The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-08-09
FALSE AND FOOLISH.
oomo OF the silly stun Circulated by .
Mugwump Free-Trade Organ.

FALSE AND FOOLISH.
Some Of the SHY stun Circulated by .
Mugwump Free-Trade Organ.
The New York Evening Post holds
that any law which seeks to divert one
mans earnings to another mans ben.
eft, under whatever guise or plea,
temporarily or permanently. is an act
of spoliation and an infringement of
human lib,rty. And then the tariff is
held to BIO such a law, and the people,
and especially the farming people. are
invited to arise in their anger and de-
stroy it The plea is wicked and
wanton, false and foolish. Every law
by which money is levied or expended
diverts lone mans earnings to the
benefit Of another" and ever must do
SO. And so, too. every voluntary per-
sonal expenditure for food or clothes.
for education or amusement, 'diverts
one mans earnings to the benefit of
another" and ever must. The city
taxes you for sewer or street, and a
part of your earnings is diverted to
the benefit OF the contractor, the brick
maker, the labOrer. The county taxes
you for a gravel road. and a part of
your earnings is diverted to the ben-
eft of the men Who build it. You give
to church, and part of your earn
ings is diverted to the benefit of the
preacher. You buy suit of clothes,
and part of your earnings is diverted
to the benefit of the tailor who made
them, the merchant who sold the cloth,
and the man who raised the wool and
spun It. In fact, you don't get any
thing for nothing nowadays If you
have any thing you get it by diverting
a part of your earnings to the benefit
of another man.
This is very rudimentary political
economy, and it is strange that free
trade journai--of advanced views
should have been ignorant of it, es-
pecially since little Mr.. Perry has I'M
dertaken to instruct the youth of the
country in what he is pleased to term
"the doctrine of satisfaction. A
country is we'll or ill governed in pro-
portion as the taxes levied are spent
upon necessary or needless objects, for
the benefit of the people or otherwise;
or in proportion as they receive what
Mr.. Perry calls ''satisfactions" for
the expenditure OF their money, or
otherwise. So that any successful at
tack upon the tariff or other revenue
system must show that the people do
not derive benefit from it, or that they
would derive greater benefit from the
adoption Of another system. Now,
there are only two systems Of public
revenue known to man; the one is by
direct and the other by indirect taxa
ton. Tariff revenue is by indirect
taxation; internal revenue by direct
taxation. 1t falls upon the free traders
to prove that direct taxation benefits
the people more than indirect taxa
ton. And they decline the task. 1t
is not possible one.
Revenue must be raised; revenue
raised by tariff laws increases the
productive power of the country, as
is witnessed by the marvellous growth
of trade and manufactures under the
protective system. Revenue raised by
direct taxation decreases the produc-
tive power of the country, for it is
plain that if the Government demand
800 as a license or fee precedent to
in, hr,ci
have just 800 less capital to enter into
business with. In either case the
revenue is taken from lone mans
earnings and applied to ''the benefit
of another man. the man who
builds war vessel, or furnishes
arms, clothing or food to troops,
draws pay as Congressman. or Presi-
dent, or public servant of whatever
degree, or sells things of any kind for
Government use, or does work of any
kind for the Government We regret
that tho Evening Post should be in
favor OF stopping all sorts of expendi-
lures, public or private, including
those by which part of lone mans
earnings are taken in the form of a
yearly subscription 'for another mans
benefit" such other man being the
proprietor of the Post. And we humbly
trust that this brief lesson in some
rudiments OF political economy may
lead to its revision of the delusive
sentence which We have made the oc-
casion thereof. Chicago Inter Ocean.