation and incomes. In recommending the entire removal of taxes
on production as the first measure to be adopted, the Commissioners
advise: "That the capital stock of the country in the interval between
1850 and 1860, deducting the value of the slaves, increased at the rate
of 158 per cent, or from $5,533,000 to $14,282,000; and that, if a
development in any degree approximating to the past can be maintained
and continued, then the extinguishment of the national debt in a
comparatively brief period becomes a matter of no uncertainty. To secure
this development, both by removing the shackles from industry, and by
facilitating the means of rapid and cheap intercommunication between the
different sections of the country, is to effect at the same time a
solution of all the financial difficulties that now press upon us."

The policy of the Commission is the speedy abolition or reduction of all
taxes which tend to check development. This policy is eminently wise and
statesman-like; for while it removes some of our most onerous burdens,
it gives a stimulus to the creation of wealth that must annually
alleviate our taxes, and is entitled to the approval of an enlightened
nation.

The second great measure of the Commission is to increase to five cents
the tax on cotton, which has, since the close of our last financial
year, begun to aid our revenue. The soil, climate, and seasons of our
Southern States are peculiarly adapted to the culture of cotton. In
India the fields are parched by the extreme heats of summer, and the
staple shortened; in Algiers, the rains of autumn, which favor the young
wheat, prevent the opening of the cotton-balls; but in the cotton States
of the South, the moisture of the spring, the heats and showers of
summer, and the dry weather and late frosts of autumn, all contribute to
the full development of the cotton-plant; and the yield is twice or
three times as great as in the cotton districts of the East. The staple,
too, is much more valuable, and the yield and the quality of the staple
are both improved by the application of guano. In 1859 the yield of the
United States rose to 2,080,000,000 pounds, while the consumption of the
civilized world was as follows:--

In Great Britain, 1,050,000,000 lbs.
On the Continent, 700,000,000 "
In the United States, 400,000,000 "