The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1889-09-04
Senator voorhees, OH Tariff Re
form and Taxation.

/ Senator Voorhees, Oh Tariff Re
form and Taxation.
A grand Tariff Reform meeting
was held at Bloomfield, Indiana, last
week, and was addressed by Senator
lD. w. VOORHEES,. His speech was
such a thorough summary of the po-
litical situation that we give space
enough to print it in full. In sub
stance he said:
ga government that taxes one
class of its citizens TO enrich another
class, does not deserve to exist on
the face of the earth, and will not
exist unless the Iaboring, producing
people consent to become slaves.
We are travelling fast toward that
condition, and in many respects we
have reached it.
Forty years ago but.one man in
the United States was supposed TO
be worth s5,OO0,0Oo. He was John
Jacob Astor. Now there are thous-
ands worth more than that sum, a
large number worth more than s50,=
900, 600. and many worth more than
800, 100000. The owners of these
vast fortunes do no physical work;
they contriye, they. scheme, they
plan, they legislate all the work on
you. You labor, toll, sweat and
groan. You eat your bread in the
sweat of your face, but the trouble
is, that the millionaires eat their
bread also in the sweat of your face,
not in the sweat of their own. tits
from your sweat and toil'also that
they build their gilded and more
than royal palaces, and furnish them
with more than oriental splendor,
luxury and magnifcence. You pay
for all. It's the old, old story which
has been enacted in every age and
cline by caste, privilege and pro-
tected aristocracy feeding and -four
ishing at the hands of the weary,
toiling masses. 1t is the old and
infamous claim that in all countries
and amongst all races from the be-
ginning of human history a titled
and privileged few are rightfully
born, booted and spurred tODmount
and ride the bridled and saddled,
burthen-bearing, tax-paying. sun
burnt, home-spun millions.
"That claim is here in our midst
now with all its worst and most
brutal arrogance A little while
ago it was like the storm cloud
when it first appears-no larger
than mans hand. Now it darkens
the whole heavens and brings gloom
and terror to the impoverished fire.
side of laboring mon, women and
children from one ocean to the other.
You have heard of the perilous ridge
of battle. Tho free institutions of
this government and all your rights
to equality and protection from
spoilation and plumber by law, are
this hour on the perilous ridge
whore the line is drawn between the
government of the people and an
open, avowed plutocracy, a govern
ment by the naked power of money,
a government by the dukes, earls
and lords of enormous estates and
vast millions. The hour has almost
struck for such a government to be
proclaimed. The signs of its near
approach are on all. sides, and as
plain to the thinking mind as the
stars of clear night to the naked
eye. The money power has crept
into the ballot box, and its leprous
taint is rapidly spreading through
every branch of the public service.
An apple may look fair and enticing
on its stem in the orchard, but if
there is canker-worm at its core it
is ouly question of time when it
will shrivel, wilt and fall to the
ground in decay and rottenness.
There is no outward change in the.
form and structure of our beautiful
and glorious government as yet, but
when the largest contributors to cor
ruption funds gets the highest Off
ciaI positions, when men advocate
and urge the purchase of voters in
"blocks-of-five," and lose no caste
in the councils of their party; and
when partisan reasons dictate dis
honest rulings in the courts, you
may be sure that canker-worm is
at the core, and that the fruit brought
forth by the wisdom and blood of
your fathers, is perishing in your
very sght.
Money piled up mountains high
in the hands of monopolies, corpo-
rations, trusts, and under the con-
troll of those who do not believe in
| the principles of self-uoyernment