The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-08-31
RIVER AND HARBOR
Speech of Roosevelt p. Flower
Against the DishOnorable
Measure.

"A
Measure.
Delivered in the House o Representatives on july 2S s2
Mr.. SPEAKER: Although comparative
ly inexperienced in legislation affect
ING the whole country, have consider
ed il NV duty to enter several protests
AGAINST the excessive and burdensome
taxation under which We are la6Oring,
and l gladly avail myself of TINS un,-
IoOked-for opportunity of renewing and
reiterating what have already defined
to be my convictions. There ought to
be and must be a reduction in taxation
and a diminutiOn in the revenues of
this Government if justice and trus
economy are to hold any place in 1t.
There are altogether in this broad
land of ours some 50,OOO,OOO men, wO-
men and children, OF perhaps lOOOO,OOO
families. who depend on the Govern
ment for that legal protection which it
is the duty of good governments to afford
good citizens, and from those 1O,OOO,OOO
families during the last year have been
extorted S4OOOOO,OOO, OF, in round num-
bers, $40 from each family.
Now. | have not the least hesitancy in
affirming, as has already been affirmed
by those competent in every sense OF
the word to estimate ana athrm; that
S25O. 900, 900 are ample to supply the or
dinary wants of the Government If
nrOperly administered; and the sinking
fund and public debt, as | have already
shown. do not by any means require as
much as $5O,000,000. II seems to me
then that for all the needs of the Ad-
ministration $300.OOO,OOO would suffice;
but it does not suffice, and can never
suffice for the lavish expenditures con-
templated by such unnecessarily enorm-
Ous appropriation bills as this River ana
HarbOr bill.
And it is in this surplus of revenue,
this extra and unnecessary SlOO,OOOOOO
or more, that. such mOnstrOsities of
legislation have their beginning. One
hundred million dollars of money arbi-
trarily placed at the disposal of Gov
ernment, and which itmust devise ways
and means to spend, is sufficient to over
turn every foundation of democracy, and
blast every principle of honest admins
tratiOn.
But there is another very important
side to the question which it is well to
consider when we are called upon to
vote such sums as these for such pur-
poses, and that ia the side of the tax
payer. The $10O,OOO,OOO which | have
spoken of as unnecessarily collected
means even more than corruption. 1t
means absolute deprivation to every
family in the land. 1t means $40 drawn
from the earnings of each head of a
family. 1t means a $40 tax levied with
out excuse. in addition to all the taxes,
municipal. State and Federal, to which
the labOrer is subject, and it means war
taxes in times of peace.
Sir, when we are at war, when we
were Obliged to spend vast sums to pre-
serve intact the glorious heritage of our
fathers, there was an excuse for tax
alton and large revenues, and the peO-
pie of this country responded nObly to
the calls that were made upon them.
TODAY they are still generously reward
ing the wonderful sacrifices which our
soldiers made in our common cause.
But though the obligations incurred by
the war have been so reduced by gene
rOsitv rnp liberality in season that there
would seem to be an opportunity for
affording the people rest, OF comparative
rest. from the strain which they have so
long endured. no rest is proposed, no
diminntiOn of taxation is in sight.
When the Government was labOring
and in danger, the people supported it
with their lives and their property, and
when it has been rescued from destruc-
tiOn and enriched it must luxurate and
they must labor, as though still in the
actual contest. 1t seems to me that it
would be fairer to ecOnOmiZe in the ad-
ministratiOn and allow the people to
enjoy their own. than that public Off
cials should wallOw in the ill-gOtten
gains Of unnecessary taxation, or that
legislators should be lavish with other
peoples money.
/ think am justified in saying that
lavish expenditure of money is scarcely
accountable when the man who worked
for the mOnev sees other men working
to get rid of it for him. and know am
right in asserting that it is wrong there |
should ever be such a spectacle.
Mr.. Speaker. when think of the men |
in my own city and elsewhere who at |
wages Of from 81 to 50 per day are |
obliged to save and scTimp to get a good |
dinner for themselves and their families |
once week, when | think Of the low |
rate of wages which prevails, when l
read of children carrying blocks of wood
tied up in a handkerchief to school to
make believe they have luncheOns, when
see men walking miles to their work
to save the small sum a street-car ride
would cost, am sad.
When I think of the high rate of meat
and vegetables and the cOmfOrtlessness
of hungry toll; when | reflect that to
gain scanty pittances. even to live, the
labOring men of this country are obliged
to undergo and are now undergoing
long and fierce contests with their EN-
plOyers, am dissatisfied. But when |
remember that all capital is the result
of labor, when | am s1re that all taxes
are ultimately paid by labOrers, when
think of these fundamental aXiOms of
political economy, and then think of the
eXOrbitant demands and lavish disburse-
ments of this Government, 1 am as
founded!
Can it be possibly that this state of
things can continue; that the national
protectors of the men of this country
and their sworn representatives will so
misuse their powers? l trust not.
Mr.. Speaker, this bill contains pro-
visions which. in my Judgment, are good,
which would be of material benefit to
the country; but it contains others
which are pernicious, and for which 1
cannot vote. As whole, it is gigan-
tic swindle upon the people. 1t has
grown from the surplus of revenue,
which ought not to be. 1t has become
vast and abnormal on the ''tit-fOr-tat"
principle. Clauses have been allowed
to creep in so that other clauses might |
be retained, and it's face bears the "yOu
vote for mine and 1 will vote for yours"
stamp.
| hope the bill as it now stands will |
No Il k,v, l.. - |