Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-08-27

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CONGRESSMAN CRISP.
that every citizen who is granted a vote has
the right to participate in the government
and determine for himself what character
it shall possess 1t is the duty of the gov
eminent TO protect the citizen in his right
to his life, to his liberty. to his property. IL
il the duty of the citizen to contribute OF
that which he earns. that which he owns a
sufficient amount to enable this government
! to discharge its functions 1t is the duty OF
the citizen to support the government, it is
the duty of the government to protect the
citizen. The government may collect from
you sufficient amount to enable Ii to pro-
tect you in your life and In your liberty. 1t
is the duty of the citizen to contribute that
amount 1t is his duty to see that the gov
eminent economically taxes for public and
not for private purposes
1.-The power 10 tax is a necessary power.
1t must be lodged in all governments and
yet, my friends the power to tax is the
| power to destroy. Under the taxing power
| the government may build up one industry
and destroy another By it one industry
may be completely crushed as if it had
| been denied existence We have two theo-
ries of taxation in America two great par
ties in the United States All parties agree
that we shall raise portion of the revenue
necessary by tariff duties. We have inter
nal revenue taxes. They not sufficient
| to answer the demands of the government
1t is necessary to come from other sources
obtained from the customs duties The diff
| ference is this: The democr attic party main
tains that taxation is for revenue. the re-
publican party maintains that the taxing
] power should be used to prohibit importa-
| tions into this country. and, they express
! it, build up domestic manufactures
Examine for q moment what tariff tn
/ is In my judgment there is no trouble
| about a satisfactory understanding of the
/ principles of the tariff if l, man will stop and
reflect about it, When goo Is are imported
into the United States from abroad duty is
| collected by the govern ment on those goods
! Whoever brings the goods for >ale has to
pay that duty. When he sells the goods to
| the merchant he refunds to h inn that duty in
an increased price When the merchant
/ sells the goods the consumer, the con-
sumner refunds the price of the tax he has
paid at the port The consumer OF the goods
necessarily pays the tax 1t is impossib to
| devise system by which in
| this country compel the citizens of other
countries to support our government You
| sometimes hear our republican friends,
| who ought to know better. and may say,
| who do know better, say il comprls for
| eigners 10 pay for the privileges of coming
| into our markets Stop and reflect. No
foreigner comes into market for the
mere privilege of being in it He comes 70
make money, to profitably transact his bust
ness and the tax he pays is part of the cost
| of that which he has to sell as his raw ma
| terial his labor and his freight To bring
| them here all of these must necessarily be
paid by the people in this country who con-
| sumo the goods Last year $2sO, 600 600 were
paid in duties on foreign goods an 4 all of il
| came from our own people, not from
| foreigners II paid much on foreign
| goods and consumed four or five times more
/ goods of domestic manufacture, let
! what effect the tariff has the prices of
those domestic goods. As the price of
| foreign goods is increased by the tariff is
| tn, price of all similar goods of domestic
manufacture for the domestic manufactured
| who has procured the levying of that tariff
l
makes himself just under the
| tariff If wheat is arbitrarily made worth
1 81 a bushel in Kansas City and farmers ad-
| jacent can raise it for 20 cents. do you think
| that they would come here and sell it for
| % cents? No, they would demani the full
| market price The only difference is that
| the tax on the foreign made article is paid
| into the treasury and the tax domestic
! articles. four or nve times greater in tine ag
| gregate is paid into the pockets of the man.
ufacturers. You may prefer to buy of the
| American manufacturer, but this tar If COM
| peis you to pay premium of A. per cent for
| the privilege of doing it The high tariff is
| Injurious to you because it prevents the ex-
change of your surplus for the surplus of
other countries and also because it mas es
| you pay more for everything you buy
| Il admit that It is the i'm IMMEDIATE tendency
| of a high Tariff to stimulate production and
| m SO far TO reduce prices but trusts and
, combines follow such reduction when il
comes and then the tariff STILES competi-
ton -
1 Congressman Crisp then illustrated the
| operative tariff by the effect OF the
| ductIon on sugar and scored those who
claim that high protection is American
| idea He denounced il "a un-American and
| unfair Taxes taken off OF everything
but the nrces-arf~s of life and against every
effort tina; was made to Relieve the consum-
| ers the republican party protested
| The speaker continued to elaborate his
| argument on ;he tariff and in the course OF
| his remarks he uttered many str king SEN
| fence Some OF THIN were:
We are creatures Of p eiudice- and pas
| sions After the great struggle between the
| north and the south the pol tics of the time
! was controlled by the questions of the past
| and not those of the dav."
| The measures passed by the democr attic
congresses to relieve the people have Away.
been killed by the republican congresses
| that have followed Them
1 Everyone knows what the Fifty-fir con-
| gress was The republicans ashamed of
| it themseives. or they ought to be- Large
/ contributions of money were made ostensf-
| bly, to aid the republican party. but In re Atty
| to aid the powerful monopolIes of the coun-
tries that fostered by that party. Their
| efo- Is to relieve the so-caIled intiTnidated
Il voters OF the south were but the efforts 90
hoodwtnk the honest voters OF the north
| These republicans were wise in their day
and generation. They knew that their work
4 Of raising the tariff WAS obnoxious to the
voters. and after they passed their tariff Law
| they took mp the federal election law. the
force bill which deprived the . ople O
| their rights TO manage the e.ectsons and
tried to pass that IS to prevent the
people from correcting the great wrong that
had been done them Their policy was to
| do their own counting. their own rezfstra-
ton and their own certifying. Now, every
| body knows what that means Laughter
They have done their own counting and
| their own registration and their own certi-
| tying and they declared as duly elected
| president OF the United States q defeated
candidate lAppiause-1 They did their own
counting their own registration and their
| own certifying and they declared a repub-
| licaG majority of fourteen at the last con-
| gress, but according to ancient customs and
] usages the people eIecte-f democratic ma
iority of $50 iCneers-l In any other coun-
Lry IN the world this act alone would have
/ wiped the party out of existence"