Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-01-30
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1':.s ttUsG Question.

y-diluted-mild as a May morning
He complains thatI refer to histor.
! for illustration and comparison. Tha
is strange cause for complaint.
have always regarded history, eithe.
sacred or secular, as wise teacher
1t is,so to speak, the window through
which we look into the dim vistas O.
departed ages and see the vices ant
virtues, the crimes and cruelties, the
wise acts and errors of past genera
lions, and if we are wise should shur
their mistakes. But, Mr.. Warren
doesn't want me to go outside of my
county for illustration. I could not
help it, young tyrants do not grow
in democratic soil, and his great pan
acea is as dead as Julius Caesar
Even he did not say word in defense
of his bartling in this last letter
It's life was short. The democratic
air of Accomac killed it. Let it sleep
the last long sleep of death, unwept,
unhonored and unsung But Mr..
Warren could not drop this question
without another reference to his hob
bv. '.the STATE debit which seems to
rest upon him like great nightmare.
and he lakes but very superficial
view of that question. He asserts it
was the cause of all our troubles
since the war, and here he blunders,
and mistakes the effectfor the cause.
The war itself was the Illiad of oil
our woes. Judge Gunter told me,
that he doubted if half our people
before the war knnw!thnt we had o
State lcht--so lightly diditrestupon
our people. The debt, per SO. was
not burdensome. it was borne like q
feather. Rnt tho war came, stripped
US Of thren-fonrths of our taxable
values. one-third of our territory and
swept away our whole labor system
in n day aDd LETT old Virginia
with thousands of her brave sons
sleeping in unmarked graves on a
hundred hard fought battle fields.
The war was the cause of all our woes.
But I bid friend Warren and his
defunct Panacea n final adieu and
turn to another warrior who has
rushed into thn arena with all the
courage of a Fallstaff, and fell, with
sword in hand. npon the Pennies
poor, my unfortunate wards How
gallant was his charge! For gross
Misrepresentation, false reasoning
and misleading statements this writer
of the circular letter stands without
q rival, prc-eminent and alone: ]
shall only refer to y few of bis points
for upon these rests, the whole Of
his rambling, ill-considered and reck-
less letter Referring to me, this
writer says, he sis surely unmindful
of the fact that 99-1OO of the burdens
and expenses of &c lment are
horne by the properly holders. 1
deny, that 'fact'' in toto. The state
ment is utterly without foundation.
NY unfortunate wards whose cause
I here publicly champion against
their traducer, pay more, far more.
ernment than this slanderous writer
in proportion to their means. They
pay large proportion of our whiskey
and tobacco license tax into the
treasury of Virginia, and they:pay
far more than their quota ofsthe
tariff taxes which go exclusively to
pay the expenses of government He
cannot deny this. 1t is sound Demo
cratic doctrine and will be preach
ed from ten thousand hastings, all
over this great nation, beforessthe
ides OF November. The poor penni-
less laborers bear far more than their
rightful part of public burdens. But,
perhaps, he will say he did not mean
the burdens of the federal govern
ment. All! is not that our govern
ment, and the heaviest part of itS
And is he not estopped from denying
he meant the whole government by
quoting apnrovingly, my excerpt
from Mr.. Cleveland in favor Of an
Equitable distribution Of public
burdens?'' He knows Mr.. Cleveland
meant all spublic burdens" and es
pecially the burdens of federal;tax-
alton and he dares not deny that he
has misrepresented and maligned
the unfortunate poor. This is a
severe charge, but it is every. word
true, true as Holy Writ. My unfor-
tunate wards" go "scot fiee'Sand
pay not one cent of the publicsbur-
dens. Oh, SANDER! SANDER 'sis%the
master flend, most black of all below"
81 would rather be a dog and bay
the NOON than to SANDER the help
less poor, who, according osDemo-
cratic teaching, are bearing far more
than their rightful share of-public
burdens. If this writer had been an
ignorant man, could have excused
him, but it is plain his letter. was
intended to mislead and to grouse
the scorn and indignation of lo:Saper-
sty. holders against the poor aeelin-
I,quent tax payers, who star IS as a
shield betweenthe property holders OF
Accomac and direct federal taxation.
For instance, if the tariff taxes were
not paid, then, the general govern
ment would impose direct taxes on
all our property to help to pay the
enormous expenses of our national
government. But I have written
IL ! Il 81