St. Paul daily globe., 1888-05-18
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dea upon the people of this country.
To the already accumulated $780,
0O0,000 surplus lying unused and useless
in the treasury there is being added
under our existing revenue laws an in
creaSing surplus of SS0,000,000 each
year. This money is not needed for
any legitimate purposes of government; !;
it is withdrawn from circulation; it
plays no part in the business transac-
tiOns of the people; it is constant
temptation, standing inducement for
schemes of plunder and corrupt eXtrav-
agance.
We demand as right that the peo-
pie shall be at once and forever re-
lieved from this unnecessary and Op-
preSSive burden.
Superfiuous taxation is tyranny.
The time has come for thorough re-
vision and a radical reduction of the ex-
iSting revenue taxes. We insist that
this work be at once begun and speedily
consummated without farther evasion
or delay, and that in the doing of it the
following principles shall be adhered to
as the true bases of genuine revenue re-
form, viz:
First-That taxation is not a public
blessing nor an element of national
prosperity. That while sufficient rev.
enue should at all times be collected for
the support OF an economical govern
ment in the discharge of its legitimate
functions, for the payment of the pub
lie debt and liberal pensions to deserv-
ing veterans of the Union armies; not
one dollar of supertluOus tax should be
imposed for the purpose of enhancing
the prices of commodities consumed by
the people and as tribute to the pri-
hpc of a 70
SecOnd-That whatever taxation it
may be necessary to retain for govern
mental purposes should be imposed as
far as practicable upon articles of
luxury and Indulgence which mainly
minister to the enjoyment of the rich or
the habits of the dissolute.
Third-That the taxes should be
greatly reduced and, when practicable,
altogether abolished upon all articles
and materials in such general use as to
be rightly claSSed as neceSSarieS for the
people, which are essential to their
health, comfort and prosperity, which
enter into their domestic life, their in
duStrial pursuits and their personal hap
pineSs.
Fourth-That the purchasing power
of the products of our labor shall be no
longer diminished by a tax upon the
products; the value of what we sell no
longer curtailed by exchanging the cost
of what we buy with the proceeds of our
sales; that tax upon imports is in
effect tax upon exports, and that the
lest way to render our agricultural and
manufacturing industries profitable and
prosperous is to increase the purchaS-
ing power of their product in the mar
kets of the world by abolishing taxes
upon things purchased.
Fifth-That our foreign and internal
commerce should be increased, and the
cost of transportation reduced by re-
pealing taxes upon the materials which
enter into the construction and equip
ment Of our railways and marine.
SiXth-That our manufacturing in
duStries should have the benefit of uu-
taxed raw materials used by them, en-
abling them to dispose of their surplus
products in other markets than our
own.
Seventh-That the workingmen in
those industries should have that steady
employment and fair remuneration
which can never exist so long as the
sale of the products of their labor is
confined to the limited demands of an
easily overstocked home market.
Eighth-That the cunningly compli-
Gated system of specific and al valorem
duties upon the same article whereby
the heaviest taxation is imposed upon
the cheaper grades, used mainly by
our working people, should be wholly
abandoned, and the millionaire COM
PEELED to pay at least an equal per cent
age of taxation with the poorest labOrer.
Ninth-Finally, that all taxation shall
be equal and impartial. That our peO-
n m q T.
ketS of the world to buy as well as to
sell to the best advantage and upon
equal terms with the people of other
lands; that our power to produce and
ability to purchase shall no longer be
confined to monOpoliZed home market,
influenced by combinations and at the
mercy of pools and trusts.
In conformity with these principles
we specify as among the articles which
should be placed upon the free list, salt,
coal, wool, lumber, sugar, iron, steel,
glass, binding twine material, drugs
and medicines, all wearing apparel, car
pets, and household goods, tools, imple-
ments and machinery used in agricul-
tural and mechanical employmentS and
all raw materials consumed by our man
ufactories.
This is what we mean by revenue re-
form.
The existing tariff was created and is
now maintained by the aggregate self
ishneSs of the particular interests which
have so long and bou teously fattened
upon its profits originally imposed as a
necessary war measure" 1t has since
been perpetuated, and it's enormities
concealed by deluding credulOus peo-
pie with false issues and keeping alive
= th., hot dc hxyf = ~,
war. For more than twenty years the
bloody shirt has protected protection
from public scrutiny and popular indig-
nation. A combination of favored mo-
nOpOlistS, so powerful and deeply inter-
ested in the maintenance of such SyS-
TEN as not to be easily broken. Inch by
inch the cause of reform must win It's
way. We therefore welcome and in
dorse the Mills bill, now pending in
congress, as the first aggressive step in
advance, which deserves the united sup
port of all men who honestly favor rev.
enue reform.
While we recognize the growing SEN
timent for tariff reform among the Re-
publican voters of Minnesota, we here
by call their attention to the recent ut
terance of the platform adopted by the
last Republican state conventional
platform which makes no demand for a
reduction of tariff taxes, but is an out
spoken Endorsement of protective
tariff. But we respectfully suggest to
them that such a reform is not to be eX-
pected at the hands of men who are
benefciarieS of the abuses to be re-
formed, but can only come from those
who are in hearty sympathy with the
reform to be accomplished.
While we are not unmindful of the
growing interest of the people of Min
nesota in this greatquestion, we declare
our firm conviction that tariff reduction
is not local issue merely, but one of
transcendent national Importance, af-
fecting the prosperity, welfare and hap,
piness of all the people of the whole
country. 1t was made so by the fear
less, unequivocal position assumed by
President Cleveland in his last annual