Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-10-04

change. In the nOmelY language or an
other, let us look into the books. Turn
out these men or rather. don't re-eIect
them. Turn them out, those that have
TO be turned out, and let a new set of
men representing the Democratic par
ty look into those records and those
books, and see how this government has
been administered, and how its treasury
has been despoiled. Then you may get at
something like the truth. Iwould not
give straw for anything short of that.
/ Your. Congressional Committee may
now and then attempt to investigate.
They win be thwarted just as certain as
| fate; but put in the men who can go in
| to those departments, down to the low
est office In them, whose daily business
it is to inspect the record and books and
| then you will have some chance to get
at the truth.
But again, my friends, think there
ought to be change of administration
! for another reason, and that is that
there never was in all the history of this
cOuntrya time when the interests of the
people were so much endangered by
monopolies as they are at this day.
| Now it is singular fact that there is
scarcely monopoly to be found in any
statute book in the United States that
was not created by our political oppo-
nents. There is this most remarkable
fact in the history of this country-you
cannot find an act in Congress that ever
was passed by Democratic Congress
that gave any man an unjust advantage
over another man. Every one of them
dealt with the people as having equal
| l. H. tlan,,
you will find this striking feature in all
of thent-that they give no advantage
to one man over his fellOw-man. They
treated them all alike as entitled to
equal and exact justice. On the other
hand there is not statute book in Con-
gress and very few in the statutes of the
state, comforting special privileges upon
any class of men, that was not enacted
by our political opponents. Banks,
tariff, monopoly, railroads, subsidies,
everything of the kind that takes mon
ey or property from the people and
gives them to the privileged class-that
confers privileges on few men COM
parativeIy that other men do not enjoy
all this comes from the legislation ofour
political opponents, so that it was an
old saying of democrat, even before
the most ofyou were born, that the Fed
eral party, as our opponents were then
called, legislated to put money into
the pockets of those who had hardly
sufficient to support their life and give
them their daily bread. So that again
1 say, you want a change.
In speaking of the tariff, the "old
man eloquent said:
| kknrt tho fi.cf tGipr fI,nt T ,1-onf to
impress upon you is the plain, simple
fact that this thing called tariff is
nothing more nor less than tax; and,
although you do not see the taX-gatherer
come around and take the money out of
your hand, it is just as much a tax as
that which the Treasurer of Franklin
county collects from you every year.
Why is it ajax? How is it paid? Why,
in this way. 1t is a tax or duty levied up
on nearly all merchandise or property
brought into the United States. There
are some articles on the free list, but on
most of the articles brought into the
United States that duty or tax or tariff
is paid to the Collector of Customs at
the port where the goods are brought in.
1t is paid by the importing merchant
Well, when he sells the article on which
he has just paid duty to the wholesale
merchant, must he not add to the cost
of that article the amount of the tax
that he has paid upon it? Must he not
add that in the price? Ifhe does not he
loses money and no man would follow it
for an hour. He, therefore, adds to the
cost of the article that is brought into
the country the amount of the tax, thus
amounting at price which, with the
interest and his profit, is his price on
the article. When he sells it to the
wholesale merchant the Wholesale mer.
chant sells it to the retail merchant here
in New Albany and of course this tax
was in the price when sold to the whole.
sale merchant and in the price when
sold to the retail merchant here with
interest upon it and wholesale mer
|, chan's profit. Then comes the mer
chant here in New Albany and sells the
goods to one of you and in the price that
you paid for these goods in this tariff
/, tax that was paid in New York by the
} importer of the goods to the Collector
: of Customs there, so that in the end il
is the man who codsumes the article
who pays the tax. And although hi
pays it in the price that he gives for i
and though he never sees the tax gath
erer he just as certainly pays the tax 81
though he pays the tax on his horse O
his land to the Treasurer of this county
Now, let me call your attention to til,
, striking difference between this tarif
and to such as you pay to your state O.
county. The tax that you pay to you
state or county, township or village is
, tax based on the fundamental principl,
; that taxes ought to be levied on proper
!, ty-the fundamental principle that tn,
property which the law and the stron,
arms of the people work and secure t,
the owner is what ought to pay the ta'
to support the government. That is tn
fundamental principle of taxation an,
F; you follow it out in your state govern
ment; but when it comes to this tari1
tax, the tax is paid, as showed you, b,
2 the consumer. 1t is the man who con
S sumes the article that pays the tax il
7 the enhanced price and the consequence
of this is that the poor man who has
7 family requiring consumption of sa,
1 $500 worth of imported goods in yea
pays as much tax as man who may b
: worth 81 900, 600 and who consumes n
more OF such goods. 1t is therefore
=, tax upon consumption not tax upol
property; and no matter how poor ma
3 be the man who has to pay the tax il
g the price of the articles he buys, it come
!: down on him more heavily, perhaps
t than it comes down on his neighbo
l who may be worth fifty times as mucl
Y as he. But that isn't all the differenc
between this tax and other taxes. Ev