The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-05-14
FOR REVENUE ONLY.

"4-We are opposed to any legislation by
the federal government which looks to or
operates in levying taxes for the benefit OF any
one class at the expense of any other, but we
believe that the primal idea OF all taxes should
be revenue, and that confined to the needs of
the government economically administered
Democratic Platform
ADAM SMITHS four rules of taxation
We're: % Taxes should be, as far as prac-
ticable, equal. 2) They should be definite
In amount, not uncertain or variable. 81
They should be collected, as far as possible,
at the time most convenient to the payer,
so as not to cripple the process of produc-
ton. a. They should be SO arranged as to
give the maximum revenue at the minimum
cost to the people, i. G., they should cost as
little as possible to collect.
Protective taxes are unequal; if every
thing were equally pr detected there
would be no protection. The govern
ment has no money of its
own. Every cent it gets comes from
the people of this country in the
shape of taxes. Taxes represent work.
They are part of the earnings of the peo-
pie which the government seizes. So far
as these taxes are necessary for the sup
port of the government, there is no objec-
ton to them; but the less the government
could safely get along with, the better it
would be for the people But every tax is
loss, an evil, except that small amount
actually devoted to building roads or
establishing schools. All other taxes are
defenses against lawlessness the tribute
we pay to vice, luxury, dishonesty and
crime of all sorts. No tax is a just one
that is not levied solely for revenue and for
defraying the legitimate and necessary cost
OF public peace, order and security.
The government cannot give the fraction
of q cent or the value of pin to one person
or class unless it takes that value from
some other person or class among its own
people. 1t is not less impossible to destroy
or create energy or matter than it is for
the government to aid one class without
at the same time injuring some other class.
When, therefore the government enables
the manufacturers of pig iron to charge
S6.72 more for each ton they sell in Amer
lea than for that which they export and sell
at the worlds market price; when it
GudDlCS OA4C sugar TGuu6ElGS 10 Charge
cents more for each pound of sugar than
they sell it to foreigners for; when it
enables the manufacturers of plows to
charge Americans SIS for the same pIow
they sell to Spanish Americans for 50;
when it enables the maker of shoddy
American broadcloth to charge more than
double the price Of the finest French or
English article-in all these and thousand
other cases, every cent given to these pro-
tected individuals comes from the pockets
of those who constitute the overwhel ming
majority of the American people, and from
no other source The mathematical ex-
perts, NEwCoMB, ELLIOTT and FORD, have
shown that only five per cent. of the
American working people are protected,
while ninety-ive per cent. of them are
not protected and cannot be protected, but
are taxed for the sole benefit of the en-
ployers Of the other five per cent who are
said to be protected.
The United States supreme court go
Wall. esq said: ITO lay with one hand the
power of the government on the property
Of the citizen, and with the other to bestow
it upon favored individuals to aid private
enterprises and build up private fortunes
is none the less robbery because it is done
under the forms Of law and is called a tax
alton. This is not legislation. 1t is a de-
cree under legislative forms. Nor is it tax
alton. A tax says WEBsTER's dictionary,
SIS rate or sum of money assessed on the
person or property of a citizen by the gov
eminent for the use Of the nation or state'
Taxes are burdens or charges to
raise money for public purposes.
'If il be said that benefit results to the
local public of town by establishing man
ufactures, the same may be said of any
other business or pursuit which employs
capital or labor. The merchant, the me-
chanic, the inn-keeper, the banker, the
builder, the steamboat-owrer, are equally
the promoters of the public good and
equally deserving the aid of the citizens by
forced contributions. No line can be drawn
in favor of the manufacturer which would
not open the Golfers of the public treasury
to the opportunities of two thirds of the
business men of the city or town.
2-Protective taxes are uncertain in
amount Witness the latest miserable
guess at increasing the revenue by means
of the MCKINLEY bill. From surplus to
deficit is an easy road when the natural
laws of exchange are subverted by exces-
siye taxation. There has never been in all
history protective tariff that did not need
immediate and never ending revision.
When the tariff has been raised aud the
protection granted, one naturally expects
the friends of protection to be silent for q
while. but nothing of the kind ever hap
pens. Every such bill needs adjust
ments.n Immediately and forever. The
amount Of tax that will be yielded is un-
certain and variable, depending upon
whether the protective law succeeds or
fails in its object of "cutting off imports
If it succeeds, and to the extent that it
does succeed, the revenue fails. Where
protection begins, revenue ends. No one
can preach protection and revenue at the
same time; they are mutually hostile, and
destructive of each other.
S-Protective taxes are paid at the worst
possible time, in advance Of the use of the
taxed article, and thus cripple the process
of production. A tax of ten cents pound
on foreign wool, for example, (Which does
not in any way benefit the average wool
grower. as our wool is the cheapest in the
world keeps swelling every time the wool
is handled or bought or used until the final
les is many times more than the mere tar
iff tax to begin with. The tax on wool or
other uraw materials" not only breaks