Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-12-16
REIMBURSEMENT OF THE BURDENS.

In readjusting the burdens of fed
erAl taxation a sound public policy re-
quires that such of our citizens as
have built up large and important in
dustries upon present conditions should
not be suddenly, and to their injury,
deprived Of advantages to which they
have adapted their business; but if
the public good requires it they should
be content with such consideration as
shall deal fairly and cautiously with
their interests, while the Just demand
Of the people for relief from needless
taxation is honestly answered
A reasonable and timely submission
to such a demand should certainly be
possible without disastrous shock to
any interest, and cheerful concession
sometimes averts abrupt and needless
action, often the outgrowth of impati-
ence and delayed Justice.
Due regard should be also accorded
in any proposed readjustment to the
interests of American labor so far as
they are involved. We congratulate
ourselves that there is among Us no
laboring class, fixed with unyielding
bounds and doomed under all coudi.
tions to the inexorable fate OF daily
toll. We recognize in labor a chief
factor in the wealth of the republic,
and we treat those who have it in
their keeping as citizens entitled to
the most careful regard and thought
full attention. This regard and
attention should be awarded them.
not only because labor is the capital
Of our workingmen, justly entitled to
its share of government favor, but for
the further and not less important
reason, that the laboring man sur
rounded by his family in bis humble
home, as a consumer is vitallv inter
ested in all that oheapens the cost of
living and enables him to bring within
his domestic circle additional comforts
and advantages.
This relation of the workingman to
the revenue laws OF the country, and
the manner in which it palpably in
hueuces the question of wages, should
not be forgotten in the justiiable
prominence given to the proper main.
tenance OF the supply and protection
Of well-paid labor. And these cous!d-
erations suggest such an arrangement
Of government revenues as shall re
duce the expense of living, while it
does not curtail the opportunity for
work nor reduce the compensation of
American labor and iniuriously affect
its condition and the dignifed place it
holds in the estimation Of ouy people.
But our farmers and agr!cuIturists
those who from the soil produce the
things consumed by all-are perhaps
more directly and plainly concerned
than any other Of our citizens in
just and careful system OF federal tax
alton. Those actually engaged in
and mole remotely connected with
this kind OF work number sarly one
half of our population. None labor
harder or more continuously than
they. No enactments limit their hours
of toll, and no interposition OF ne
government enhances to any great ex-
tent the value of their products. And
yet for many of the necessaries and
comforts OF life, which the most scru.
pulous economy enables than 10 bring
into their homes, and for their imple-
msnts Of husbandry they are obliged
to pay a price largely increased by an
unnatural profit which, by the action
Of the government, is given to the
more favored manufacturer.
REDUCTION OF THE TARIFF.
l recommend that, keeping in view
all these considerations, the increas-
ing and unnecessary surplus Of nation
a. income annually accumnlatins. be