Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-21
ABUSES OF THE TAXING POWER.
Taking of the Peoples Substance from Some to
give TO Others.

Taking of the Peoples Substance from Some &c
| give to Others.
New Yoak Times
| II the people of this country can once
be made to fully realize that al their
| substance is necessarily the product of
/ ther own labor, and rightly belongs to
| those who produce it in the pro-
/ portion OF their share in the process
OF production they viii enforce a radical
| change in the action OF the govern
ment, which now deyotes itself so
| largely TO interfering with the dis
| tribution of the product of the peo-
| pies labor. As an abstract principle
| it may be asserted that no government
has the moral right to take from one citi-
zen or class of citizents 40 give TO
another, and no right to take
| from the people for its own use more
than is need for legitimate public
| purposes. OF course, it cannot do so
without the nominal consent of the
people themselves, secured by one means
or another, but when the people clearly
| understand their own interests this policy
of robbing Peter to pay Paul will be
no longer permitted.
Every dollar that goes into the national
treasury is drawn from the pro-
duction of the people, is part
of what they have produced by their
labor, and the excuse for taking it
is the necessity for maintaining the
Government for the protection of the peo-
pie and their interests. In so far as it
is used for purposes which are not
for the common benefit and gen.
eral welfare it is waste of
the peoples substance, and the talk
ing of it is without justification. No citi-
zen is exempt from paying his share to
the public revenue, and under our system
of indirect taxation no man
can escape the taxation, and
every man is entitled to feel the
assurance that what he contributes is as
much for his own benefit as that of any
one else. One of the ways in which
money is taken by the government from
some persons for the the benefit of
others is in appropriations for
pensions, which now amount to about
$50 900 900 a wear, drawn wholly
from the products of labor within
the country aud paid by the whole
people, rich and poor. Nobody objects
to the payment of a reasonable pension
to those who have been disabled by
service to the country from supporting
themselves. But the present pension
policy, and much more, that which
is peFsistently urged by many pub
lie men, proposes to bestow the
people s money upon those who served
the nation in war without reference TO
disability. The recipients who suffered
no disability would be precisely as
well able to support themselves
as those who were compelled to
contribute to their support. They would
be engaged i'll the same pursuits, with
4I,r -
and on the average would be better
off, because they are of class
who have more than the average ca
pacitp. The pension policy proposed
and to some extent already adopted is
simply policy of using the taxing power
of the government to take from some
the products of their labor to bestow them
upon others who are no worse off than
themselves.
But this is by no means the worst abuse
of the taxing power. 1t is used indi-
rectly to a tremendous extent for the
mere purpose of increasing the
profits of capital employed in certain
special industries If this increase of
profit were directly produced 10y taxation
the only complaint that could be made
would be that such a bene6eent |
power is not used for the benefit |
of all alike. But taxation can pro-
duce nothing. 1t can only take away from |
that which has been produced by labor, |
and when it takes from one or from many |
TO give to another or 10 4 few an injustice i
is done. The greatest wrong is done
when it takes from the greatest mass
Of workers, whose toll only |
suffices for subsistence, to give favored
few, who thereby accumulate inordin-
ate wealth at the general expense. When
once the people fully understand the
character and effect of this use of the
power of the governmentitis hardly con-
;eivable that they will permit it to go on.
But aside from the injustice of this
policy it is fraught with distinct danger
to our institutions. The men who
profit by it bring all their wealth,
heir skill and their power to bear
eor the maintenance of the policy; for
The control Of legislation to that end; for
he aid of the political party that con-
ents to support it, and for the
lefeat of any effort of the people
o change it. All their resources
If money and skill in manage
nent will be used to delude, mislead even
o coerce and corrupt the people that they
nay retain the advantage which the gov
gives them. The vast weight of
private pecunlary interest VIII be
powerful factor in politics and in govern
nent which ought to rest upon equal
ty of rights and interests How long
will it be before an oligarchy of
wealth and of vested money inter-
st practically takes the place of
government by the people? Tho only
afety for our institutions is to insist that
he power of legislation and of
axation shall not be used for the
romotion of any private or class
lterest for the benefit of one part of the
eopie at the expense of another, to take !,
rom some to give to others. 1t is the
olicy of n despotism, and not of free
epublic