Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-09-11
Causes Of Durdsnsome Taxes.


We copy the following article from the
Philadelphia Age. 1t says:
The people complain Of high taxes, aud
they have good and just reasons for
SO doing. In no country are the masses
called upon to bear heavier burdens, when
all the circumstances are taken into cOnsid-
Grafton. Taxation sits upon everything
that the people eat, wear, or consume, in
any manner whatever. Each dollar that
poor man earns by hard labor, is clipped
by the Government before it reaches his
family. Five days out fisk he labors for
himself and his little ones, but the pro-
ceeds Of the sixth arc appropriated by the
tax. .gatherer, who, like Dives Of old, is
clothed in "purplc and fine linen, and
fares sumptuously every day." For each
pound ofmeat, or butter, or tea, coffee or
rice the poor man uses, he pays tax, and
the merchant, manufacturer and capitalist
il called upon to reduce his income in the
same manner. Money is taxed as well as
labor, and the business of our industrious
citizens is rendered less productive by the
drains upon it to meet tine expenses of the
Government, which, in time of peace, are
on war footing. "Why are the taxes so
high ?" is constantly asked by the people.
A partial answer is given in the following
extracts from Washington letter recently
published in the Baltimore Gazette. The
writer, who is familiar with the doings Of
the>men running the machine at National
Capitol, says:
Oflate years our "progrcss Of civiliza-
ton" has been such that now the most
commonplace matters are conducted on
purely transccndcntal principles. Former
ly the ''Blue Book" contained the name
and the amount of salary Of every Federal
official-legislative or executive. But this
official register has become mere means
of conccali~g .fom, instead of exposing to
public gaze the expenditures OF the Gov
crnment upon its officials, or unofficials, as
the case may be, and who those public ben
ficiaries really are! Hundreds of men
(such as the negro Mcnard, for examplc)
have been paid out of some clandcstinc
fund, as mythical members of Congress
(having no prctcnSions to scats), salaries
approximatng those of real members, and
countless hundreds Of hangers-on in the
purleus of the Capitol have fattcncd upon
what is called the "cOntinycnt" fund
performing or not performing service
real or imaginary, which no law recognizes,
and for which no law provides recompcnse.
In the Executive Department this class of
unofficial officials has assumed fabulous
proportions. Not claim of consequence
is now allowed by any Bureau before being
submitted (not to the law officials of the
Government, butt to an outside attorney for
adjudication. Scarcely case of impor-
tance arises in the District or Circuit
Courts throughout the country, or in the
Supreme Court, in which these tavoritcs of
fortune are not seen to figure. This NAV
be all necessary (and it is but sample of
what is going on in all the other branches
of official busincss) upon the ground of the
acknowledged stupidity of the real q off,
cials." Upon this point l express no
opinion; but it is safe to affirm that the
gross amount these amateur officers re-
ccivc annually equals at least the nominal
amount set down in the "Blue Book" and
other official expositions, as the full cx-
pcnditure on account of the legitimate
civil list. But it is, in the matter of reg
istering, the "salary," Cor incomc) of rec
ognised officials that the public is most
grossly deceived by these "books;" the
nominal pay of these men Legislators and
executive officcrs) is not drop in the
bucket Of what they really receive; and
herein I by no means allude to the vulgar
charge of downright pilfering. There is
hardly member Of Congress who is not,
at this moment, taking money out of I'm
Gle Sans pocket (beyond his $4,000 per
annum,) and at the same time enjoying, at
the expense of the Government, all the
luxuries within the grasp of mllionaires
Schenck, as the head of ways and
Means" Committee, secured, by a solemn
vote of the House, ten thousand dollars to
defray the cost of tour down and across
the continent" which, by the way, he new
er performed. I mention his case simply
as similar to numberless others, and not
as iguominiously isolated. The public is
sufficiently aware of the wholesale cutting
up Of Congress into travelling committees,
by its orders, before adjournment. A spec.
imen of another sort of fnanciering in an
economical way, is the conversion Of Con-
grcssmen during vacancies) into quasi
Foreign Minister, even where VIC have
Ministers resident. Senator, Ramsey, of
Minnesota, has just been dispatched to
France to negotiate postal treaty. Other
eases, I" too numerous to MENTION" of like
character, occur to mind. Who will ever
know what amount such men, for such SER
vice, will abstract from the public Golfers?
This phase in the financial management of
public affairs by the legislative branch of
the government is oquivocal enough, but
not comparable to what is observed in the
Executive. Heads Of Departments and
heads Of Bureaus are entitled to receive,
by law, and so are put down in the "Blue
Book" from $4,000 to $4,000 per annum
each, according 70 grade. There are many
ways of hoodwinking the dear people. 1