Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-11-14
Tie Single Tax and Tariff Reform.

Tie Single Tax and Tariff Reform.
The REGISTER says 1.-THE singlestaX
may be all right; there is time enough
TO find that out; but what we want
just now is tariff REFORM" or words to
that effect.
Allow me TO differ with you there,
of tariff reform here would be out and
out free traders if they knew of any
way of raising the revenues of the Fed
eral government better than by a tar
iff. They plainly see that the tariff is
wrong in principle, and feel that it is
up hill work to defend system of tax
alton that is wrong in principle; but
knowing of nothing better they are
forced upon illogical ground and COM
PEELED to oppose protection at disad-
vantage to themselves. Our party op-
ponents know their advantage, in this
respect, and use it. Last fall, during
the presidential campaign, the local
Democratic club here challedged the
Republican club; but when the Demo-
Gratis put forward couple of absolute
free traders, and single-tax men, the
protectlonists refused to meet them on
the ground that the issue was not tar
iff or 10 tariff but high tariff or low
tariff, though really because they knew
they could not logically defend them
selves against men who stood upon
principle, rather than policy, and who
had all indisputably better system to
propose in lieu Of the tariff. The real
question with the country to-day is not
tariff reform so much as tariff "A bolition
and what is most needed to effect the
change is system to substitute the
tariff with, and the single tax is the
very thing required. 1t is question
of substitution rather than of reform or
of abolition; and unless we find and
propose something better we shall have
to endure, as we'll as we can, the system
of legalized robbery called a tariff. If
the diamond Carey, piow had not been
before they made the change, they
would have been roofing along with
the wooden moldboard yet; and there
is an analogy between the use of farm
tools and the adoption of political insti-
tuions, or governmental methods.
The arguments against the tariff now
uo common in tbo Dap,ocratic praSS are
very weak and transparent, except
when aimed at it as a system of rev.
enue as well as of protectiCn; and we
place ourselves in very absurd posi-
sary, in order to raise revenue, to resort
to a system so unjust and palpabiy
wrong as tariff is. While Oh his feet.
the other evening in replying to ques-
ton, your writer was led into little
ciphering that amazed him, and yet in
looking the figures carefully over since
not a single error has been detected.
The question concisely stated was
what does our present system of taxa
ton cost the people annually?" Our
aggregate for all governmental pur-
poses, national, state and municipal, is
put at $500, 1000, 900; but $3.50. 100000 is
raised by the tariff, and when we pay
five dollars on account of the tariff the
gets but one dollar. Let
us say, for the sake of being on the safe
side, that the government gets one dol
lar out of every four we pay. Now if
by such a system as the tariff the gov
ernment raises $3.50, 100000 there must
be three times $3.50, 900 900, or $40, ,000,-
600, that We pay as tariff taxes not one
cent of which goes to government.
This is a sum greater by $40 100000
than the people get for use in all the
of government FROM the
school district up to the national treas
ury from all sources and forms oftaxa-
ton. Looking at the figures it does
seem as though government was only
a cunningly devised system of robbery.
Only think Of it, 81 ,640, 900. 600 taken
from us every year under the pretense
of raising revenue, not one half of
which government ever receives, but
the bulk of which goes to make the
rich richer and the poor poorer.
Startling as these figures are they
are not the worst by any means. There
is sum produced by com munity that
we can only approximate because we
have 10 statistics, Or data, that will
allow us to fix it within definite limits;
but we know that it is large; larger
than present governmental revenues,
and probably even larger than the
whole amount we pay as taxes. This