The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1888-10-16
New York Herald.
A WORKINGMAN'S QUESTION
ANSWERED.

many taxes that ought not to. Now. drive,a
plane all day and have no time to think of these
thngs / come home tired and don't feel much
like reading book as deep as q well. But if
you will tell me how this thing is perhaps 1 can
get it into my head
Most certainly We will, and very in
teresting topic you will find it. 1t won't
take you long to see that the Republican
policy Of characterization makes it harder
for you to get the comforts of life, or that
the Democratic policy of lower taxes is in
the interest of every laboring man in the
country.
Well, you are a carpenter with a grow
ing family, perhaps. To begin, the first
cost Of the house you hire is increased by
tax on almost everything, from the
foundation to the iron gutter. That ex-
ira cost you pay in extra rent, don't you :?
The landlord is not philanthropist and
wants fair interest for his investment.
If his house: costs a thousand dollars more
than it would if the materials were cheap
er, who pays the intesest on that thousand
dollars? Not the landlord. That would
be an Improbable way to do bust
ness. You pay it, of course. 1t comes
out of your wages So you start with
burden.
Now, you want tools to work with.
Well, under protective system you pay
tax on your saw, plane, chisel, hammer
and on the wooden box that holds them.
Everything you use in your trade is taxed,
directly or indirectly.
You have decent clothes. You can't
dress like European peasant. And in
this climate you need woollen under
shirts, for without these you will get
pneumonia. Your wife, too, and your
children use up lot of flannel in the
course of year. To be thinly clad
means sickness, and that you can't afford.
The undershirt and flannel are taxed.
You must have iron and tin ware in the
kitchen. You pay tax on these articles,
and on the cooking stove and on the din
ing table and on the knives and forks and
spoons and on the tablecloth You look
through a taxed pane of glass, rock a
taxed cradle with your baby in it, and
when he is sick give him dose Of taxed
castor oil. If the little thing dies he is
placed in taxed coffin, and the minister
offers you consolation from taxed Bible
Pretty nearly everything you have either
has tax on it or costs more than it should
because other things are taxed.
Now, then, you ask, What is the object
in squeezing 80 much money from poor
people? Why, there is no good object,
and that is why we complain. The gov
eminent has its vaults full of dollars
raised partly in this way, and it doesn't
know what to do with them. That is the
xrh,n oh ha 20 81
about. 1t is burden to the government
and burden to the people-does no good
to anybody, but a deal of harm to every
body. Twenty years ago, when the gov
eminent was in trouble, it needed that
money. To-day it does not need it, but
the tax still remains.
Why isn't this tax removed by reduc-
ton of the tariff That's the question.
The Democrats say, Take it off, The Re-
publicans, Keep it on and make it higher.
You are to choose between the two.
The combines, trusts and monopoles
are benefited by higher taxes. How do
they affect you?
You have not difficult problem to
handle, you see. If you want to pay
more for the necessaries Of life the Re-
publicans will accommodate you, and you
will vote with them in November If, on
the other hand, you believe that these
necessaries of life should be supplied to
the poor people of this country at the
cheapest possible rate, you will deposi t
your vote in Democratic ballot-box
1t is harder to fool the people than
the Republican leaders supposed. The
proposed action of the Senate is under
stood to be in deferenece to the demands
of the intelligent men and journals who
have distaste for buncombe, and are in a
position to see how it is working in the
campaign. Without doubt the Chicago
convention left it's party about as badly
off for issues as any party ever was left.
Something must be done, and now even
the Senators know it and yet it is hu-
name to call their attention to the ia
miliar observations of the lamented Lin
coin as to the unwisdom of swapping
horses while crossing stream.-Roches.
ter Union and Aduertiser.
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