The free press., 1892-10-27

of the Mckinley bill and the unreasonable
system of protection it represents are of
far less Importance to my mind than the
moral evils which follow in their wake.
In deciding for what purposes the masses
of the people may properly be taxed, it
must not be forgotten that taxes have a
wonderful capacity for filtering through
all intervening obstacles till they reach
the bowed back OF toll and resting there,
and therefore the giving of bounties
under any form of taxation is mainly the
giving away of the wages of labor. The
sad truth that the curse Of the poor is
their poverty is illustrated in nothing
more clearly than in the undue share
they suffer of the burdens of taxation.
But, apart from this consideration,
ought not taxes only be imposed as re-
quired for public purposes, or may they
also be imposed for the pecuniary ad-
vantage of such persons or classes as are
able to control Congressional action in
their favor9 1t seems to me like a
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
a bounty to the farmer who produces
maple sugar in Vermont; but it is 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 injustice
are the least of its evils, for while SUCH
system endures political corruption is
absolutely sure to increase, Us such q
system not only invites, but it requires,
the corrupt use of money both ut the
polls and in Congress. 1t is of its very
essence that "fat" shall be "fried" out
| of its benefcaries. Vino shall happen
to do the "frying" or who shall happen
to distribute the 'tfat" upon any partc-
ular occasion is mere matter OF detail,
but while that system lasts both will con-
tinue to be done by somebody.
And the evils of a system OF legislative
bounties, so far from stopping, only be-
| gins 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 illustra.
ton of this truth. 1t ought to be ar
honest money party, and it would be il
it could; but while it demanded increased
bounties for its favorite manufacturers, Il
could not refuse increased bounties tc
the silver producers, as the votes they
control were probably necessary to the
passage of the Mckinley bill. So situated,
the Republican Party had no alternative
| but to pass the silver law of 1880, dou
bling the purchase of silver and requiring
the building OF more warehouses in which
to store the useless metal.
The total purchases made by the Gov
ernment amount to hundreds of millions
of dollars, and would not realize, if re-
sold, one-half their cost, while the pol
son of debased currency, whose work,
however slow, is sure, is making Itself
daily more and more felt in every chan
mel of business and finance, and IS ln-
evitably driving gold out of the country
and leading us to all the evils of Hue
tuating and therefore dishonest currency
based upon silver alone. The Republi-
can Party cannot take any effective steps
toward repeating the bill, for the silver
men are very likely if their bounty IS
stopped to so vote that the bounties 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 system OF legisla-
ton. If Congress was to levy taxes upon
the people to confer bouties upon certain
| classes of manufacturers, it was very ma
tural that the pension agents should also
| ioin 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 in-
crease of the vast sums passing through
the pension agents hands, until now the
total amount staggers belief, and has be-
come 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 gen
erous provision for every person who had
apy lust claim upon the gratitude OF tae
country; but surely there is neither rea-
son nor justice in legislation which de-
stroys all distinction between the dis
charge of duty and the Sinking of it,
between loyal service and desertlon OF
the colors, between wounds received IN
battle and diseases contracted In the pur-
suits of peace.
There is still another great and in
creaslng evil chiefly traceable, IN my
opinion, to the maintenance OF an exces-
siye tariff since the war, and the con-
slant meddling with it to make 1t higher,
and that is the bringing to our shores OF
those vast swarms of undesirable lmmi-
grants who degrade American labor by
their competition and threaten the sta
bilitv of institutions based upon an IN
tellieent 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,
under the Mckinley bill, there are com
ING here every month many thousands OF
more ignorant, and therefore less de-
sirable, laborers than ever before. Ii Is
t,a p,Arll nuill