New-York tribune., 1891-05-25
ARE TAXES EVER ABLESSING
POINTED QUESTIONS BY A cLEARHEADED
MINNESOTA MAN.
MR.. Hoxx TRIES TO GIVE THEM A FAIR AND
SQUARE ANSWER.

mo the EDITOR OF The tribune
sir: am worsingman ana belong 70 a iaoor
,sanixation and am reading Mr.. Horr's articles with
.rs.t interest think he is right on the tariff.
s.rgs number of the iaboring men about here believe
r the doctrine OF protection We think il secures us
good wages.
lust at this time the members Of society are dis
cussng other questions In Of Mr. Horrs articles
hs states that taxes be blessings and not burdens
We plain people consider burdensome and often
,rksome There is strong feeling among also that
the Government should own the telegraph lines, the
railroads. and should furnish all the money needed by
the people, without any banks having anything TO do
with the issue Of the currency Mr. Horr has several
times In his articles spoken of certain things as being
outside the legitimate work Of the Government. l am
requested 10 ask him few questions and hope he VIII
at to answer them early possible because,
assure you, they all questions which are being asked
By the entire working people Of the West
First What does he mean when he says tax may
be blessing"2
Second Are not an taxes, of necessity, burdensa
Third. Why should not the Government own and
operate the railroads and telegraph linesl
Fourth. Why should not the Government issue all
the paper money needed by the people and save the
ntsrest paid the National banks on the Govern
nent bondsi
shall watch the Weekly Tribune for a reply.
OSCAR WILDER.
Minneapolis Minn. April 25. 1891.
These questions Of our correspondent are good
Illustration of the fact that it is very much easier
to ask questions than it is to answer them. A
full answer to his four brief questions would re-
auire a book / will. however. give my answers
TO them in as brief a manner as is possible in a
newspaper article, and shall hope that brevity
will not cause my reply to be obscure.
In reply to the first two questions. will say
that taxation Is an outgrowth of civilization.
Among savages there are no assessors. no tax COL
lectors How does it come in a republican form
of government that such a thing as tax is
known We must not forget that in this country
the entire people are the government When our
forefathers landed on the American continent
they found the country occupied by wild savages
They brought with them the customs of civiliza-
ton.
The very first thing they did was necessarily to
build houses for shelter. Each family naturally
built its own domicie, aiding the other as ne
cessities required. on some agreed basis of labor
WORKS OF PUBLIC NATURE.
Probably the first work of public nature was
Che building Of some kind of fortifcation to pro-
tect the community from the encroachments of the
savages No doubt almost every able-bodied
man in the colony gave his full share of time to
that work.
doubtedly the building of a road. At first that
was probably done by the voluntary work of each
individual. In little while. as the colony in
creased in size and wealth began to be aecumu-
lated, the needs of passable roadway became
more imperative. People began to be engrossed
ia their private affairs and to be absent when the
needed work Of repairing the road was required.
Now no one will claim that the building of the
street In the outset was burden. any more than
the building of the house or the tilling
of the soil. 1t will be readily admitted
by every one that the building of pass
able roadway in the community was an &C
tual blessing to every one living in the colony.
1t soon became evident that while some residents
of the community were on hand and ready to do
their share Of the work, there were quite number
of others, many Of them able to do who absented
themselves from this work The entire people,
coming together, formed themselves into an or
ganized community and designated certain bound
aries as constituting township. majority OF
the people constituting the township took up the
question as to how the roads should be built and
kept in repair As matter of exact justice, they
finally decided upon the plan of levying small
poll tax on each able-bodied man, and then road
tax on each individual in the community, on the
theory that every man would use the street more
or less. hence the poll tax and that the more prop
erty man had the more benefit good road weuld
be TO him. By this adjustment it was intended
that each man should aid in the building of that
road precisely to the extent that he should have
been willing to pay. had the work all been done
voluntarily. If the street was blessing to that
community then the tax for making the street
was blessing. 1t could not be called burden
by any man who was willing to do his full share
In the enterprise If he would share in the bene-
fits why should he not cheerfully pay his part of
the expense? Any man who calls such a tax
burden, it seems TO me, must be trying to shirk
his part of the necessary work; and 1t is simply
one form of saying that he would like all the ad-
vantages if he can only have them at the expense
of his neighbors.
In little while the people of each growing
community in this country felt the need OF educa-
ton for their children The first impression would
naturally be that each man should provide for the
education Of his own children, and that schools,
IL organized, should be maintained entirely by
private enterprise. 1t, however, soon became ap-
parent in every community that poor people often
have large families, and that to leave
the education of children entirely to the
ability and disposition Of parents would result
in large proportion of these children growing
up in ignorance. To prevent such a calamity, IL
becomes necessary to have the education OF The
rising generation looked after and provided for
AS a public necessity, The moment you admit
that the entire community ought to attend to the
education of all the children, then the question
of establishing and supporting schools is placed
upon precisely the same basis as the building Of
roads That is, each individual, in every COM
muuity, ought voluntarily to DO his full share
toward educating all the children of his district
The school tax is then simply fair distribution
Of what each man in the community ought vol
UNFAIRLY to pay for the cause of education. Hence
IL education is a blessing TO community, tneh
school houses and school teachers are blessings
also, and the tax which builds up one and supports
the other is blessing, too. The man who claims
that such tax is a burden is simply declaring
that il is burdensome for him 10 do his full duty