The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1879-06-10
THE EPIDEMIC OF TAXES.

people of Illinois are afflicted by an epidem-
ic of taxes. 1t is an epidemic that merci-
lessly seizes upon everything that is visible
and much that is invisible. The horse tie
farmer rides, the watch that marks his time,
the food that sustains life when he is well,
and the medicine that increases his peril
when he is sick; the matches with which
the good wife lights the kitchen fire, or the
kerosene with which the knowing servant
lights the kitchen and herself as well, all
these are loaded down heavily
with taxes-are embraced within
the zone Of the merci!ess
epidemic OF taxation. Nothing escapes
not even the paper upon which the dying
taxpayer writes his will, nor the screws that
fasten down his coffin lid.
II the men and women, companies and
corporations from which these taxes are
wrunc. wrerched or exacted, could but
know the money is wisely, judiciously and
economically expended, they could summon
sufficient philosophy to endure the burden
uncomplainingly; but they are not furn-
ished that assurance. Every man is or
ought to be willing to bear an equal share
in the cost of wise and Just local and gen.
eral government; and here the public bur-
dens should end. He should not be taxed
to educate the children of his neighbor for
the pursuit of the learned professions. The
people of Illinois should not be taxed from
$4,000 to $4,000 q year to educate the
children of Jackson and Mclean counties,
and an equal sum to educate children from
other part Of the state, under the pretense
that some OF these children, when they ar
rive at the age of maturity, may engage in
the profession of teaching. In other
words, the taxpayers of Illinois
should not be charged with the
support OF our normal schools, which,
contemplated in the most favorable light,
are only intended to educate the young
men and women of the State for a profes.
sion, the pay and responsibility of which
would command supply Of followers with.
out the intervention Of normal schools. The
principle is unsound, and the consequences
of its application oppressive.
Neither should the people be taxed tc
pay for elegant structures of grand pro
portions and arhitectural splendor, for the
occupancy of the poor idiot and imbecile
Hundreds Of thousands Of dollars are ex
pended for rich adornments, splendid eff
fects and luxurious surroundings that tn,
poor reason-bereit creatures can neithe
appreciate nor enjoy. Provide for the com
fort of these public charges, and give then
all the care that their condition require.
and therein commences and ends the who'll
duty of the commonwealth.
The violence Of the tax epidemic plead
that its victims be spared still further
Why provide structures of equal magnif
cence, with ceilings whereon the artist ex
hsusts his skill and walls wherein the inter
lor decorator expends his best efForts--wh
doall this, and purchase costly pictures, rich
figured carpets, and glittering silk damasl
curtains and vari-colored lumberkins, fc
the enjoyment Of those who are blind. TIL
victims Of the epidemic should be spare
all these; and spared, too, the cost of tn
elegant turn.outs in which the keeper
move from place to place, the body ser,
ants that fly at their beck and nod, and tn
rich viands that load their tables, and Fl
the stomachs Of the chronic hangers. on an
! multitudes OF friendly visitors.
The reports made by the keepers of II
' Jacksonville Institutions, to the Goth on
r Both General Assemblies made by tho,
K whose interest it is to show judicious m
% economical management story tn
I. serves, in marked degree. to explain wi
J. taxation 10 violently epidemic. Oh pair
!. ings, fine carpets, preserved e;.ron, zan
currants, oranges, lemons, cssencep. wate