The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-10-21

in their favor? 1t seems to me like o
travesty on taxation to require, as the
Mckinley bill does, the farmer who
grows corn in Indiana to pay bounty
to the farmer who produces cane sugar
in Louisiana, or to require the farmer
who grows wheat in Pennsylvania to
pay bounty to the farmer who produces
maple sugar in Vermont, but it ia nearer
tragedy than travesty to tax the masses
of the people to increase the wealth of
the very wealthy owners Of most Of our
protected industries.
But even such inequality and injus-
tice are the least of its evils, for while
such system ondures political corrup-
ton Is absolutely sure to increase, as
such system not only invites but it re-
quires, the corrupt use of money both at
the polls and In congress. 1t Is Of its
very essence that "fat" shall be "fried"
out of it's benefciaries. Who shall hap
pen to do the frying or who shall hap
pen to distribute the "fat" upon any
particular occasion, is mere matter of
detail, but while that system lasts both
will continue to be done by somebody.
And the evils of q system of legis-
lative bounties, so far from stopping,
only begins with those bounties secured
to the industries protected by the tariff.
The disastrous course Of the Republican
party on the silver question is an apt H.
lustration Of this truth. 1t ought to be
an honest money party, and 1t would be
If it could; but while it demanded in.
creased bounties for It's favoritc manu-
facturers it could not refuse increased
bounties to the silver producers, rs the
votes they control were probably neces.
sary to the passage of the Mckinley bill.
So situated, the Republican party had
no alternative but to pass the silver law
of 1890, doubling the purchases of silver
and requiring the building of moro
warehouses in which to store the useless
metal. The total purchases made by
the government amount to hundreds Of
millions of dollars, and would not real
ize, if resold, one-half their cost, while
the poison OF debased currency, whose
work, however slow, is sure, is making
itself daily more and more felt in every
channel of business and finance, and is
inevitably driving gold out Of the coun-
try and leading us to oil the evils of a
fuctuating and therefore dishonest cur
rency based upon silver alone. The Re
publican party cannot take any effective
steps toward repeating the bill, for the
silver men are very likely, if their boun-
ty is stopped, to 30 vote that the boun-
ties Of the Mckinley bill will stop also.
The abuses Of the pension system fur
nish another apt illustration OF the evils
sure to follow such a system of legisla-
ton. II congress was to levy taxes
upon the people to confer bounties upon
certain classes Of manufacturers it was
very natural that the pension agents
should also join hands to increase their
fees by an indiscriminate granting Of
pensions. The result is that nearly
generation after the close Of the war
there is steady increase Of the vast
sums passing through the pension agents
hands, until now the total amount stag
gers belief, and has become Of itself
very serious burden upon the treasury.
From the day Of Lees surrender until
now no single voice has ever been raised
against the most generous provision for
every person who had any Just claim
upon the gratitude of the country; but
surely there is neither reason nor Justice
in legislation which destroys all diStinc-
ton between the discharge Of duty and
the shirking Of 1t, between loyal service
and desertion Of the colors, between
wounds received in battle and diseases
contracted in the pursuits Of peace.
There is still another great and in
creasing evil, chiefly traceable, in my
opinion, to the maintenance of an ex-
cessive tariff since the war and the con-
slant meddling with it to make it higher,
and that is the bringing to our shores
OF those vast swarms Of undesirable i'm
migrants who degrade American labor
by their competition and threaten tho
stability of institutions based upon an
intelligent love Of country. just as the
duties upon imported merchandise have
been increased so has the grade of i'm
ported labor been lowered, until now,
nnder the Mckinley bill, there are com
ing here every month many thousands
of more ignorant and therefore less de-
sirable laborers than ever before. It Is
not easy to exaggerate the moral evils
they are likely to inflict upon our social
order and our national life.
AS the Republican party is now def
nitely committed to the policy of taxing
the people for the purpose of giving
bounties to such persons or interests as
can secure the necessary votes in con-
gress, 80 the Democratic party is now as
definitely committed to the policy of re-
stricting taxation to the needs of the
government for public purposes alone.
The gulf fixed between these two poll
cies of taxation is as wide and deep as
can well exist between political parties,
and am also convinced that the old
causes in which l am interested cannot
hope for success until the avowed policy
of the Republican party on this subject
is overthrown.
Until then the right of each state to
control elections within its borders will
not be secure. Until then there is no
prospect of us enjoying the single and
stable standard of value which other
civilized and commercial nations possess.
Until then there is no hope of placing
either our pension system or the regula-
ton of immigration upon just and
proper basis. Until then the purifica-
ton of our politics will continue .'the
iridescent dream" which high Republic
an authority has declared it must al
ways remain. Until then any pretended
reform of the civil service must prove,
n