Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-11-04

apply TO her social system the doc
inculcatcd by Thomas Jefferson
and there would be an end Of strife,
revolution and insecurity. 1t would
be impossible in the very nature of
for communism or any other
like social disorder to exist in a coun-
try Of equal rights and equal laws.
1t follows from these premises,
which constitute the bedrock doc
trines Of Democracy, that all malad-
ministration of government, and that
all privileges, m~onopolies. or favors
shown by the government to any class
of citizens, is inherently wrong and
pernicious, as directly tending to So
cial disorder, to dishearteu the people
and drive them to measures of repri
sal and retaliation. When aggregated
capital Influenced Congress to donate
the public domain, which was the
property of the people to privileged
corporations, it became the unrighte-
GUS instrument by which capital was
increased in the hands ofthe few at
the expense of The many. The gain
made by capital in the hands Of the
few was compensated by correspond
ing exactioO on the labor of the many,
which took upon itself a burden ex-
actly equal to this unnatural increase
of capital. Exemptions from taxa
ton, which are to be seen every day
in the charters of incorporated com
panies, constitute so many exaciions
on labor. They are exactions on the
people, aud exactions on corporations
who are not so fortunate. The ex-
penses Of government must be paid,
and just in proportion as aggregated
capital is freed from its share Of the
burden, just to that extent is labor,
which produces all values, compelled
to make up the deficit.
Railroad interpretations are the
children ofthe State. Their existence
is a privilege conferred by the people.
They are quasi public institutions and
exist because it is supposed the privi-
legcs conferred in their charters are
compensated by the good they will do
the public. When justly managed
they are profitable 10 the incorporators
aud a blessing to the State. But when
they pass into the hands Of arrogant
capitalists, who run them exclusively
for their own interests, and damn the
public while doing it, then they be
come extortioners and robbers, and the
labor Of the people should be relieved
from their unholy exactions by wise
legislation. Why is it that the people
of Memphis were so lothe to pay taxes
on the old city government Was il
not a kind Of social disorder, produced
by the well founded conviction
that the city debt was, in q
great measure, wroogful and that the
taxes levied to pay it were so many
exacllOns on their labor for the benefit
Of capitalists, who have purchased
these bonds on speculation Does no
this inquiry apply with renewed fore,
to the StIte debit If it we're possibl,
10 inspire in the minds Of the peopl,
Of Tennessee a tendency to commun
ism, what would contribute more L
such a result than tie operations O
the corrupt lobby which inspired III
passage OF the 1908 bill aud the co
settlement in defiance Of their wishes
1t %communistlc ide.s ever take roo
in this republic, it will be because o
the methods BY which within the las
twenty years the few have been mad,
enormously rich, aud the many hay
been forced to struggle for existence
Who even heard Of such vast accumu
lations Of wealth in the days Of Pol
and jackson? Who ever heard Of tn
discussion of the commune in refer
ence to American politics before th
war; 1t is impossible for such idea
to take root in the minds Of Tennes
seeaus or anybody else as long as th
truths Of Democracy are taught an.
enforced. Is there any one in thi
4, latitude who will seriously contep
, that parial, and sometimes corrur
legislation, in the interest Of corpors
lions, has not contributed and great
contributed to the abnormal wealt
t we see on the one hand aud the ab
5 normal poverty on the other?
LIS there any one here who wi
seriously argue that the protectiy
D tariff system has not contribute
e largely to the same RESULT Intere.
e could not be made on money in n
G latitude Of Tennessee during the wa
e Courts relieved executors aud admir-
~istrators from the payment Of intere
to legatees and distributes, and eyt
guardians, from accounting for W,
interest to orphan children. Where
e the man who will face the publ
q conscience with an argument that
q was just to fund the war interest {
the public debt Into bonds bearir
b six per cent INTEREST," Was this not !
exaction on the part Of the capt.
e invested in these bonds upon the lab,
e OF our people?
I Where is the Tennesseean who wi
say that it was right in 1869 10 pass
|. law at the instigation of a lobby O
e ganized by the railroads BY whic
they were enabled to discharge the
g Indebtedness to the State in bono
e issued by her unworthy agents withol
warrant Of justice or law? AS a
wealth is the product OF labor, does
not follow as night follows the ds
J that here is a wrong done to labor2
IS obvious to every rejecting min
that the legislation / have describe,
whether State or national, is fruitf