Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1884-09-13
are some Of the striking features Of tho


side and corrupt administration upon the
other. This issue goes to the very life OF
the republic itself and the highest in
terests OF the people, both collectively
and as individuals, are involved IN the
struggle. Long continued possession Of
the public offices by those pow III power
has caused them to be held as places for
private gain and not rs public trusts. The
machinery of tho government is unused
for tho protection of the people against
official corruption and Is only vigorous
against thoir efforts for a change of ofli
ctals aud purity of administration. The
other aud perhaps an equally important
issue Is that which affects the business in
forests Of the whole people and involves
economy OF administration and reduction
Of taxation.
The business interests Of the people are
involved IN the question Of taxation, and
there must be some cause for the present
staguatiou i'll business. Furnaces are
being blown out; iron and cotton mills are
running upon half time; coke ovens and
coal mines are paying starvation wages:
the people are suffering aud the ability to
gain livelihood bears harder and still
harder upon those who toll; values arc
shrinking and well nigh armed warfare
proves that there Is difficulty between oapi.
tai aud labor
What is the cause Of all these ills
What is the remedy These are the
questions to which, rs reasoning aud
reasonable mon, we should address our
selves. The masses of the American
people seek 20 do right, and party bias aud
party zeal will always yield before truth,
jaStice and undisputed facts. We charge
upon the Republican party that their
policy OF large grants OF public lands to
railroad corporations and their high taxa.
| tiOn Gf the people TO maintain an enormous
| surplus OF money in the federal treasury are
the leading causes of our present business
distress, aud especially are they the causes
| OF the glut of production, the glnt of labor
aud the misery aud distress of tho miner,
the artisan and the agriculrurist. We
charge, too, that under Republican rule,
| and as result of Republican policy, our
commerce has been swept from the seas,
| that our flag is scarcely seen upon the
! ocean, that the carrying Of our own produc.
tions out of our own ports by which our mer
chants and seamen could have earned
SlO0, OO0, 600 annually has gone to British
| and German shippers, that our ports of
| Baltimore and Philadelphia can scarce
| give decent support TO their pilot force,
and that thousands OF tons of American
| vessels lie idle at the wharves of our great
| seapOrts, while the sea is white with the
| sails aud the sky is dark with the smoko Q
| OF tho great merchant fleets of other
nations, which swarm to our shores and
| transact the great carrying trade that our
| own vessels do not seem able to take a
busy part in Their policy affecting tax
| alton, their statues granting public lauds
and their stolidity as to our shipping aud
commercial interests have shrunkea our
srade, whilst our inventive genius and the
vast tide OF immigration have yielded
| capacity for production in q largely in.
| creased ratio. The result is business dc.
pression and overproduotion, glut and
II isery.
The policy that produces and main
| tains IN the federal treasury a surplus of
over S4O0. 600, 900 is an unnecessary burden
aud destroys Our industries. To it more
| than ail else is attTibutaorc The business
| paralysis of the present hou-. This money
comes from the earnings of the people and
if it were now back in the channels Of trade
and the policy that produced it were rs.
| versed every artery OF commercial, finan.
clai, mining and manufacturing life would
throb with renewed energy. 1t would
stimulate enterprise aud give employment
| to labor \ redundant revenue, an over
| flowing treasury, new vaults required to
hold the surplus moneys, continued taxa
tion, thousands of workmen idle, strikes
and lockouts, depression in business-how
strange the contrast, how fatuitous the
policy that produces it.
| Lord Bacon compares money to man.
| ure. II gathered Ia heaps it does no good
but becomes offensive. Being spread
though ever so thinly over the surface of
the earth, it enriches the whole country.
" We believe in lessened taxation and
economy in administration. Just SO much
money as is necessary to administer the
| government honestly and with economy
should be taken from the people and no
more. Every dollar taken beyond this is
a restriction upon liberty aud an unwar
ranted exaction. Each added tax says to
the citizen 'Yes, your earnings are
yours j here tofore you might spend them
as you pleased, but hereafter you shall not
do 50; we will spend it TO. your good or
keep it in the surplus
| IF We look at this subject from the
standpoint of the artisan, the miner or the
laborer we shall find reduction OF taxation,
just revision and cheap government more
vital to him than to his employer. They
have came to learn that the remedy for the
evils that affect them is not through gov
| ernment aid, but through themselves. They
| can best help themselves by lowering taxa
| tion in every form, by reducing the cost
| of local state and federal administration
| and returning to honest government.
| Public economy represents other factors
than figures. 1t becomes to hundreds of
thousands vast personal and individual
| benefit, for it affects their lives anu those
dependent upon them. The fraction OF
one per c,nt. that in the form of taxation
suppresses a business or lessons wages
or shortens hours of labor may be
and often is the cause of suffering
and death in many q home. Twenty
cents day better wages may just supply
the difference in amount of food, in
quality or quantity, which saves the
father from fever or the wife or children
from the myriad forms of disease that arise
from want of nutrition. The ability to
buy the trfiing modicum of stimulus,
whether of tea or of beer, or the addi-
tional pound of beef or mutton may bs
the turning point between health aud sick
ness. Cheaper food and better wages spread
happiness everywhere and physical com.
fort, relief from anxiety about the loved
ones, time for relaxation, for thought
and the education of the children all dow
from cheapening the necessariss Of life
aud from fair wages aud steady employ
ment. This QUESTION of taxation our
suilerings teach US is not matter OF mere
statistics. 1t is full of deep human in
terest now, for in it are the causes for
our present ills"