Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-10-02
THE PRESENT CRISIS.


A Demonstration OF the Iniquity OF IN
necessary Taxation.
If the American people are disposed
to heed and profit by an object lesson
one is now before them.
Unnecessary taxation" says the Dem
ocratic platform, lis unjust taxation"
Unnecessary taxation. furthermore, is
the parent of troop of ills which can
not fail to affect the people most inju-
riously. 20
Unnecessary taxation has drawn from
the channels of trade. commerce and in
dustry SO many millions of dollars that
in some quarters even legitima ate bust
ness is seriously crippled Unnecessary
taxation has caused the Secretary of the
Treasury to 'sset up shop" in Wall
street. where he seeks by questionable
methods to relieve the pressure, to
check the mighty flow of money toward
the Treasury and to tide over the dan
gers that threaten
Unnecessary taxation maintained in
| the interest of monopolies and other
| tariff-buttressed interests is responsible
for Mr.. WINDOWS policy of buying
bonds not yet due at enormous pre-
miums and Of paying millions of dol
lars of interest money that has not yet
been earned. These bonds are largely
held by the trusts and the com binations-
| Among the sellers of bonds are the Van
derbilts and Standard Oil What pri-
vate citizen burdened with mortgage
pays it off at the rate of 81 25 on the
dollar or prepays interest?
Unnecessary taxation is responsible
for these outrages, and would have been
responsible for widespread ruin but for
ho 70 OF fbof TO h
set itself to the task of squandering
these taxes as fast as they accumulate.
Confronted by such crisis, the Re-
publican party has not in its mem Der
ship g. single man who is capable of
! suggesting an honest and an adequate
remedy. The Reeds and McKinleys
can propose nothing but mere taxes,
and they are about to be levied. Mr.
Blaine and the poor polls that parrot
his foolish utterances can suggest
nothing but reciprocity with a few
| South American States Meantime the
golden stream, representing the confis-
Gated earnings and the wasted estates
of free-born Americans, pours into the
| Treasury almost million and half a
day of it. there to be used to buy off
bondholders, to pay interest not yet
due and to corrupt the poor with mex
cusable pensions
Is not that an object lesson? Whose
interest is it that taxes shall be main
tanned at this ruinous figure? Is it the
| interest OF the farmer, the mechanic,
| the laborer or the clerk? Or is it the
interest Of the men who have monopc-
lies to protect, bonds to sell and in
terest to be prepaid?
The usurers and wild-catters in Wall
street have the United States Govern
ment in tow. The taxes wrung from
the people to protect monopolies are at
their disposal. They have only to call
and their cry is heard Who hears the
plant of the farmer and the laborer?
On the heels of this demonstration OF
the iniquity Of unnecessary taxation we
are to have a new tariff tax that will
search out every consumer in the land
and lay its mandate of plumber upon
him. If any one has escaped hereto
fore none shall now go free. All tina,
is worn, all that is eaten, all that il
used, the medicines of the sick, the
tools of trade, the shelter from the
storm, the dish in which poverty cooks
| its scanty meal, the fuel, the bed, even
the starry flag whose glory has al
length been furnished by injustice
hereafter every thing will pay tribute
to error and greed.
We have reached the parting of the
roads. Monopoly and privilege will
not willingly turn back. For the first
time in our history they demand as
their right that which for years ha:
been obtained only by treachery and
indirection. Will the people concede
their claim and take the known conSe
| ouenceS?-Chicago Herald.