The Ripley advertiser. [volume] (Ripley, Miss.) 1843-1897, 1883-12-15
What the Democrats viii DO.

Oar1SI6 Will uSCnil6 inc III 4al3 OF
consolidating the power Of the
Democratic party and make it a
c%ongruous and harmonious organ
eaton. The time had come wh9u
some action by the natiopal legis.
lasure must be taken'o bring the
revenues of the country within the
limits Of the governments needs.
All parties AID all man of reflection
realized che evershadowing necessl-
ty ola financial policy which would
relieve the Treasury Of the enor,
nous surplus yearly gathering, and
which can no longer be wisely ap.
piled to the payment ofthe public
debt. The plethoric condition Of
the Treasury, constantly congesting
the finances of the country, had Civ
en- rise to a variety of schemes for
the relief of the difficulty. One
school Of financiers proposed to dis
tribute the surplus to the States;
another to devote it to the aid Of the
public schools another to the build
ing Of navy and extensive coast
defsnseS, another proposed to re.
peal the tariff on sugar, to the utter
destruction of all attempts to grow
and man ufacture cane in the Unit
ed States; another proposed 20 take
the Whole tax off tobacco, and an
other TO abolish the whole internal
revenue system. No one Of these
propositions met with popular favor.
There was and is not a shadow OF
chance that either of them would
be adopted. Each, however, Was a
confession that something must be
done. Temporary relief has been
found from year to year in enor-
nous and confessedly unWise pay F.
ments o fthe national debt. The pa0
pie desired to have the debt paid,
and, therefore, refused to be olIaud-
ed at tAe process Of payment. But
this safety-valve is now about TO be
closed and will not DO a means OF
relief more than one or two years
more. What was and is to be done?
Those who iAveigh without reflec.
ton against any changes in the rev.
enue system on the ground that
such changes disturb business and
rstard the industries of the country
cannot deny that taxation must DO
reduced. There is no choice left to
Statesmen. All schemes of getting
rid of the revenue have failed. A
system of revenue must, therefore,
be devised which will leave th2
money in the pockets of the people
and in the channels Of circulation.
This task falls on the Demo C ratio
party, and, fortunately for the peo-
pie, that party is under wise and
moderate control. Fortunately,
too, the avenues to relief are not
difficult and involve no dangers,
The average duty on dutiable i'm
ports amounts to 42.8 per cent.
This tax brought into the treasury
during the last fiscal year $2l0,637-
1913. Let this import tax be reduc-
ed ten per cent. on the average to
begin with. And in conjunction
with this reduction Of duties let a
vide range of articles, in the nature
of raw materials for the most part,
be transferred to the free list. Let
the schedules be thus arranged to
bring SAC, 100000 or $50 600, 900
less into the Treasury. Manufac-
turers whose protection against for
eigu competition would be reduced
would in the main, be compensated
by the reduced cost of raw materi-
ais. Many industries which now
languish on account of the cost of
materials and the expenses of Ii fe
would pass the dead line into a life
Of prosperity. Does any national
man believe this sort of revenue
referm-and no ether is thought of
would impair business interests!
The most thoughtful and intelligent
IS ILL., wuoat;o,I on,,f,o4,r,n a.,