Buchanan County bulletin and guardian. (Independence, Iowa) 1866-1869, 1868-10-16
From Packard's Monthly.
Whom are You Going % Vote For !
By JAMES PATTON.

people among who plumed themselves upon
not taking any interest in politics, and tho't
it q pretty thing to boast that they had new
er voted in their lives. They affected 10 re-
gard politics as something beneath the cons
sideration Of o gentleman, and only fit to
occupy the attention Of people who looked
to politics as a means of advancement.
have known few Of these dainty gei.tle :
men-men learned in kid gloves and tro t,
ting wagons, and ignorant of all that con"
cerned their country welfare and honor.
have known few Of them, and rejoice to
testify that they were all fools. They really
had not intellect enough to comprehend an
" Issue !" and, like many other incompetent
persons, they tried their best to despise what
they we're unable TO possess. If they we're
pressed to vote they had an argument always
ready which seemed to themselves conclu>
sive and unanswerable.
"What is the use Of my voting when the
man that blacks my boots puts in ballot
that counts as much as mine?'
Sweet American citizens these! Toelaim
q release from doing their duty as citizens
for that very reason which makes it most
necessary that they should perform it! To
be insensible to that which constitutes both
the glory and the safety of the country!
And if we look back ct all the great elec,
,ions which have been held since 1887, we
shall find that the laboring man has voted
right oftener than the man Of leisure and
education. / should say that the laboring
man has generally voted right and the man
Of wealth and education has very frequently
voted wrong. Impartial History, if it ever
turns its attention to our presidential elec>
tions, will probably SO decide.
But the people that took no interest in
politics have vanished from sight. The
word politics now signifies the Public Debt,
and to this no man can be quite Indifferent.
The debt is king. All private credit de-
pends upon the pnblis credit. Every boy
who has three dollars in . Dime Savings
Bank has direct pecunisry interest in
maintaining and raising the credit of the
United States for, most probably, . large
part Of his three dollars, and, perhaps. all
Of il. is invested in bonds of the government,
which, as long as the national Credits main
tanned, are as good as gold, but which would
fall in All hour to the value Of waste PAPER
if that credit were destroyed. i" Paper"
said Voltairc, when the bonds Of the French
government were falling toward zero with
alarming rapidity, "paper will soon be re-
ducsd TO its intrinsic value"
Few persons can form any idea of the ma.
ny ealamitous results that would follow from
governmental insolvency. Whether it pro.
cecded FROM inability or uuwllingness to
ray, do not believe that there are in the
United States ten banks that would not
break. Besides being bankrupt nation We
should be a nation of bankrupts. Eyery>
body almost would fail, and the entire in
dussry Of the country, except that immedi.
ately occupied in supplying the necessaries
Of life, would come to . Stand. Nova Sco-
tia could conquer US ; for if the government
had no creditit could not collect, nor WELD,
nor maintain the fighting force of the coun-
try there would be no rsllying point, no
source Of supplies; and if new governments
al machinery were extemporized, the mel
ancholy failure of ito predecessor would close
the purses Of all mankind against it.
Let the credit Of the United States be de>
stroyed, or even seriously impaired, and any
power that could keep ten thousand men in
the field and ten iron-clads afoat, could hold
us in subjection, and levy tribute upon every
city. War is thing Of such prodigious
cost that it cannot be carried on effectively
-
tire available resources Of nation.
The dullcst man caKnot be wholly una
ware Of these truths the least patriotic man
cannot be wholly indifferent to thsm. l
presume, therefore, We shall not soon again
hear people boast that they take no Interests
in politics and never voted in their lives. ]
expect we shall all turn out next November
and vote for somebody.
How shall we vote For my part l 60
for the party that promises to tax me mos,
for the maintenance Of the national credit.
Provided the government is honestly ad>
ministered, the more tax ! pay directly into
the puplic Treasury the less am taxed,
remember once, whom gold was above two
hundred, meeting . young fellow who MAS
congratulating himself on having escaped
the income tax. He was very patriotic in
bis feelings ; his whsle heart seemed to be
with his country, and yet be thought it
fine thing TO escape the income tHx-about
one hundred dollars year. In the course
Of conversation it came out that he had re>
which had cost him three hundred and txsn.
" dollars. We endsavored to calculate
what part Of that sum he had been comf ell.
6u ~ pay IN consequence OI tue ulrn price
Of gold or, in other words. in consequence
Of the impaired credit of the government.
Before the war, when dollar in gold and a
dollar in paper we're equal, he could have
bought those clothes for little more than a
hundred dollars. forget the details of our
calculation, but it was evident that he had
paid more tax on that suit Of clothes than
the tux on his in come would have amounts
ed to. 1t was also made plain to his under.
standing that there was but one possible WAY
Of lessening the indirect tax, and that was
by pouring money into the public treasury,
and restoring the credit of the nation.
One Of the great mistakes Of the war was
in not beginning to levy war taxes immed-
ately. What we now need is to snow man>
kind that this debt is the safest of all invest.
men,s, and 60 for the party ,ha, seems
lkeliest to take hold Of th . debt and prove
it to be such.
People talk Of the 6urfsen of taxation. A
tax that is burthen TO the people ia wrong
tax, an unscenti6c tax, and ought TO be
changed. A proper tax, properly collected,
is not burthensome. II is curious fact in