Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-03-18
NINETEEN WEARS OF WAR TAXA.
TlON.


The people Of the United States for
more than eighteen years have been
paying taxes levied for war purposes In
time OF war.
Look at the internal revenue system.
We are now living under the third law
of the kind. The first was enacted to
aid in extinguishing the debt Of the
Revolution. The second was passed 70
furnish means for carrying on the sec
ond war with Great Britain. The third
!. went into effect in 1868, to provide
money for suppressing the rebellion,
An excise law is always offensive to
= free people. That passed under
wAsHINGToN's administration led to
open resistance in Pennsylvsnia, and
brought matters to the verge of civil
strife. Had it not been for the whisky
rebellion, as it was called, that act
would have been repealed long before
Mr.. JEFFERSON recommended its ap-
peal in his first message. 1t existed
from 1892 to 1901, and yielded =, ,ll2,O9I
revenue to the Treasury.
The next act existed i've years, and
from 1914 to 1878 yielded q revenue OF
SI4,l43,s52.
In few weeks nineteen years will
nave passed away since the close Of the
civil war. From 1866 to 1888 the re-
eeipts from internal revenue taxes
aggregated the enormous sum OF
S2,6i+, ,2S2, ,l56.
During the sixteen years Of the two
earlier periods of excise taxes, the re-
eeipts were so, 255, $40 in all, or less
than q seventh part of last years re-
turns from this source under the re-
duced scale.
The causes which led to the whisky
rebellion in Pennsylvania were tritling
compared with the outrsges inflicted by
the sgents Of the internal revenue at
the present time, especially in districts
distant from the great cities and among
people who are not familiar with the
law, and who have only limited knOwl-
edge OF their own rights.
There is q standing army Of four
thousand partisans, drilled like regular
troops, and trained in machine politics.
Their political services furnish immu-
nifty for crimes that, with proper ad-
ministrstion of justice, would long ago
have sent many OF them to the peni-
tentiaIy.
1t was shown in the investigation
moved by Senator VANCE to expose the
iniquities prscticed in North Carolina by
these officials, that they have bsen re-
uuired to contribute over half Of their
pay, in addition to personal service, to
help the Republican party.
Mr.. JEFFERSON recommended the re-
peal Of the original Internal Revenue
act upon the ground that the surplus
created by it would be temptation to
var. "Sound principles" he said,
Twill not justify our taxing the industry
of our fellow citizens to accumulate
treasure for wars to happen we know
not when, and which might not per-
haps happen but for the temptations
offered by that treasure" There Is no
danger Of war now. But there is far
greater danger in the corruption, ex-
travagance and generalization which
are encouraged by astanding surplus in
the treasury. Rings, iobbers, public
plunderers Of every degree, and prOfes-
sional spOilsmen regard this surplus as
the aim 10 which all their schemes are
directed. 1t has polluted our politics,
melted robbery and augmented the
public expenditures; and the internal
revenue system is to blame for its ex-
istence.-New York Sun.