The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-06-28
IT Is TIME TO STOP
How Our Government Gets Its
Money.
TAXES ARA EXTRA DAYS. WORK
Extraordinary Use to Which the Peoples
Labor is Diverted-The Recent
Increase Of Taxation.

In view of the almost universal complaint
more especially by the agricultural inter
est of the country-of the burden and in
equality of federal taxation, il is impor-
tant that certain points connected with the
same, not Immediately bearing on the ques-
tons of free trade or protection should, at
the present time be especially pressed upon
the atten lion of the American public
The expenditures of the federal govern
ment for the fiscal year 1889, were, in round
numbers, $3.50, 000, 600. For the fiscal year
1890, Secretary Window estimated, in his
report for December, 1889, that s341, OO0, 900
would be required. The appropriations
authorized by the present Congress will in
crease these figures to $500, 900, 900. or
$50, 0OO, 900 more than was expended in
1889.
Many people, doubtless because they
have not given thought to the subject have
very indefinite ideas where all this money
comes from. They do not really believe
that it grows upon trees, or rains down
from tie clouds, or is fished up out of the
seas; but they, nevertheless, have a sort of
sentiment that it finds its way into the ma
tional treasury in some mysterious manner;
that the government has at all times at its
disposal an inexhaustible supply of money,
from which it can always appropriate mil
lions for bounties, subsidies for ships, pub
lie buildings, printing books and the like,
without making anybody in any degree
poorer, but rather beneftlng everybody,
by distributing wealth and keeping money
in active circulation, which otherwise
would never, or in q less degree, benefit
the masses.
ITS CITIZENS DO EXTRA DAYS WORK.
Now, the exact and homely truth in re-
spect to this matter is, that the govern
Eent never has any money except what the
people give to it through the agency of
taxation; and that the people, as whole
and IN turn. never have any to give ex-
cept what comes to them as the result
of their work, or from an exchange
of the products OF their work.
Such being the case it follows, that what
the Government really wants Of its people,
when il calls upon them for taxes is WORK
and that the methods Of taxation are only
methods for collecting and using the pro-
ducts of work.
If we assume that the average earnings
of all the working people in the United
States who are occupied in agriculture, in
manufacturing or the mechanical arts or one
dollar per day land this is fair estimate. y
then four hundred and sixty millions of ex-
penditure Of the Federal government will
mean four hundred and sixty million days.
work; or IN other words, for every dollar
that the government OF the United States
expends, somebody must do whole days
work to furnishit
II the expenditures for 1890 are to exceed
the expenditures of 1859 by more than one
hundred and sixty millions of dollars, then
somebody has got to do more than one hum
dred and sixty million days work in the
latter year than in the former, or the
government, as the exression gees, xviii
kes make both ends meet" So much for |