The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-09-22
"They Can't Tax Me.r

laboring men say, remarks the Gallipo-
lis Dispatch, "well, have not got any
property, they can't tax me much J"
We recently met one of this class re-
turning after o hard days work, carry
ing on his arm peck of meal; we ac-
costed him, and the following CONVEX
sation ensued:
Well, Jones, how do you get on !
"Poor enough. 1t seems harder to
make support for myself and family
than ever before. work hard, live
poor, don't drink or lounge around, and
yet it is all / can do to live"
Well, that is not to be wondered at,
when you and other laboring men vote
year after year to increase your own
burdens. Times will grow harder un-
till you change your way of voting, and
taxes will increase.
"They can't tax me much, for I've got
nothing"
They can't, eh? Let's see! What did
that peck of meal cost you
"Thirty cents"
Do you know what 1t costs to raise a
bushel of meal!
"No."
1t costs about fifteen or twenty cents.
"The loyal people say you Copper
heads are mighty bad people, and try
to deceive US workingmen, and begin
to believe it, for l know they doa't tax
meal"
think | can prove to you that corn
meal is pretty heavily taxed.
aid like for you to do it, then"
Well, the corn from which that meal
was made was raised on taxed land,
plowed by taxed plow, drawn by taxed
horses, hitched with taxed gears. 1t
was hoed with taxed hoe, cultivated
with taxed implements, gathered in n
taxed wagon, drawn with taxed horses,
thrown into taxed crib, shelled on a
taxed machine, measured in u taxed
measure, taken in a taxed sack, and
ground on taxed mill, sieved with
taxed sieve, mixed i'll a taxed pan,
stirred with taxed spoon, salted with
salted salt, put into taxed bake pan,
baked in taxed stove, laid out on a
taxed plate, cut with taxed knife, and
lastly eaten by pretty heavily taxed
man.
"Whew! we'll I'll swan, that's nearly
all taxes. Ideclare to gracious | never
looked at it in that way before"
fit We're not for the taxes you could
buy bushel of meal for what that peck
cost you. Besides, it is not on that
alone that you are taxed, but upon
everything you have to buy. A pound
of sugar costs only three or four cents,
but You have to pay from sixteen to
twenty. A pound of coffee only costs
ten cents, but you have to pay thirty,
and if it costs you three hundred dollars
a year to support your family, you may
say one half of this is tax. Now, is 1t
any wonder that times are hard, and
that you find it difficult to live!
at costs me more than $500 a year to
live. used to get only 50 cents day,
and lived a great deal better then
than do now at Sl.25. see there is
great wrong somewhere, and am 60
ing to take your advice and see if there
is any good in voting for change of
rulers. III try the experiment anyhow,
but | must not tell old Squeeze, or he'll
discharge me and call me q rebel; but
$50 tax is too much for me. That much
saved, would buy my winters fuel, and
sugar, coffee, flour, &c, to last Inc a
year, and roll or two of muslin and
calico for my wife and children. How
thick headed must be not to see this
before. | begin to SEQ why old Bonds
used to come round and see me just
before the election, and be so smiling
and polite, and why Mrs. Bonds would
send my wife some little nick-naek or
other. Bonds is rich; lie gets gold from
the bank for his bonds. | work to pay
that. His bonds are not taxed. | pay
$3.50 a year all in little things; even a
box of matches is taxed. / thank you,
Mr.. Editor, for this talk; it has done me
good; new light has broken in on me,
and I'll not keep it hid under bushel
neither. I'll talk to tho men about it.
1t is now all plain. l declare Pll never
forget that peck of meal"
We gave the honest fellow hearty
grip and passed on, more determined
than ever to work for the enlightenment
and redemption of the toil-worn SONS
of labor,