The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1889-11-12

- ehi'ed States.
After presenting series of tsbl..
made up from official foures n
ohearman in the November Fo,n..
says:
1t viii be seen that in these tabl.o
are prepared upon the basis - WHICH
American statistics, the concp,,.. purely
wealth appears 10 be much gres,s Sa NV Oh
tables prepared upon the 6ss;c os n ~ 10
statistics. BY either table, 20 Der cs D',''sl
the national wealth appears to be c cous
tra,ed in The hands OF a very small m'a
ity OF the people; but dividing Ihh ~ ~aU'
In proportion to the English ratio !, !. ~
trlbuted among $4,000 families wh;a ~
viding it according TO The Boston , s,s
is possessed by only $4,000 families 4.
truth probably lies betw cen the iva. .u
1t may safely be assumed thai 100000 os,'
sons control 20 per cent. of the ns,;p..
wealth, while 100000 persons control s,a
70 TO gu per cent. OF the whole.
These conclusions are Of course worn :.
palatablc 10 comfortable oplimisls D..
what other results could possibly ha ~
pected, IN view of well known facts; "
one Can entertain a reasonable douht H.
there has been an accumulation of weshI
in few individual hands in the UuiIs
States, during the last twenty-five ye,,
vastly in excess of any which has t,ls
place IN other parts OF the world. In \
other country have railroad manages.
manufacturers, Oil-refners, mine-ovSer
bankers and land spectators accumulais
fortunes so rapidly as they have in MI
In no other country, and least OF all in d,
land, during the last thirty years. has n
burden OF taxation been cast so exclusiyd|
upon the working class, or the macbinerl
of public taxation been used so unscr
pulously for private profit
In Great Britain, although indirect tsI
alton still constitutes the greatest part
the public revenue, large share of dired
taxation has been maintained, and, as q
as possible, all tribute levied by the rid
upon the poor, under the preiense Of Tar,
lion, has been abolished. The natural cu
sequence is that the disproportion betwes
the rich and the poor in Great Britain
less to-day than it was forty years cd
that wealth is more widely distributed
that the middle class is much more numa
Gus, and that the masses are rapidly gil
ing in power and 10 huence.
In America the drift has been in pn
cisely the opposite direction. Feden
taxation has Increased SIX fold anc
1860, and The whole of this ncrsss
has been taken out OF the relatively pOO1
classes. At the saline time, the pna
which is secured 10 fhe weather esss
by the adjustment OF indirect taxation
their interest has bed IN increased nOt e
than ten fold. The Nwealthy classes o.
llectively, have made j clear prohI ou''
the indirect effects of I'd Ration 10 an smodl
far exceeding all thai they have pa
taxes, although this profit has been
sorbed by minoritk of even the na
But, apart from this, The whole system!
taxation is and has Id zen such as 70
iron the rich only froI % TO 10 per g
of their annual savingsS while taxing
the poor Is to 80 Der q ent It's mM
the same system existel in lorn; 49,
war; but, taxation beir g light 'n' - =.
taken from each individi ual was
and the disproportion ID tween 'ns s. ~ 4
the poor not so great, wv pile 'ne ps VA
led from the poor by be ncl 4.
smaller. The amount OF he 0ufuela
creased, and it has been more anu
shifted over upon the poof
1t is childish 10 imaginq thai uue. :,
circumstances, the concenl rallon
can go on less rapidly berr lnan =
rope. On the contrary, il has guu ',;.m
more rapidly here and i'll viii c0''''
do so, al tremendous pad e. i'm
But the facts should bel kDosD' ~
regard to the inferenceS which -
drawn from them; and re sfe VA
pared TO answer the q lesllon'
own the United States?'
The United States of A peru a.a ~ -
tically owned by less than zaMr
constituting less than on( ID SAY
adult male population. ~
Within thirty years, the ple'sn n
of taxation being coniinu ed " 800
States OF America will ~
owned by less than sc, 900 srsOss
tuting less than one in five huna's
adult male population. go
THOMAS e. 81