Daily Republican., 1890-05-15
bondage or Death-age.
[coMMUNIcATED.1

LSc"npEtiNAiEbsl
"The seven ages Of man from childhood
to old age" 10 familiar TO all, but the
ages OF this article is the best illnstrs-
tion Of the decay Of nations. Bond age
is the representation Of the wild career OF
unbalAnced youth, where one excess 10
closely followed BY another. Reckless Of
debts tor posterity to pay. But a. 1t be-
mortgages are given, hence put It
mort-sge, or dsath-age aud this, as q nat
ural c0nseQ uence, produces taxation, so
that the final closing up Of the ages IL
fatal to oil enterprise aud produces pre-
mature decay. Now, when we take Into
consideration the indebtedness Of the DIFF
ferent nstions oi the earth, the inquiry is,
how can this vast Indebtedness be met I
Tho creditors will urge additional taxa
tion. But there is u limit beyond which
taxation can't be carried, aud this issu.
an ce Of bonds for every conceivable pur.
pose 10 sue 10 prove the death of any
people that INDUCES too freely In II.
Right here let me say, and ! think
truthtully, that the Indebtedness Of this
country, national, state, county, munich
pal, corporate and private reaches tho
enormous sum Of forty billions OF dol
lars. Without restoration of ability to
pay, 1t is idle TO suppose for minute
that all this vast debt can be cancelled
by the taxpayers, a. taxation At present
abs0rbs all the profits Of business and the
productions of the soil.
And still we find that new bon de- are
being Issued every day for the most
which arc identical with Eortgagee, are
az frau1 fuy a. ~
greatest injustice OF all. The very In
terests that pay the best, arc either ex-
empt or cunningly dodge taxation. 1t
must be borne In mind that many OF
those bonds are voted in the shape OF
taxes, and holds tie property OF all
the community under mort or death
cain, that takes the humblest home
stead at any figure that the greedy
sharper may see ft to advance.
There Is one way OF providing for this
vast accumulation OF debt; that Is by
taxing all bonds, mortgages, notes Of
hand, or, in short, all evidences of debt,
the same Ms actual property, and inflated
stocks, together with all watered stocks,
at their market value. But 1t will be
asked, how eau you reach all these evi.
dencss OF debt that are at present kept
back from the assessor. This can be
easily reached by the courts refusing TO
collect all such claims that have not the
stamp OF the assessor on their face for
each aud every year since Issued. Now
we have statute OF Limitation that
closes up all claims II not presented
within given time. Can't We have o
statute Of Limitation like the Jewish year
OF jubilee, that will close up all
those claims on the taxpayers, and
give new life and vigor to the great army
of producers that are now disheartened
by the vast accumulation OF debt, which,
like the 'simooa" OF the desert, threat
ems to destroy all the enterprise. in our
nation.
The great problem for the people to
solve Is how to meet this all-absorbip
question. Are the interests OF bond
holders and corporate monopolies su.
perior 10 those OF the combined wealth.
producers oil the nation. That there
must he limit to this absorption of the
wealth producers Is too evident, that the
issue oil new bonds for any purpose must
be stopped and all Increase of debt met
by TAXATION oi the class tHst hold the
bonds aud evidences of debt, and this
they have realized. as evidenced by their
couscntiDg to slight reduction OF the
rate Of interest. To quietly yie d to cx-
ections OF cepl.al anu relieve IL oi all
spcnsibili,y In respect to taxation
Ia asling TOO much. and II per-
sisted in will hurry up the year oil
jubilee with vengeance, AID Will pre-
eipitate crisis that all the civilized
lations ia the world are preparing Tor.
Que Tact presents itself at this time, that
the debts OF the Datious, without relief
Tor debtors, csn rever bc paid, and that
1t Is neither just nor hoaest TO 90 o, .n-
ereasiug the burden that must end In
general bankruptcy or population. This
Is \ question for statesmen to solve. But
where are they to be foun . as legislative
bodies In this bond age or death-age are
only councils o! lawyers, retained attor.
neys OF corr GRATED Honopolies. Unfor-
tunately statesmen are u very scarce
ht present.
JAMES D. WELCH.