Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-10-04

increase his wealth by imposing tax on
himself. IApplause:]
S In addition to the facts that this system
Of taxation is imposing enormous and un-
necessary burdens upon the people, that it
has accumulated in the Treasury large
sums of money which ought to be in the
hands Of those who earn it by their labor
and skill it is the parent Of truse and COM
bination and conspiracy to control products
and prices of the necessary articles which
the people are compelled to use. When I
see Mr.. Blaine, who seems to be the mouth
piece of the Republican party, has given
quasi Endorsement, at least, to these mo
nopolies, believe that when q man at
tends his own funeral he ought to be al
lowed to go at the head Of the procession
Laughter and applause.1 But it seems
Mr.. Harrison is not to enjoy this privilege
tApplausel Mr.. Blaine is the great Gen.
trail figure in this campaign, and he tells
the people, in the face of the platform of
his party, in the face of the declarations of
his political friends on the stump and
neighbors, that these trusts are pri-
vate affairs in which neither the
President nor anybody else has any par
ticular right to interfere fApplause and
laughter.l Why, my friends, larceny is q
private affair-a very private affair
Claughterl; and yet it is not supposed i'm
proper to interfere with it by law. The
highwayman who meets you on the public
road and demands your money or your
life il engaged in the transact on OF pri-
vate enterprise, but still the law takes
cognizance OF his act and Furnishes it as a
crime. IApplause.l Now, gentlemen, Mr..
Blaine has not been occupying a very good
position from which to view the interests
of the American working men, farmer or
consumer. The top of Mr.. Carnegie's
coach, as it bowled along with its Inverted
outrlders over the hills of Scotland, is not
q good place from which to look at the
interests OF America [Applausel Nor
are the festal halls of Cluny Castle q very
good point, either. [Applause.l
Mr.. Blaine had better stay at home or
stay abroad-one Or the other. [Cheers.
Had he come here to his own country
and mingled with the farmers, with the
consumers, with the laboring-m men OF the
land, he would have far better opportu-
nifty to know what they desired than he
could possibly have dining and winning
with the aristocracY Of Europe.
It is said, gentlemen, that even il it does
impose enormous burdens on the con-
sumers of the country the wages Of our
laborers must be maintained, therefore
high rates of taxation must be continued.
If had the time I think could show TO
the satisfaction of every intelligent and
candid man within the sound of my voice
that the wages of labor are no more
ported goods than the yield of corn to the
acre on your farm is affected by il. APP
plause.l And one of the chief bene-
fits of the system, in the estima-
tiou of Mr.. Harrison, is the fact
that the people do not know how
much they are paying. When mans
money is taken away from him without
his knowledge, some malicious people call
it stealing. [Applause.] will not, how
ever, apply that term to the processes by
which the Government of the United
States abstracts this enormous sum of
money from the pockets of the people who
| earn it and puts it in the public Treasury
or the pockets Of some one else; but will
say that it is the most dangerous form OF
taxation that could be devised [cheers], be
cause it makes the people less vigilant Of
the expenditures Of the public money and
lulls them to sleep while their substance
| is taken away. [Applause.l Under an indi-
rect tax law you would not submit to it q
single day, and the man who went to Con
gress from any single Congressional die
trict of the United States, Democrat OF
Republican, who failed to cast his vote in
favor of the reformation Of such a system
OF taxation would never see the halls o1
| the House again Cheers.1
Ihave said, gentlemen, chat the system
OF taxation 10 continued on the ground
| that it increases the rates of wages of the
! American laborer. There are two or three
| facts which show conclusively that this
argument is not sound. In the Arst place
| it is q conceded fact that there is as much
| difference between the rates Of wages
| paid in this country to laborers engaged in
| the same occupation in different parts OF
| the country as there 10 between the diher-
ence OF the average rate OF wages paid
here and in European countries, and YET
| the same tariff law prevails throughout
-
You Will lind by an examination OF the
labor statistics that from fifty to sixty,
| and in some cases even as high as one hun
| dred per cent more 10 paid for labor in
| tha same occupation in Chicago than is
| paid in New York or Philadelphia. If the
| tariff regulated wages submit that the
rate OF wages would be the same, would
be uniform in the same occupations
! throughout che United States under the
same tariff [Applausel Another fact is
that the greatest difference between the
| rates OF wages paid here and the rates
| paid in European countries is found
in those occupations which nobody
| pretends can be protected under the
| tariff laws. For instance. there is a
! tar greater difference between the rates of
wages paid here to carpenters, plasterers,
| painters, stone and brick-masons, team
| sters, railroad employees, steamboat en-
ployes and the rates OF wages paid to the
same classes of working-men in Europe than
| there is between the rates Of wages here
in your mills and cotton factories and the
! rates of wages paid in the same indus
tries in Europe. The rates of wages
paid in this country, too on the unpro-
tected industries are larger on the average
than the rates of wages paid in this coun-
try in the protected Industries, and the
difference between them in the one case,
and those paid in Europe in the other case,
is still plainer-much palmer. Another
fact is that since 1915 when the English
corn laws were repealed, and what our
Republican friends call tree trade, and En-
gland entered on free trade, the rates OF
wages have increased from fifty to
seventy five and even high as one hun
dred per cent. in some occupations Can
we trace that increase in this county dur