Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-12-04


Of change inseparablc from these conditions
it sour duty az pltriotic citizens to inquire,
at the present stage OF our progress, how the
bond Of the government made with the peo-
pie has been kept and performed
lie CHARGES UNJUST TAXATION
lnstea1 of limiting the tribute drawn from
our citizens, TO the necessities of its economi-
cal administration. ths government persists
In exacting, from tie substance of the peo-
Pile, millions which unapplied and useless lie
dormant in its treasury. This hagrant in
justice and this breach of faith and obliga-
tion add TO extortion the danger attending
the diversion Of the currency of the country
from the legitimate channels of business.
Under the same laws by which these re-
suits are produced, the government permits
many millions more to be added to the cost
Of the living of our people and 10 be taken
from cur consumers, which unreasonably
swell the profits Of a small but powerful mi
nority.
Ths people must still be taxed for the sup
port of the government under the operation
sf tariff laws. But to the extent that the
mass of our citizsns are inordinately bur
dened beyond any useful public purpose, and
for the benefit of favored few, the govern
ment, under pretext of an exercise of its tax.
ing power, enters gratuitously into partner
ship with these favorites, TO their advantage
and to the injury of vast majority of our
people.
This is not equality before the law.
The existing situation i injurious to the
health Of our entire body polite Ii STILES,
in those for whose benefit it is permitted, all
patriotic love of country and substitutes in
its place selfish greed and grasping ayarice
Devotion to American citizenship for its own
sake and for what it should accomplish as
motive TO our nations advancement and the
happiness of all our people, is displaced by
the assumption that the government, instead
of being the embodiment of equality, is but
an fundamentally through which especial
and individual advantages are to be gained.
The arrogance of this assumption is uncon-
cealed 1t appears in the sordid disregard of
all but personal interests, in the refusal to
abate for the benefit of others one iota OF
selfish advantage, and in combinations to per-
petuate such advantages through efforts to
control legis alton and improperly influence
the suirragss of the people
The grievances OF those not included with
in the circle of these beneficiaries, when fully
realized, will surely arouse Irritation and
discomfort. Our farmers, long suffering and
IlUlttnt, SbEN.RltlR ItCt VI lh0 Wlbl utio
hardest and most unremitting toll, will not
fail to see, in spite of misreprese entatiops and
misleading falacies, that they are obliged to
accept such prices for their products as are
fixed in foreign markets where they compete
with the farmers of the world; that their
lands are declining in value while their debts
increase; and that without compensating
favor they are forced by the action of th9
government to pay, for the benefit of others,
such enhanced prices for the things they
need, that the scanty returns of their labor
fail to furnish their support or leave no mar.
gin for accumulation.
woRKINGMEN DEMAND RELIEF.
Our workingmen, enfranchised from all de-
lusions and no longer frightened by the cry
that their wages are endangered by just re-
vision of our tariff laws will reasonably de-
mand through such revision steadier employ
ment, cheaper means of living in their homes,
freedom for themselves and their children
from the doom of perpetual servitude, and an
open door to their advancement beyond the
limits of a laboring class. Others of our citi-
zens whose comforts and expenditures are
measured by moderate salaries and fixed in
comes, viii insist upon the fairness and JUS
tice of cheapsning the cost of necessaries for
themselves aud their families.
When to the selhshneSs of the benefciariei
Of unjust discrimination under our laws there
shall be added the discomfort of those who
suffer from such dis ~rimination, we viii
realize the fact that the benehcent purposes
of our government, dependent upon the pa
triotism and contentment of our people, are
endangered.
Communism is hateful thing, and men,
ace to peace and organized government. But
the communism of combined wealth and capi
tai tho outgrowth of overweening cupidity
and selfislness, which insidiously undermines
the justice and integrity of free institutions,
is not less dangerous than the communism of
oppressed poverty and toll, which, exasper
ated by injustice and discomfort, attacks with
wild disorder the citadel of rule
He mocks the people who proposes that the
government shall protect the rich and that
they i'm turn viii care for the laboring poor.
Any intermediary between the people and
their government, or the least delegation Of
the care and protection the government owes
to the humblest citizen in the land, makes
the boast of free institutions a glittering de-
lusion and the pretended boon of American
citizenship a shameless imposition.
A just and sensible revision of our tariff
laws should be made for the relief of those
of our countrymen who suffer under present
NQuQktlOAlcs CUCH q AONASAOn cA11tu ACNCNo y
the support of all who love that justice and
equality due to American citizenship, of all
who realize that in this justice and equality
our government finds its strength and its
power to protect the citizen and his property,
OF all who believe that the contented COM
petence and comfort of many accord better
with the spirit Of our institutions than colos-
sal fortunes unfairly gathered in the hands
of n few of all who aDureciato that the for.
bearance and fraternity among our people,
which recognize ths value of every Ameri-
can interest, are the sureSt guaranty of our
national progress. and of all who desire to see
the products of American skill and ingenuity
in every market of the world with result
ing restoration of American commerce
NECESSITY FOR REVENUE REDUCTION.
The necessity of the reduction of our revenue
is so apparent as 10 be generally conce led.
But the means by which this end shall be ac-
complished and the sum of direct benefit