, 1877-05-19
Effect OF Taxation Upon Labor.

EHtCt vi IdAdtiOH UpOu BduOTs
The opponents of African slavery were ac-
customed to indulge In objurgation against
that system because il took from q man his
natural eht toeompensation TO for his labor and
TO dispose OF that labor as be listed. But no
man is fr e unless be is at liberty TO work for
himaelf.
Whether he be bondmsu or freeman born,
his liberty of labor being restricted be is in
the condition of slave, the distinction be-
tween the two being simply this, that the
slave must toll 10 furnish comforts aud luxu-
ries to others, the freeman works to supply
himself
So long as the laws of society force man
to give up a part of the product Of his labor,
to that extent they take away his power of
improving his condition. So far as society
comes in and takes away from man any
part of what ae has earned, TO that extent il
takes away motives for working.
just so far as society deprives the individ-
ua of the ability to produce for himself, and
to keep oil that be is capable of earaing, to
that extent does it demorslize its individual
members, and consequently the whole body
politic. Every man has absolute rights in
the universe with which no other can law.
fully meddle. He has the right to exist, for,
by the operation of laws higher than those of
human prescription. he does exist He has q
right TO sll things which the earth supplies
toward supporting ind making comfortable
that existence TO the extent TO which his la
Dor will procure them for him.
Whenever human laws impose a tan of any
kind or for any purpose, they directly inter
fere with this right of the individual man TO
exist b-re and to maintain bimself in exis-
tenee. The jealousy of taxation is feeling
founded in true wisdom; il is a feeling
without which men will never preserve lheir
freedom.
The taking of a mans earning by society
is an act akin 10 the taking away of his per-
sonsl liberty of locomotinD and the taking of
bis life, are all infringemeuts upon the indi-
yiduars right 10 live. One is no more than
the other a lawful e1ertion Of power except
for the direct purpose. in every instance, of
the maintenance of society's exis'euce.
When any Que Of these powers is e1erted
for any other end il Is wanton tyranny. OF
all these, taxation runs the most lnsidiously
into oppression, because the slicing off of
little, more and more, from our neighbor's
earnings does not produce the same shock in
Us as if We see him hauled to prison or hang
ed by the neck or put into Senator Frank
Stewards pIlIory.
The poor, the feeble, and the unskillful
suffer most from taxation. These obtain as
their share ont of the product of our COM
mon labor barely sufficient to support exis-
tence. Levy taxes in what m amer We may,
tkau I've hps hf, h.y
little OF no property in more than due pro-
portion for taxes are s0 much taken out of
the common product for the year; and there
is just 40 much less to bs distributed among
the workers who constitute the community.
Of course, what is taken for taxrs wouid,
If left with the people, have been distributed
amcng all the workers ID the same proportion
as that which was not taken. Every one,
poor and rich, would have had so much
more for his individual use. In a country
where taxes are ten per cent. Of the total
earning of the people. every one has ten per
cent. taken out of his means Of comfvrt for
the year. .-..
The cost OF government, the cost Of sup
porting officials " ho do not aid in the pro-
ductiOn of wealth. Is, looking at it simply
with references to the general industry aud
It's results, so much waste. 1t may be he
eessary waste, but it is a waste nevertheless
All the bread which it takes tv feed .he
government officials leaves so much less bread
to be distributed among the workers of the
country, makes bread less easy 10 be had
and 80 OF all things that are spent in keeping
up government.
1t is obvious that when you take ten per
cert. from the woman whose earnings are
fifty cents day, the loss of the five cents is
q much sOrer evil TO her than deduction of
one thusand dollars is 10 a man whose in
come is ten thousand.
No scheme Can be devised for taxing the
rich specially so as to take this burden off of
the poor. On the contrary, while it is more
convenient 10 levy the taxes from the rich,
yet, except for his own proper share, the rich
man who pays the tax il simply tsx-ccllec-
tor, just as the importer who pays duties at
the custom-house Is collector of these duties
from the Consumers of the commodities. The
cost of this process of collee:io from the
poor through the rich and the cost what may
be called the retail distribution of the tax is,
b. the time it reaches the poor man, added
10 the tax, so that III fact the poor pay more
than their proportion of all taxes.
In all nations the result of heavy taxation
has been to make the feeble still feebler, the
poor still poorer. The end of heavy taxation
has always been that the foundations of ns-
tional wealth and strength are suddenly
found to have been sapped fabric Of much
outward show of wealth is found to be rotten;
The cancer of poverty, disregarded So long rs
it was eoufined 20 the feeble aud the obscure,
is found spreading over the body polite
The power of nations wealth is not to be
found in its palaces nor in the colossal for
tunes Of few; the real test is the condition
Of its feeble class. Private fortunes Were
never more colossal in Rome than when great
masses of the Roman people procured bread
by bounty from .he public purse. The gen.
ersl distribution of prosperity, the indepeDd-
euce Of the laboriDg classes, their freedom
from onerous burdens that cripple their arms
aud make away with the best part Of the
fruits of their toll, the imposition of unjust
OF unequal taxes, the subsidiz4tion of certain
industries to he disadvantage of others. the
system of sustaining some by direct bounty.
all these tend to concentrate wealth in fewer
hands, and to narrow the area IF labor, and,
OoDse 4ucnig, y uAiA'-"'1"4"S tSS oStN@Ho
make it difficult TO obtain, and hard 10 en-
dure W hen obtained.
Through taxation. direct and indirect.
through tax and tariff, through subsidy and
bounty, through legislation for el.s.es and
corporations, we have as real a system OF ser
vile labor as that which cost four years of
war, oceans OF blood, and tons of treasure to
blot frUm the face of the earrh.-Ex.
EXPORTING BEEF. A Philadelphia paper has the
following interesting paragraph on this subject:
The new traic that has 50 recently been establish