The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-12-30
Hcsourees and q LOyal,. Financiering.


an enormous load of taxation has
nothing to do with the justice or in
Justice of a financial system which
discriminates between classes. 1T
may be true that the poor men and
workingmen of the United States have
better wages and obtain more of the
comforts of life than the working
classes in other countries. but this
does not change the factthat our tariff
and internal revenue laws are SO
framed as to bear unjustly on the poor.
and discriminate Dnjustly in favor Of
the rich. .t.s z,g;v,,,y
In new country of great natural
wealth, with rapidly increasing pop !,
ulation, and offering thousand new
fields for industry and enterprise,
heavy taxation against the interests
of those dependent entirely upon their
labor for subsistence will not excite
the discomfort that & like system
would in less favored countries. The
people have consented to The financial
policies of the Republican party, not
because they approved them, but be-
cause the prosperity of the country
and its growth in wealth have been
such as to enable It to meet the taxa
ton laid upon it without serious suf-
fering. The resources of the country
Il =
and the pluck and enterprise of the
people have led to an increase in ma
tional wealth, in spite of taxation
which has exacted four and sometimes
five hundred millions of dollars year
since the close of the war.
The revenue of the government now
is more than million of dollars day,
and Republican newspapers are boast
ing of the craftsmanship which collects
such ar immense sam Of money.
They attribute to the legislation of g
corrupt and imbeciIe Congress, and to
a revenue service filled with rogues.
and incompetents, results which are
wholly due to a national prosperity
that has been retarded instead of pro-
NOTED by the financial measures Of.
the ruling party. - az -''+ = -.
All of those measures are corrupt,
and the most important of them are.
so plainly dishonest and vicious that
it is hard to understand how an intel
ligent and honest man can say a WorG
in their behalf. If we admit the idoc-i
trine of protection to be true, it
must be conceded that our tariff laws,
in many instances favor monopolies,
which are abundantly able to stand
alone. Between affofdinga Legislative,
protectionito misunderstanding Interest
or an industry or business of any kind,
in such manner as to permit it to
meet, competition and make fair
profit, and throwing around it such
guards as to give it an absolute mo-
nopoly, and place the people at cts
command in the disposal of its prog
ducts, there is wide difference, aid
the latter policy is, the prevailing. one
i'll our tariff laws.
2 The policy of the ruling party in re-
lation to all questions affecting the
currency and the redemption of the
five-twentya bonds is wicked, and is
I'intended to meet the demands and
forward the interests of money llend-
ers, and ofbondholders, at the expense
of all other classes. Many Of the
most prominent and influential Re
publican newspapers denounced our
tariff laws as an iniquity, in as severe
terms as can be employed, but those
laws are not so plainly at war with
justice and common sense as the poll
cy which makes the governments pay a
premium on its bonds when it is under
no moral or legal obligation to do SO.
ALI of the projects brought forward
by the ruling party for funding the
public debt and establishing new ma
tional banks are nearly as bad as they
can be. THERE'S nothing which can
be considered as an approach to hon
Resty about one ofthem. The leading
ideas are all the same, and will re!
ceive the form oflaw this winter, and
the people will submit, because they
think the nation is strong enough to
bear any burden which may be laid
upon it.--Hoznes Co., Farmer. ~. 40