Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-09-23
TAXATION.

!
ceptance 'The hours of toll Of eur lab
orers are heightened by the costs of fv
| ing made by the ditect and indirectax
actions of Government. Our people arr
harrassed by the heavy and frequent de
mands Of the tax-gatherer' Mr.. Pen
dleton asks at Bangor "Why is It tha
/ your taxes consume such an enormou
amount Of your yearly supply !" The
/ lesser orators Of the party repeat the as
sertion and the question. "We are tax
| ed, " they say, beyond precedent. l
we did but know it, We are the most op
pressedand tax-ridden people inthe world.
and having exhausted epithets in des
cribing taxation, having made the mos
| astounding misrepresentation OF the eK
penses of the Government, and carefully
retrained from proposing any inancis
policy kept that of Jeremy Diddler
| they propose a panacea for the nationa
suffering in the election Of Seymour anc
Blair
Now the national debt is undoubtedly
large, and the burden upon the tax payers
| Is heavy. Yet, in proportion to the ma
tional resources, it is much smaller than
the present debt of France, and is not a
third of that of England in 1916 But
in considering debt and relief from it.
sensible men look first at its origin, in
order to determine whether those who
administer the Government be justly
charged with a responsibility for the debt;
and, secondly, at the character OF those
$ ho denounce it rs a me ms of bringing
themselves into power, and st the general
policy that they advocate. Pursuing
this course, we find that our debt Of 81
500, 900, ,O00 is the price of our continued
national existence, which is the guaran
tee Of our individual welfare The debt
is the cost Of defending the Government
against The bloody and desperate and pro-
louged assault of those who now aspire to
control it. To subdue Mr. Wade Hamp-
ton and bis legion, for Instance, probably
cost the Government more than million
Of dollars. In the Democratic Conyen-
tion which protested SO pathetically
gainst the enormity Of taxation, there
we're scores of ox-robel officers, both civil
and military who were individually
cdargaahie with several millions OF the
debt, TO suppress their insur ection the
debt was incurred. Twenty FIVE hun lred
millions of dollars is the. price of he I'm
ION that 1e have maintained, Of the can
Ger of slavery that we have cut out, Of the
commanding position and vast influence
among nations that we have won, Of the
fundamental principles of free govern
meat that we have vindicated and ave
qindlcsting. This is the origin of the
debt, and il can not be forgotten
Is he Republican party justly respon
sble for ii The rebeiho :. vas plotted
under Democratic President. Its chiefs
we're Democratic Cabinet officers, Demo
cratic Senators, Democratic Governors
and Judges It wts sustained in arnls
by Democra'ss Democrats did their ut
most TO paralyze the Government n the
con est. The Democratic Convention de
claled the efforts of the Government
futile, and demanded surrender to the re
bellion. And now that at this vast cost
the rebellion, waged by the arms and pro.
longed by the sympathy solely Of adher-
ents and leaders of the Democratic party,
has been subdued, tho g leaders step for
ward, denouDce the debt which they COM
PEELED the country to incur, and demand
the control of the Government which
they could not overthrow.
What, then, are the promises under
which the demand is made Are they
such as reasonably to justify the expecta
ton of return Of that public confidence
without which prosperity and relief from
axation will be indednitey postponed? The
public policy announced blythe Democratic
party by which to pacify the country and
cement the Union is revolution and repu-
diation. 1t IS distinctly decIa; ed by the
candidates and the leaders that the pres
.ent organizations of the Southern States
are void and the most unqualified asser-
ton that they ought to be at once forcl-
blv oyerthrown by the President secured
for the candidate who made it an enthus-
iastic nomination This policy, which
the trainers Of the platform ardently
agreed to carry ont to the end, can be
carried out by involving the States con
cerned in anarchy. Congress and the
decision of the Supreme Court will sus-
tain one Of the governments; the Demo-
cratic President will support the other.
In the nature OF things compromise will
be impossible The difference will be re-
ferred to force. Is another civil war the
way to relieve taxation ?
The other point of the proposed Demo
cratic policy is repudiation. The public
demoraiization that would follow is IN
calculable. It would be poison at the
very sources Of tie national Life 1t
would properly make this country des-
pised outcast among nations. We should
be society Of swirdlers, and the whole
glory of our victory over the aeoeliion
would be fatally furnished by cur voiuu-
tary dishonor. The rebel chiefs would
have the exutation Of beholding the dis
grace Of the people whom they could not
defeat. To them the satisfaction would
be the same. They are indifferent wheth
cr they humiliate US by arms or by art.
| But the moral character OF every public
question is its really essential part. But
the industrial ruin, like the public de-
moralization, consequent upon. repudia-
tioa is inconceivable Already the act
ull loss to the country from the mere
suspie on of possible intention to re-
| pudiate may be estimated at millions OF
dollars. Such a suspicion is shock to
the public credit which is felt through
the whole system and every dollar which