The Columbus journal., 1891-03-04
Who Paws the Pension Money!

Who Pays the Pension Money!
The clamor OF the anti pension howlers
deceives many people into believing that
pension disbursements impose burdens
upon the tax payers Of the country.
Nothing can be farther from truth.
They have as little to do with taxation
q they have with annexation with Can
ada.
Were there no pensioners in the
country the revenue system would he
substantially the same, for it is founded
on our policy Of protection to American
industries, and the generally accepted
belief that the government should control
the production and sale Of whisky, beer,
tobacco and oleomargarine.
So much for ~generalities. Now let us
see whittier The money actually comes
which is used to pay pensions.
The report OF the secretary OF the
treasury for 1890 shows there was col
lected last year:
From customs ..............$ZS9.6eo,SS4
From internal revenue ...... l42,6u6,IO5
From profits on coinage. l0,2l7,244
Sales OF public lands ........ 6,358,2s2
From the postal service-... 6O,3S2.69'
Bank taxes, patent Office and consular
fees, tax on seal skins and other minor
items, swelled the total to S35S,963,OS0.35
OF this, $358y6l8,5S4.OO was paid out
again; s1O6, 936,a55.O5 YVES for pensions.
That is, less than twenty-five per cent
OF the entire revenue collections were
disbursed for pensions.
Let us take these figures as a basis and
20 still further into particulars. The
largest single item is that Of Sl42.6O6.'95
for internal evenue collections. Much
more il collected from this q source
than would pay the entire pension roll,
with all the arrears which have been ac-
cumulating for twenty-nine years. The
report OF the commissioner Of internal
revenue shows that this was divided up
as follows:
From distilled spirits. 49,. $Sl 6S7.3I5 9
From tobacco. ........... S3,SH3,S9l "a
From fermented liquors.. 26.NS.X34 "a
From OleOmargarine. 1851 -
E,on hanks not national. 81 81
Penalties. etc 153,72O ~
IOt6l ~
The tax on distilled spirits is ninety
cents o Gallon. A gallon of whisky con-
tains n UGH less than q proof gallon OF
spirits but for convenience We will say
t:...t it is the same. Therefore, every
man who drank q gallon Of whisky last
year paid ninety cents into the treasury
OF which one-fonrth or twenty-five and
q half cents, went for pensions. As he
paid an average Of ten cents for a drink
and there are about seventy average
drinks in a gallon, he paid the barkeep
ers who sold him the stuff, fully S7.W
before he contributed twenty-five and
half cents to pensions.
The tax has been eight cents a pound
on smoking tobacco, $500 a thousane
on cigars and fifty cents q thousand OF
cigarettes. Therefore, q man has had t.
pay into the pension fund W cents TO
every pound of tobacco he smoked. Or
il he preferred cigars, he has had t
smoke three cigars a day for a year which
cost him not less than 5000 before pay
ing $500 into the treasury, of whicl
seventy-6ve cents went for pensions. /
he took to cigarettes he had to pa,
twelve and q half cents for pensions TO
every thousand with which he poisone'
the air and his own lungs.
II he drank beer he would have t
swallow ~thirty-two gallons before payin'
Sl.OO into the treasury-of which twenty
five cents went for pensions. As a bal
rel Of beer contains about 500 glasses. b
paid the saloon keeper $500 for ever,
twenty-five cents that went for pensions
If his expenditures for tobacco an
beer compelled him to economic in hi
househald. expenses and to use oleomar
garine instead of butter, he would hav
to buy one hundred pounds of the sui
stitute for the tactical product before h.
put 500 into the treasury, of whic
fifty cents went for pensions.
} Nor would his whisky, tobacco, beer, Q
ol~eomargarine have been q cent cheape
: il there had been no pensions to pa!
/ The men who sold him those thing
would have simply made more money O
him, that's all.