Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1891-10-21
Fair Trade and Highway Robbery.

q
head in Kansas, Sl04 in Iowa and
500 in Illinois. This is exclusive IF
debts secured by mortgage on pcrso-
nal property, of open accounts, and
all other floating" or unsecured
private Indebtedness. Nor does it in
clude the very large railway and
corporation debts in these States on
which their people pay interest to
outside holders of mortgage bonds
and other securities.
Such per capita debt on real estate
is equivalent to an average debt of
$3.50 on every family in Kansas of
$500 per family in Iowa, and of $500
per family in Illinois. Of course, all
the families in these States are not
freeholders. A very large proportion
of them own no real estate and con.
sequently they can have given no
real estate security for debts. While
the burden of carrying such debt
falls finally on the entire community
the interest on it is paid primarily by
freeholders, whose average indebted
ness is without doubt from seven to
eight times as great as that given as
the average for each head of popula-
ton.
But, taking the interest on the per
capita Indebtedness at 10 per cent
and in Kansas at least 1t is often more
than that-we have a yearly interest
tax of $3.50 on the head of every
man, woman and child in Kansas ;of
$10.40 a head for Iowa; and of SIC
for Illinois. At s per cent. this yearly
will be $12.4S head for Kansas; 49,
80 for Iowa and So for Illinois, on
this single item of real estate mortgag,
es. So that in Kansas at 10 per cent.
every average family of five persons
has to bear an annual interest tax OF
$7S, in addition to school, county and
State taxes, to Federal taxes, and to
interest charges for railways and SINH
lar public improvements.
1t is not to be forgotten that the
natural tendency of the Census De,
partment is to understate the facts Of
the private mortgage Indebtedness Of
the Western States. Its estimate for
Illinois is some $20,000,O0O below the
figures of the census of Illinois mort
cages taken by the Republican State
administration, although this was be-
lieved with good reason to be itself an
underestimate. But the figures OF
the Federal census are sufficiently
appalling. Kansas, for instance, is
mortgaged on real estate alone for
80 per cent. of the entire assessed
value of property, both real estate
and personal.
While this debt has been accumu.
lating the people of the West have
lived frugally and worked hard.
Year after they have produced
immense wealth. Could they have
realized on it at anything like its fair
exchange value, they would now be
out of debt and the most prosperous
people of the world. but for thirty
years the tariff tax on its exchange
has averaged from 40 to So per cent
Under the Mckinley bill it will be
from Do to 60 per cent. as an average
tax on the importation of all articles
for which they would exchange their
products if allowed to do so. Instead
of going to Europe to be exchanged
at its full value, their entire surplus
now goes there to buy gold, which is
very scarce there, as it is elsewher e.
1t commands high premium there,
but when it is brought back here
and given in exchange for New Eng
land manufactures it is subjected to
a discount fixed under the high tariff,
which enables them to give over 40
per cent. less in goods than would be
given for the same amount of gold in
Europe.
Under this policy everything the
West has is taken from it, and it is
forced deeply into debt to the New
England States. 1t is owned, clock,
stock and BARREL" by small class of
protected capitalists in the Northeast,
who, after getting all it had under the
operations of the high tariff, which
shuts it off from European markets,
think themselves magnanimous in
lending back its own earnings to it at
high rates of interest who, when it
protests, threaten it with "the with
drawal of capitol"-that is, with
forced sale under the hammer.
How much longer is this system of
highway robbery to receive the support
of the Federal Government and to be
perpetuated under the Federal law ?
st. Louis Republic.
Council prooeedfnpH