Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-01-13
THEY EY'RE IN 4 BA1BS1
BUT THREE WAYS OPEN TO
DEMOCRACY.
How tho Administration Can 1ncrease the
Revenue and ward or . Defipit The
Monetary Conferencc-British farmers
Repudiate FREQ Trade. :.
A Problem for Democr.ts,

Thrce ways of increasing the rev.
enue and of warding off deficit are
open to the Democracy. First, a.
duty can he placed on sugar. cs,ffee
and tea; secondly, an income tax can
be created; and thirdly, duties on
manufactured goods and on the raw
materials of manufacture can be re-
duced. The first plan would yield
from $40, 900, 900 to $S0,0OO,O00 of
revenue. AS much or more, depend
irg OH the rate and scope of the tax,
could be gained by the second scheme.
There is much uncertainty rs to, how
the third scheme would operate and
the amount of revenue 1t would bring
in, says the Globe-Democrat A cut
Of duties to what is vaguely under
stood as the revenue rate would
increase Importation sufficiently
to materially enlarge the GUS
tom house receipts, but the
Democrats would not dare make a
cut of that sort. The utmost gain
perhaps in the revenues from any re-
ductiOn in duties which could have q
chance of adoption in the next Con-
gress would be from $50, QUO, 900 to
$50, 10000 OF course. a decrease in
expenditures would lessen the Neces-
sity for an increase in receipts, but
the economists" of the Democracy,
judging by their management OF af-
fairs in the House in the present
Congress, will hardly go fRr in this
direction. The natural tendency in
all growing countries is toward an
expansion in governmental expendi-
lures, and the total in this country,
even in the next three or four years,
is not likely to be broughth much be-
low the present figures. u
An increase in the revdEuc, there
fore, to some degree, apl bars to be
imperative, but any maAlled which
can be proposed for doing tAislwill be
sure to encounter opposy yiof from
some quarters. The p4 Ping OF 9
s duty on sugar, coffee, and teal would
be an exceesting unnopula move, fol
1t would bring about an imihediate
increase In the price of these COM
modities, and harmfuily affect all
classes of people. AS they are
articles of general necessity, nobody
could escape the burden, and the bur-
den would be as heavy absolutely on
the poor as on the rich. In this re-
spcct it would be far more election
able than the income tax. In theory
the income tax is ideally just. L,
compels men to pay to the state in
proportion to the means which the
state has enabled them to
acquire and which it defends
them in maintaining. In practice,
however, it has been found to be un
equal and unjust. 1t is necessarily
inquisitorial to an offensive degree,
and 1T puts bounty on trickery and
a penalty on honesty by permitting
the dishonest to evade much of theil
obligations and to thus increase the
burdens of their honest neighbors
A reduction of duties on the raw ma
terials of manufacture would encoun
ter the hostility of the domestic pro
ducers, and a cut in the finished prod
ucts would call out the opposition
OF manufacturers and lead to the
lobbying which in the past was SO de
moralizing to lawmakers and dis
graceful to the country. If, as nov
appears probable, the Treasury in tn,
coming fiscal year will find itself un
able to meet its current obligations (;
task calling for the highest qualitie
Of. craftsmanship will confront tn
Democracy.