St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-01
WHO ARE THE TAXPAYERS :?

The chamber of commerce and kin
dred organizations in st. Paul and other
cities, without question, serve a useful
purpose, and are composed of men of
good judgment. whose views on public
questions are worthy of consideration.
1t is a great mistake, however, for the
members of such bodies, or of any class
or cult, to arrogate to themselves pc
culiar wisdom in affairs, or the right to
dictate to the rest of the community.
No matter how humble a mans begin
ming. when he once becomes enrolled
in the number of those who have ac-
cumulationS to defend, or, instead of
working at the direction of others, grad
yates into the ranks of the bosses and
superintendent, he cloaks himself in
Il garb of superiority and loudly
declares that his views on matters in
general ought to be listened to by the
common herd with bated breath. He is
very earnest in his structures Oh people
who have less property than he has on
which to pay taxes, and declares his in
terests to be such that Soeiety'S only
chance for safety is to follow his pre-
scriptionS. He refers to the poor in a
cOndeScending way as proletariat, and
disposes of their demands for reform as
socialism and the rawlings of the an
archist.
People who talk this way are ignorant
and unpatriotic. No class of people con-
tributes less in proportion to its capacity
to the support of the state than the rich
In time of war the capitalist with his
millions is no more deft in. scaling the
enemy'S batteries than the Iaborer who
left dozen hungry mouths unfed when
he started out at his cOuntry's call. In
time Of peace no one is more clever at
concealing his property against the tax
gathererS visit than the bondholder.
The burden of our Ubiquitous tariff
does not fall on the rich. They get
higher prices for the goods they have to
sell because Of it, aud there is no duty
on the products of the foreign tailors'
shops which they bring back after their
trips to Europe. The farmer and the
humble artisan, for whose stock in trade
there is no protection, contributes in
everything he buys to the national rev.
enues, and, at the same time, to the ag-
grandizement of the monopolist. Under
the American system there are no such
people as non-taXpayers. Everybody
pays tribute. and the rich in no such
ratio as the poor. A mans accumula-
tons give him no peculiar right to be
heard on public questions. If anything,
he ought to keep still. The state. at
great cost, has to protect his property :;
and even those who have nothing to
protect contribute for this service. The
rich are recipients in this way of the
bounty of the poor. They surely have
10 right to eriticise the facial express
sion of their benefactOrs.
Again, the rich are not wiser than the
poor. Their pretended devotion to the
advancement of the state is often only a
cover for self-interest. They mistake
their prejudices for the eternal prin-
ciples of right ana justice. If the laws
are not so shaped as to give them great
power in the community they think
that the nation is on the verge of ruin.
The greatest lawgiyers of all times
have come from the ranks of the COM
mon people. The mechanic vino auto
maticaIly tends his machine thinks out
the great problems of statecraft at his