Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-12-15

good order of society, and his perfect Sc
curity in the enjoyment of his earnings with
the least possible domination for the public
needs. When more of the peoples SUBJ
stance is exacted through the form of taxa
ton than is necessary to meet the just OBJ
legations of the Government and the ex-
pense of it's economical administration,
such eXactiOn becomes ruthless eXtOrtion
and violation of the full fundamental
principles of free government. The indi-
rect manner in which these eXactions are
made has tendency to conceal their true
character and their extent.
"But we have arrived at stage of su-
perfluous revenue which has aroused the
people to realization of the fact that the
amount raised professedly for the support
of the government is paid by them as 40
solutely as n-added to the price of the
things which supply of their daily wages
it was paid at fixed periods into the hand
OF the tax-gatherer. Those who toll for
daily wages are beginning to understand
that capital, though sometimes vaunting
its Importance anu clamorng for the pro-
lection of the Government, is dull and
sluggish till, touched by the magical hand
of labor, it springs into activity, furnishing
an occasion for taxation and gaining the
value which enables it to bear its burden,
and the laboring man is thOughtfully IN.
quiring whether, in these circumstances and
considering the tribute he constantly pays
in the public treasury, as he supplies his
daily wants, he receives his fair share of
advantages.
"There is also suspicion abroad that the
surplus of our revenue indicates abnormal
and exceptional business profits, which,
under the system which produces such sur
plus, increase with corresponding benefit
to the people at large. The vast accumu-
lations of few among our citizens whose
fortunes, rivaling the wealth of the most
favored in Anti-Democratic nations, are
not the natural growth of a steady, plain
and industrious republic.
Our farmers, too, and those engaged di-
rectly and indirectly in supplying the pro-
ducts of agriculture, see that, day by day,
and as often as the daily wants of their
households recur, they are forced to pay
excessive and needless taxation, while
their products struggle in foreign markets
with the competition of nations which, by
allowing freer exchange Of productions
than we permit, enable their people to sell
for prices which distress the American
farmer. AS every patriotic citizen rejOices
in the constantly increasing pride of our
people in American civilization and in the
glory of our national achievements and
progress, sentiment prevails that the Lead
ing strings, useful to nation in its infan-
cy, may we'll he to great extent discarded t
in the present stage of American ingenuity,
courage and fearless self-reliance; and for
the privilege of indulging this sentiment
with true American enthusiasm, our cltl-
zens are quite willing to forego an idle sur
plus in the public treasury, and all the peo..
ple know that the average rate of Federal
| taxation upon the imports IS to-day, IN
time of peace, but little less, while upon
some articles of necessary consumption it
is actually more than was imposed by the
grevious burden, willingly borne, at time
when the Government needed millions to
maintain by war the safety and integrity Of
| the UniOn."
A revision of the tariff isalso recommend
ed, and as affecting the laboring man he says
on this question::
"Due regard should be also accorded in
any proposed readjustment to the interest OF
American labor, so far as they are involved.
We congratulate ourselves that there is
among US no laboring class fixed within un-
Welding bonds and doomed under all cOndi-
tions to the inexorable fate of daily toll. We
recognize in labor 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 thoughtful at
| tentiOn. This regard and attention should
be awarded them, not only because labor is
the capital of our workingmen, justly enti-
tied to its share of government favor, but TOR
the further and not less important reason
that the laboring man, surrounded by his
family in his humble home, as consumer,
is vitality interested in all that cheapens the
cost of living, and enables him to bring
| within his domestic circle additional COM
| forts and advantages. This relation of the
workingman to the revenue laws of the
country, and the manner in which it palpa-
bly influences the question of wages, should
not be forgotten in the justifable promi.
nence given to the proper maintenance OF
the supply and protection ofWell-paid labor;
and these considerations suggest an arrange
ment of government revenues.
"But our farmers and agriculturists, those
who from the soil produce the things con-
sumed by them, are perhaps more directly
and plainly concerned than any other of our
citizens in a Just and careful system of Fed
eral taxation. Those actually engaged in
and more remotely connected with this kind
of work, number nearly one half of our
population. None labor harder or more
continuously than they. No enactments
limit their hours of toll, and no interposi-
ton of the government enhances to any
great extent the value of their products.
| And vet for many of the necessaries and
comforts of life, which the most scrupulOus
economy enables them to bring into their
homes, and for the implements of husband
ry they are obliged to pay price largely in
creased by an unnatural profit, which by the
action of the government, is given to the
more favored manufacturer. recommend
that, keeping in view all these considera-
tions, the increasing and unnecessary sur
| nlus of the national income, annually accu-
muating, be released to the people by an
amendment to our revenue laws, which
shall cheaper the price of the necessaries OF
life and give freer entrance to such import
ed materials as by American labor may be
manufactured into marketable commodities.
Nothing can be accomplished, however, in
this much-needed reform unless the subject
is approached in a patriotic spirit of devo-
ton to the interests of the entire country,
and with willingness to yield something
for the public good"
On the question ofsilver coinage he says :
"During the fiscal year ended June 80,
1886, there were coined under the compulso-
nv silver coinage Act of 1878, 29,S3S, ,905 sill
yer dollars, and the cost of the silver used
in such coinage was So, ,44S, ,96O. There had
been coined up to the close of the previous
fiscal year, under the provisions of the law,
203, $50 554 silver dollars, and on the first day
of December 1886, the total amount of such
coinage was S247 ,l3l $40.
"The director of the mint reports that at
the time Of the passage of the law OF 1878,
directing this coinage, the intrinsic value OF
the dollars thus coined was ninety four and
one-fourth cents each, and that on the 3lst
day of July, 1856, the price of silver reached
the lowest stage ever known, so that the in
+r;ncio or hnllion nrica Of Our Standar rd silver