Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-10-05


| it, and third, to use the surplus in pur-
chasing bonds until different tariff laws
| could reduce the iufl TX. The last mode
was adopted. The b)ads wsre hell as q
premium OF twenty-eight cents in the dol
| lar by their owners. It was surely not
good financial policy to be- paying $l2S for
800 worth of b)aisl THIS policy could
not be continued. You in Virginia have
| complained of tax ,tion. You pay about
, 40 cents in the SOD. Suppose the State
should tax you SIT on the 500, and the
revenue from it was not needed but was
only piled up in the Treasury at Rich
mond? Suppose your State Treasurer was
trying to reduce that pile by paying the
bondholders of the State S123 for a bond
OF $10G. Is there Republican here who
would not instantly and earnestly protest
against such system and vote to change
it? This is exactly what the government
of the United States is doing and has been
doing for five or six years.
THE TAXATION POLICIES OF THE TWO
PARTIES.
The average tax on dutiable goods is
| SAT. 10 on every 800 worth. Think of it;
you who pay 40 cents in the $l00. The
Government of the United States is i'm
posing tax on 800 worth of imported
goods equal to what you in Virginia pay
on SIC, 600 worth of property. (Applause }
And they call that the American system!'
We had better have the Hottentot system
or any other system. (Applause.) Ano 1t
is unnecessarily imposed. l believe the
moment the Government has sufficient to
! pay its expenses, the tax-gatherer should
take his hands out of the pockets of the
| people. (Applause.) The policy of pro-
! tectug the produces of the country is the
| policy of this government, and the Damo-
crazy does not propose to abandon it. 1t
does not believe in Free Trade. Free
Trade means the abolition of all custom
| dues and The establishment of direct taxa
| ton. Direct taxation would operate more
| unjustly than even the present laws. The
founders of this government did not fere-
see, and could not foresee that some Sec
lions of the country would be rich and
others poor II we are ever driven to direct
taxation, the States which have little
wealth and large population would have
to pay more than the States who have
large wealth and little population. Virgil
MIA with her large population and slender
wealth, would have to pay more than little
Rhode Island with its great wealth and
scant population. Hence the Democratic
party acquiesce5 in the policy of raising
revenue by duty on imports, and of
course that duty must be protective, as we
import little else than manufactured
goods. II any party policy will bring on
direct tax .tio1 Of the people, the policy Of
the Republican party will do it. That
party has for the first time declared its
policy to be to prohibit importation. With
out importation no revenue from duties,
and without revenue from duties there
must be direct taxation. There are two
ways of reducing this surplus in the Treas
ury. The Democratic way is to reduce the
taxes. (Applause) The Repu blIcan way
is to increase the taxes. The Republicans
| propose to increase the tariff tax to pro-
hibitory point, which would. Of course.
stop Importation and stop the revenue
from that source, and if that don e " ork
they propose to repeal the Internal Reve-
nue. tax. This done, where will they get
revenue except by direct taxation ? The
| Constitution authorizes congress to clay
and collect'' taxes for revenue. 1t does
not authorize congress to lay taxes which
shall preuent the collection Of revenue.
The Democratic party proposes that not
one dollar of taxes shall be taken from the
people except the government needs it.
What right, what constitutional right
has the Government to collect a tax from
you, it does not need? None! Every tax
collected from the people except for the
Government use is an outrage. No Gov
eminent has a right to take part of my
earnings to give to you, to increase your
earnings (applause.)
IT is THE CONSUMER WHO PAYS.
But it is said that, Notwithstanding all
have said, the consumer does not pay this
tax--that it is paid by the foreign produ-
Ger. If that is true, it is a wonder that all
the governments OF the world don't collect
all their taxes from other peoples and ex-
empt their own people (great applause and
laughter.) Mr.. Harrison says, as rec
ommendatlon to the system, that the
people don t know they are taxed. Some
people would call getting mans money
away from him without his knowing it,
stealing (laughter.) l do not say so of
that, but do say it is one of the most I'M.
just and dangerous systems ever practiced
on people. 1t is dangerous because the
people do not know how much they are
| paying, and when that is the case man
| is apt to know as little of how it is spent.
Gen. Grant has answered Mr.. Harrison.
He said in his message IN 1875:
Many duties now collected, and which give
| but an insignificant return for the cost of
collection, might be remitted, and to the
| direct advantage of consumers at home. I
would mention those articles which enter
into manufactures of all sorts. AW duty ppid
atpon such articles goes directly to tile cost Of the
| article qohsn manufactured here, and must be
I paid for By th3 consumers. These duties not
only come from the consumers at Tome, but act
as q protection 10 foreign manufacturers Of the
same clnpleted articles IN our oaon and distant
markets.
He never uttered greater truth than
when he said these lmpOsts acte1 as dl-
rec. protection to the foreign manufae-
ture of England, France and Germany,
giving them monopoly of the trade of the
world. And the American consumer pays
i for it. A New Y ork man buys 81 900 worth
of glass from Belgium. 1t pays, say, go per
cent. duty and is thus put up to ST. 600 be-
fore it gets on the American market. The,
result is that every man in this country who
manufactures glass adds the 60 per cent.