The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1851-10-08
$ the great object after all, of free govern.

liberty Of the citizen. Aust principle for
the assessment of these ~burthens, is to
make each citizen, pay in proportion to the
prosperity and advantages he enjoys in the
State which guarantees the security Of his
property and the right Of following such
business as he chooses to pursue.
But never since Ohio has been a State,
have the people been able to secure this
plain principle Of equality and Justice
Never since the Legislature has authorized
the business Of banking, has bank capital
paid an equal quota ofthe expenses Of gov
eminent. f 'jI" M aalaa
In the course Of our financial history,
the people have been heavily taxed year by
year, at all times, for preserving the credit
OF the community, and the confidence OF
the business public. The banks have
alone been able to exist by virtue Of that.
very credit, and that confidence in our
honor and integrity as a people. Without
corporate credit, and its basis, the peoples
trustworthiness, there never would have
been a dollar made by the business Of bank
speculation in the State. Millions upon
millions have the capitalists Of Ohio amass-
ed for their private benefit and enrichment,
by the business Of banking. They have
only been able to do so in virtue Of the in
tegrity Of our people, in the esteem Of the
civilized world. The banking corporations
of the State have rested their whole system
of operation upon the belief in the certain
ty that our people would always pay the
taxes of the State. BY the certainty ofthis
assurance alone, has ever any banker
achieved a single speculation.
Have the banks, this corporate wealth,
this charted traffic in money, ever in one
solitary case, upon n solitary dollar en-
ployed on the strength Of this universal
public honor, paid an equal share Of taxes
to the support Of the government in pro-
portion to the advantages enjoyed under
that government! Not in one single in.
stance in our whole financial history as a
people! True our State Treasury has lost
nothing by this long existing abuse. But
what they have not paid for this peculiar,
exclusive, chartered privilege Of getting
rich, has been paid by people upon whose
labor and pursuits bank speculation has al
ways rested and must always rest.
The banks have moi borne their share
of the duties Of patriotism, but have al
ways benefited at the expense of the pat
riotism, good faith and honor ofthe people!
Has this cost the people nothing? Not by
any means. If the principle Of equal tax
alton had always existed in Ohio, the peo-
pie would have been saved the payment Of
millions of taxes not Justly theirs to pay.
and of which they have thus been legally
robbed.
Special privileges should pay special
prices for their existence, if ever allowed
to exist at all. They are anon alous in a
government Of popular equality, and they
should only exist upon anomalous and ex-
ceplional conditions. We have reversed
that system Of policy. Our State has
clothed the wealthy classes Of community
with exclusive powers for amassing sub.
stance. and at the same time offered pre-
miums for their corporate creation, by ex-
empting them from the duties of equal tax.
alton, instead Of making them pay equally
for the enjoyments Of those special powers.
Is it not time, people of Ohio, that this
lie upon democratic equality should cease
to be endorsed and sustained in our State
policy! Is it not time that justice among
our citizens should have her day? Is it
not time that the wealthy should pay for
their wealth, at the same equal ratio that
the poor are compelled to pay for their
povertyl Should not the people now de.
cree that each man should pay the gov
eminent for what that government does
for him, and no more nor no less? Is it
not time that that policy be consigned 10
eternal death which gives the banker and
the %corporator exclusive means of prosper.
ity, and then makes the very victim Of this
policy pay the government for it, besides
the disadvantages he suffers from i,in his
every day business?
Our New Constitution contains a germ
of reform and right, which with fostering
care from the supporters and authors Of
.L,t oonet;,,t;on xy;l1 orow into Uonoro1