Evening journal., 1891-06-26
NEWSPAPER OPINION.
Two AntItheaea on Tnxaiion

AWo AhbAtuehee on taxation,
Louisville Courier Journal
In his speech accepting the nomination
for governor Of Ohio, Major Mckinley.
defending his bill of abominations. said
we prefer TO tax the imported rather
than the domestic product; the Demo
cratic party prefer to tax the domestic
product rather than the imported. ]
Whether this statement proceeded from
confusion Of thought or intent TO mis-
lead. we cannot certainly say; the for
mer suppositlon is more com plimentary
to the speakers candor, the latter to his
intelligence. In either event IL is a fine
illustration of vague and inaccurate ex
preston. It is building an argument
upon figure of speech. What does
Major Mckinley mean by taxing the for
eign productY If we prefer to drop figures
OF speech and express ourselves with
scientific accuracy, we do not tax pro
ducts at all, but men women and children
We say, indeed that the hat on the
mans head, the coat on his back and the
shoes on his feet are all taxed, but every
one understands the meaning of this to be
that the man Is taxed upon these articles
of apparel 1t is the man and not the
clothing that pays the tax. Attention
to this simple and obvious PRINCIPAL
knocks nearly sll the point out of Mai
McKinley's antitheses, which no doubt
he meant to make very impressive and
which some Of his unthlnking hearers
may have accepted as such Translated
into the language OF common sense. Mai
McKinley's meaning would appear TO Be-
this: I'VE prefer to tax the American
people upon the goods which they are
obliged to get from abroad rather than
Hpon those which they can obtain Al
home. Stated thus the meaning is al
least. Ineligible. Unfortunately. how.
ever, 1t is not true. II this was Major
McKinley's meaning, he represented the
positions OF the two parties to be pre-
cisely tue reverse Of what they are The
Democrats are In favor of taxing the
people upon the goods which they import.
80 far as 1t may De necessary to nav the
expenses Of an economical administration
OF the government. That is the pre-
else meaning Of tariff for revenue only.
II is taN paid by the people upon GER
tain classes of goods which came from
abroad, and every dollar Of it goes into
the Treasury. In this way money is ob
tained to pay the necessary expenses of
the government, with the least possible
burden on the people Now, what is
Major McKinley's plan2 1t Is to tax the
people upon domestic products for the
benefit of the producer-that is, TO
take money out of the pocket of one clsss
and pay it over TO another class, few in
number, but liberal in their contrlbu
tions to funds TO corrupt elections. The
object Of che bill was to make goods
higher by excluding competition-thati Is
TO tax home consumers more on home
goods. His bill was called bill to reduce
the revenue, and proposed TO accomplish
its purpose by putting up rates so high
as to check imports That was a prop
osition to tax the people less in the aeefe
gate (though at q higher rate) on for
eign products, so that the sum going into
the Treasury would be reduced. The OBJ
] eet of this was to put up prices of home
goods. Major McKinley's two objects.
simply stated were these Less taxation
on foreign products for the benefit of the
Treasury; more taxation cn domestic