The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-08-08


whose entire amount went into the treasury. BY
such legislation in the first ten years Of peace, the
immense burdens OF this great government were
bear them and arc able to bear them
10 the shoulders that ought not 20 bear them and
are not able 10 bear them In this manner we have
the pressure OF taxation in this country re-
moved from its income, removed from its property,
removed from It's Injuries, and fastened upon those
articles OF general consumption that meet the
primary wants OF all the people. You have fastened
your system of taxation as parasite upon that
sumption which for the wage-earner means nine
tenths and frequently tentenths Of all his earnings
until you have built up a tariff which is well en-
titled TO say, "Whoever else escapes my exactions,
the poor have alwaTs,with me-"
Republican Oppression.
But turning from the past history OF the re-
publican party on this great and vital question,
we will look next 10 its present unpatriotic and
oppressive attitude toward labor. l hazard
nothing in saying that the annals of mankind
may be searched In vain for parallel 10 the
present condition of American affairs The
leaders of the republican party, for the pur.
pose, they declare with the frankness of
highwaymen, of enrching and protecting their
favorites, have so overtaxed the people by
bloated tariff duties, that in spite of still
greater sum which has reached and been re-
tanned in the hands OF the manufacturing
monopolists over one hundred and fifty mil
lion dollars beyond what the government needs
have been taken from the people and forced
into the vaults OF the treasury, where they now
remain, an idle excess, a criminal overplus.
The labor interests OF this country need in cir
culation every dollar that can be spared from
the expenses OF the government, honestly and
economically administered, and yet at this
hour there is piled up, as useless surplus at
Washington, needed Tor no purpose at all by
the government, enough OF the laboring peo-
pies money TO pay down IN cash, as have
seen il estimated, more than two hundred dol
lars for every day since the birth of Christ.
Unjust, unnecessary and arbitrary taxation has
caused the most conspicuous and glorious
wars ever waged in behalf OF human lib
erty. The stamp tax caused the sword TO be
drawn in the American revolution, and the
ship-money tax in England in the seventeenth
century cost Charles |. his throne and his head.
In this age the question will be settled by the
peaceful, but nevertheless powerful, methods
of the ballot, and it will be defin tely and con-
cusively settled in favor of justice and equality,
If the DEGREES of God are that this republic
shall continue to exist. The issue with which the
democratic party now presses TO the 'front.' and
with which it intends TO promote the welfare OF
the country, is the same tor which our fathers
fought at Bunker Hill, and for which John
Hampton fell on the field of Chalgrove more
than hundred years before. We are opposed
TO the taxation of the laboring masses Tor the
benefit OF the aristocratic, idle few, and the
contest now begun will never be abandoned ex-
cept in the hour of complete victory. We are
asking reduction OF taxes on the necessares
of life, and we feel justified by the hottest in
sprations that have ever moved men TO action.
The leaders OF the republican party espouse
the cause of the tories, and assume the right
and the power TO use the machinery of govern
ment in behalf of caste founded on wealth. IL
is difficult task TO examine their platform
with composure as declared on this subject at
Chicago. To my mind it more clearly and dis
tinctly embodies the very spirit OF political
evil than any document | ever read. Ii is
mocl1ery and insult to the intelligence and the
moral sense of the American people. You
want free salt, cheap clothing, cheap blankets
cheap plows cheap nails, cheap farming ma
terals and cheap articles for household
and kitchen USE This republican
platform declares that no part of
the frightful war taxes laid twenty-five years
ago on such necessaries of life as these shall be
taken off or touched, but that whisky shall be
free from taxation and How IN your midst
without money and without price, so far as
government revenue is concerned, rather than
a single jot or title of the enormous subsidies
and bounties TO the manufacturing barons shall
be disturbed. The tax on tobacco is also to be
RENTED, rather than the tax on your shirt or
on your shoes and stockings. 1t is true this
platform, which has shocked and startled the
country, first declares that the republican
party would effect all needed reduction of the
national revenue by repeating the taxes upon
tobacco, and the tax upon spirits used In the
arts and for mechanical purposes; and also by
such revision of the tariff laws will still
further check imports, and consequently still
further protect the monopoles OF this country
from foreign competition and render them still
more secure in the extortionate prices received
for their goods and wares But the authors OF
that platform well knew that the necessary
amount of revenue reduction could not thus be
made, and hence, with frankness born of des-
peration, they gave square notice OF what they
intend TO do if they had the power. They said
in plain words that if the partial methods just
cited did not produce a sufficient reduction,
apd fhara still rapnaipad "A larupr than
was requisite for the wants of the government,
they were in favor of the entire repeal of inter
nal taxes rather than the surrender of any part
of their protective system. Ii is hard 10 speak
in terms of moderation of this monstrous
proposition. The people are grooming under the
old, huge, grinding war taxes on every necessity
of their lives; the treasury OF the United States
is running over and bursting open with money
sorely needed at home in trade and business,
and curse full of danger and corruption where
it is; the privileged few have amassed estates
richer than those of the most opulent dukes
and ears of Europe, every dollar OF which rep
resents unjust taxation and the oppression of
labor, and yet, in this Christian land and age,
men sometimes spoken of as Christian states
men, have nothing better than free whisky and
tobacco to offer the people in response to their
cry for relief. The report of the commissioner
of internal revenue shows that for the year
ending JuDe30, 1888, the sum of 1924, 1926, 474
was collected by his Office and all of il from
in its various forms, with the exception of a
small amount arising from oleomargar1ne and
two or three other minor sources. This large
revenue income of nearly a hundred and
twenty-five millions year, not n dollar OF
which arises from any article necessary TO hui
man life, or 10 human happiness, Is to be
totally abolished, in order that similar
amount may remain on the textbooks charged
TO the fabrics wherewith you are clothed, and
TO the implements of industry wherewith you
till the soil cultivate your crops, and gather in
your harvests How such a proposition can
fail to inspire every honest mind with horror, l
am at a loss 10 conceive. We have been taught
in the holy scriptures that to blaspheme the
Holy Spirit of God is the one sin for which
there is no remission or mercy at the judgment
seat in tn world beyond the sky. With
due reverence be il spoken, but ii
seems to me that the republican plat
form commits blasphemy against the cause
of labor and has stamped upon that party an
inefiaceable and undpardonablc CRIME. The
mob at Jerusalem cried out for the release of
Barrabas; the plethoric barons and money kings
at Chicago cried out for the release of whisky
but in each instance the innocent and the just
were kept in bondage and made to suffer and
TO perish. The cause of the people was cruel.
fed at Chicago, not between two thieves, but
by the thieves themselves. There was a strong
pressure brought TO bear on Pontius Plate,
but still stronger one on the managers of the
Chicago convention. The manufacturing mo-