Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-07
A CONDITION NOT A THEORY.


 In less than two months General Har- rison will have taken up the presidential duties laid aside by President Cleveland, and confronting him will be the condi
 tion which prompted the retiring exec
 utive to urge reduction of national
 taxation. There is large and steadily increasing surplus in the treasury, which | is constant reminder that the people
 are overtaxed and that a large amount
 of money is diverted unnecessarily from
 the legitimate channels of business. General Harrison will meet this con
 dition at the very threshold of his ad
 ministration. and he will then realize
 that something else than theory must
 guide him in adjusting the problem to
 the needs and the satisfaction of the country.
 If anything can be judged from the
 stray utterances of the president-elect
 or from his letter of acceptance of the
 republican nomination, it appears req
 sonably certain that he will encourage ex-
 travagance of expenditure rather
 than reduction of taxation to
 dispose of the surplus. The effect of the senate tariff measure
 which we are told will be the basis of
 any tariff legislation proposed by the
 next congress which will be republican
 and which it is presumed is acceptable tc
 General Harrison in its general features must necessarily be to increase eventually the surplus in the treasury. Raising the tariff schedules, as the bill proposes in 8 number of instances, may temporarily
 lessen the influx of imports and so de crease the resources. but the home pro- ducers will quickly take advantage o1 this to raise the price of their own pro ducts, which combined with the revenue: on goods which we will have to impor
 in any event will soon bring the surplus revenues back to and beyond where the, now are. Such policy as is proposed
 by the republicans is simply taxation fo
 surplus, taxation of the common peopl for the enrichment of the tariff baron | whom Deacon Foster credits witt making large fortunes every year whel 7 times are good" It can have but one re suit, a policy of national extravaganza l Is such policy beneficial to the countr, l or worthy of encouragement? We thin1 ' not. And yet it is the polio 1 by which General Harrison seem S disposed to steer his administration v The enormous sums which must be dis a posed of to keep the growing surplu I within any sort of reasonable bound
 will naturally encourage the cupiditv C z legislators and urge them to hug s schemes of subsidy and squanderine Q Southern education, river and harbc |. jobs, excessive pensions, subsidies fo f shipping, paying money to states, raj s road gratuities and land grants, an IS special legislation of every kind and d, t gree will be so many objects to cover til r. extravaganza that will be necessary D. get rid of the surplus in the treasur, g. The calendars of congress will be crowde le with just such forms of expenditure, ,an 70 the disposition to pluck the golden Ina er vest will fatten and grow at the expens le of the people who pay the taxes.
 ar It may well be seriously questioned le such extravaganza, and the improv d dence which it engenders in our nation le legislators, is not a menacing phase e. our national development Extravagan, m and improvidence is no less to be deplor, or in a government than in an individua Il Indeed, they may be more far reachin 70 and mischievous in the former than in Il m latter. General Harrison will have ne, C. of firm hand and a strong will if i'll would not have his administration wr a. ten down in American history as the o7 be in which the greatest departure " is taken from the sagacity and econon he that have been traditions of Americ, K financial legislation
 he It will be a serious condition and n ds theory that confronts him as he pass ne from private life into the highest a, he proudest position that any living m; a can attain.