Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-07-13
FEDERAL TAXATION.
The Question Brought Right Home to
the People Of Southwestern
Wisconsin.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH.

difficult task How is it that this
government of the people, by the
people and for the people" can extort
from the people vast sums of money
which it does not need and cannot use?
As a business proposition it is not
only indefensible, but full of danger.
Again, as business proposition it is
equally indefensible and more danger
Gus to cheaper whiskey in order to
avoid reducing the cost of the COM
forts and needs of the poor. No Sc
rious minded republican could vote for
that as bare business policy. Why
| then will so many of chem vote for
just that and nothing else next No
yember? There is no political question
before the people. 1t is purely a mat
ter of business and of morals. Shall
we cheaper those things which all must
buy, or shall we cheaper whiskey? If
|AhS duCotlOI COuIu ~ tIlc pCOplc Oil IIS
merits we should find them ten to
one IN favor of better morals and
cheaper living and against whiskey at
a shilling gallon. But there are two
powerful reasons why the question will
not go to the people on its merits:
The first is, the selfShness and power
of the special interests protected by
the tariff. These were mostly born
of the peoples sacrifices and sufferings
during the war. They alone came out
of that mighty effort, strong and ag-
greSsive. For a time they posed as
tender infants and were not ashamed
to drain the already spent and war
taxed energies of the people. They
followed the law of all infant devel-
opement. They waxed mighty in girth
and in greed. The republican party
nursed and fostered them for twenty
years. BY that time their exactions
had grown to such proportions that in
1884 the party for the first time
"pledged itself to correct the Unequal
tiles of the tariff and to reduce the
surplus" Mild as that seemed it yet
sealed the party's fate. Suddenly, and
without warning, these infants threw
aside their swaddling clothes and baby
slips and sprang, full grown giants, at
the throat of the republican party, and
four years later this is what they COM
PEELED it to say: 1--WE favor the en-
tire repeal of internal taxes (whiskey
and tobacco rather than the surrender
of any part of our protective system"
This is not that party which under
the guidance of that first American es-
poused the cause of the slave and with
its great leader did not rest till none
but freemen lived under our flag. No
friend Of good government can rejoice
that of it the people can now sadly
but truly say: 1.-The voice is Jacobs
voice, but the hands are the hands of
Esau."
This is the first reason. The second
is that while many, [ believe most, re-
publicanS are profoundly disturbed by
this shocking change in the policy of
their party, they cannot at once rid
themselves of the feeling that in some
way it is unpatriotic to act against the
republican party. This is no unnatural
feeling, but it is a feeling which may
lead to the support of a policy as dan
gerous as it is unpatriotic. An unsound
business principle can never be made
sound by the declaration that it is pa
triotic, and nothing unsound can ever be
patriotic. No sound business principle
can ever be unpatriotic. Yet how often
have we heard attempts to remove the
evils which have grown out of the will
ing and glad sacrifices of the people to
make this land the land of the free
branded as unpatriOtic! In how many
minds do we find that all that is not
republican is unpatriotic! When the
president says: :" | have considered the
the pension list of the republic roll
of honor, bearing names inscribed by
national gratitude, and not by improv-
ident and indiscriminate aims giving"
and have considered the prevention
of the complete discredit which must
ensue from the unreasonable, unfair
and reckless granting of pensions by
special acts to be the best service |
can render our veterans" he is de-
nounced as unpatriotic, as when he de-
clareS THAT a useless and dangerous
surplus in the national treasury tells no
other tale but eXtortion on the part of
the government and perverSion of the
peoples Intentions" and that 1.-The
protective system benefits certain
classes of citizens at the expense of
every householder in the land; sys-
TEN which breeds discomfort because
it permits the duplication of wealth
without corresponding additional rec
ompense to labor, which prevents the
opportunity to work by sitting pro-
duction and limiting the area of the
markets, and which enhances the cost
of living beyond the laborer's hard
earned wages" These declarations
according to the Trainer of the Chicago
platform, are unpatriotic. In his
speech on the Mills bill, which pro-
poses a reduction of the tariff taxes,
he says reasonable taxation ard re-
straint upon those without Jour Dor
ders) is the dictate of enlightened pa
| triotism, and the doctrine of the re-
publican party" The audacity of this
proposition is only equalled by its
novelty. To tax those without our
borders would certainly be immensely