Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-08-06
O1eomargarine.

the entire repeal of the internal revenu,
taxes, rather than the surrender of an,
part of our protective system Now, al
/ understand it, the internal revenue taxes
consists of taxes on liquors. tobacco anC
oleomargarine. In your reply you say
nothing in regard to oleomargarine. AZ
this is a question that must be met, please
through the MONITOR, tell your many
readers if the tax on oleomargarine should
would it not ruin Vermont's greatest in.
dustry-dairying? UNDECIDED.
In answering the above, it may be
well to say word about the means
government resorts to for the pur-
pose of supplying its treasury with
the necessary funds to meet the vast
expenses of government, including
among the most important, interest
on the national debt, about $46, O0O,-
600; pensions, S76,000,OOO; the
sinking fund for payment of national
debt, S49, 100000; the war and navy
departments, including rivers, coasts,
harbors, etc., $54, 100000; other ex-
penses, for Indians, civil list, foreign
expenses, and miscellaneous, $685.
900, 900, making in round numbers
about 100000, 900 as expenses have
run during the last few years. To
meet this two methods are resorted
to: One is known as the tariff-a
certain sum paid by importers on
every pound, yard, bushel, ton, etc.,
of such products, manufactures or
articles as are sent to the United
States from foreign countries. These
duties are known as adj valorem, or
specific. The ad valorem is certain
per centum on the cost of imports in
the country from which they are sent;
and specific duty-so many cents on
each yard of cloth, each pound of
wool, each ton of coal, etc. Another
plan of raising money was adopted
under the necessities of war, which
was placing of tax on certain arti-
Giles that were produced, sold, or
owned by the people of the country.
At one time the list of articles on
which a tax was raised was very large,
but there has been disposition to
relieve the people of the burden of
this sort of taxation until only very
few articles are taxed, chief among
among which are tobacco and spirits.
This plan of raising money is known
as the internal revenue system, and
the general meaning, when one
speaks OF 'sinternal revenues" is the
taxes on tobacco, spirits, and on the
sale Of the same. But literally the
internal revenue is the money receiv-
ed from the sale of postage stamps,
the sale of public lands, the rent of
government buildings, the tax on
tobacco, alchhol, oleomargarine, and
everything else, except the tariff,
which puts cent into the national
treasury.
The republicans have theory that
they can obtain the pocket money for
Uncle Sam by placing import duties
the protective tariff dutles-on
such things as can be dug from our
mines, quarried in our mountains,
grown on our farms, manufactured
in our mills, and produced by our
laborers, thereby defending ourselves
from the cheap labor and the cheap
productions of other countries. They
call this 'Ethe American system of
projections - which they "uncompro-
misingly favor, land which they would
perpetuate, even if it is necessary, in
cutting down the revenues, to repeal
the taxes on tobacco, the spirits used
in the arts; and ultimately, rather
than surrender any part Of our protect
ive system, they favor the entire re-
peal of internal taxes.
In regard to the 'soleomargarine
matter, nobody believes that the
great party which originated the ole
margarine bill, pressed it in season
and out of season in congress, voted
for it almost unanimously and gave
it all the favor every where, every
way possible, proposes to repeal it.
AS well might it be said that the
party is opposed to receiving money
from the sale of public lands, or the
sale of postage stamps. 1t is well
understood that the tax never was
put on oleomargarine for revenue
purposes. The ban of the law and
the hand of governmental authority
was placed upon it because it was a
fraud, a thing made in dark places
of filthy, uncertain materials and put
into the market as butter, to the in
jury of the great dairy interests and
to the terror of every person who
ventured to spread his bread with
something he devoutly wished were
butter. The law works we'll and no.
body wishes to repeal it.
1t must be understood by every
man, whatever his party may be, that
the attempt to stygmatize the repub-
licans for making a statement in plat
form that by the most extravagant
and irrational twisting can be con-
strued as favoring the repeal of the
oleomargarine law, is but the cheap
and silly froth that sometimes ap-
pears in a political campaign, when
there is no better material to use.
A Cleveland Democrat Criticizes
the Monitor"