St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1894-07-07
WHY ARE WE TAXED?

This is pertinent question: one
which every American citizen has
a right to PROFOUND and demand a
solution of.
Ny understanding of the neces-
:sity for imposing or leving a tax
on every individual is, that it is to
defray the expenses of the govern
lment, and that said tax shall not
be i,a ercess ofthe actual needs of the
government economically and judi
cioasty administered.
Gov. Foster, in his able message
few days since, alluded to the
enormous burden of criminal ex-
pense imposed upon each parish,
and suggests as a remedy there
for a change in our courts, SO as
to work them OH salaries, and to
be perpetually open for speedy
trials. This would diminish the
expenses somewhat, but not de-
crease crime.
Let us try his suggestion; it is
good as far as it goes. But, with
due Difference for his excellency's
views, it is our humble opinion
that he has failed to fully diagnose
the case, and hence his treatment
is incomplete. Remove the cause
and the effect will cease. He says
that at least one-third of the
revenues of the parishes goes to-
wards paying criminal expenses.
To our mind, it appears that the
proper mode to rectify this evil and
remove this excessive criminal
burden from the parishes, and
thus take it from the shoulders of
the people, where it ultimately
rests in the shape Of increased tax
,es, is to inquire into the cause of
this excessive criminality, and,
finding it, to remove it. We assert
that the cosuS beIli, the root of the
whole evil, is-the whiskey traffic.
Laying aside all questions OF
morality, which unfortunately
most of the opponents of this re-
form movement turn deaf ear to,
and want kept in the back ground,
calling it religious senttnae'etdlity,
we viii deal principally in stub
born statistics. Thus reducing the
subject to a matter of cold dollars
and cents, which is the only stand
point from which you can get
some people to view certain ques-
tions. In the outsetwe assert as
an axiom, and challenge contradic-
tion, that the sale of whiskey as a
beverage, is not a necessity. If it
comes under the head of a luxury,
we think we can show that it is
one in which we can i'll afford to
indulge.
Go to our jails and penitentiaries
and interrogate the inmates close
Iy and you will find that four-fifths
of them were under the influence
of whiskey when they committed
the crime for which they are in
carcerated. This allegation, pre-
sumo, no one will dispute. Why
do criminals thus stank themsel-
yes up,' as it is called, on whiskey?
Because there is within the bosom
of every human being a something
(call it what you willy which APP
peals to the better nature of the
man, and inhibits any tendency OF
the will towards yielding to that
which would prove repugnant to
his feelings untrammelled' This
being the case, before man can
get his consent, as rule, to COM
init a crime, he has to resort to
some extraneous agency which
will render him oblivious to the
promptings of this monitor within.
In other words he has to drug
himself-and that agency or drug
is whiskey. Get man thus under
it's influence and he is ready for
the job, let it be what it will, which
before he shrank from.
We do not mean to say that
ererg man who drinks is criminal,
by no means, or that eeery crinaiss-
al is intoxicated at the time the
crime is perpetrated-But we do
mean to say, that large majority
of criminals resort to whiskey to
stupefy orr paralyze the finer in
stinet of their natures, which dis