Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1879-02-01
THE TRANSPORTATION TAX.


pndeniable fact that, at best, the cost of
transporting farm products from the place of
their raising; manufactures from the mills
and factories where they are woven and
forged and shaped; imports from where they
are landed from ships; and of all other ar
ticles and things which are in use for the
feeding and clothing and shetering of civil
lied man comes out of the pockets of the peo
pie at large, and is therefore tax upon the
community.
Also it is to DO borne in mind that the tax
is burden upon everybody in the commu-
nity, excepting, perhaps, the railroad COM
paIlies themselves
We mean by this that the merchant who is
persuaded that himself is exempted from this
tax by reason of his outlay for freights being
sdded to the prices charged by him to his
customers, labors under very great mistake.
There are two palpable errors in his con-
ciusion One arises from the miscalculatiOn
that being repaid for his own outlay for
freights, the merchant clears his share of the
transportation tax. This view might be
measurably correct if the merchant were not
compelled 10 purchase for his own use and
convenience, and that of his family, things
and products not In his own line of business.
Another serious consideration is the con-
9 ,ntrasion in the hands of, absorption by
the railroad companies of large per Ccntum
Of the moneys earned by aud circulated
among given neighborhood or community.
Any influence or business or tax which tends
20 enrich the few at the expense of the many
is a grie. Gus burden.
Says Mr.. Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
u The burden of taxation, it is called, is
crudely measured by the proportion which
she public revenue bears to the numbers or
supposed wealth OF any community as ex-
pressed in the census. Such measure IS tdl-
jUciOus an the extreme. A tax Is not only a
contribution taken directly from the re
sources of any community for governmental
Or pui lie uses, but. in its general significance,
it is also any burden, natural or artificial,
which, without altering the intrinsic value,
the quality or the quantity of raw material,
adds to its cost before 1t reaches the consumer.
In another place this writer says: In like
suanner, anything ,ohich adds to the necessary
cost Of transportation aggr0rotes the tar, and
anything which diminishes it removes one
snore burden from human toll.
Now the labOring class IS peculiarly affected
by - railway facilities, as the term goes
ditch run through swanpy nj
t'springy" country drains the region through
which it passes. All the little rlls trend
coward the 1owage of the ditch. A railroad
Tan through d country which has supported |
great many teams and horses, oxen and pack
trains, which, in turn, support many small |
inGu stries, aos0rbs into itself all the CARRYING |
trade that has given employment to those |
teams and trains, and destroys the individual |
industries dependent thereupon.
Thas is ''indIrect taxation i'll another form.
Every man who buys and burns stick # !
good every man who drinks and coffee ; /
every man who purchases clothing, boots,
shoes, candles, tn-ware or books every man
who works with MS hands every WasherwOman
who Guys bar OF soap; every mechanic who
uses IRON or leather wood or other material
in MS work is interested in the iessenng of
the transportation tax.
Jt.e enormous profits Df the railway com
panes show how they ftttening off the
substance Of the people.
The prevailing hard times demand in behalf
Of labor and al industry that the railroads,
subsidized by the people and buit5 by Chinese
!Gbor, should have their rates reduced.