The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-04-18
bias changed materialIy il the Last

AlLA ht9 tAo6S
thirty years.
1.-The simple fact that the tax is unneces-
sary should be sufficient evidence that it
cannot prove successful. Say what we may OF
the devotion of American citizens TO the
DEGREES of their Government, there is not a
Senator in this Chamber who does not know
that they will feel quite satisfied in evad1ng
by every possible method the payment OF a
tax which they know to be unnecessary and
consider offensive. 1t Is easy to ak OF
power of the law over a law-abidlng people,
but everybody who has had anything to DO
with enforcement knows that the power OF
the law fades into insignificanee when con-
fronted by the greater power OF public sentl-
ment. Every Northern city bears testimony
to this fact in the disregard of excise regula-
tions forced upon it by rural legislators:
Every Southern State is living evidence or
the impotence of mailed hands OF oppres-
sion. Only last month liquor-selling South
Carolina Joined hands with prohibition
Maine in demonstrating that the American
people placed their individual rights above
the acts of any body of representatives"
LIKE HIMSELF, UNPOPULAR.
Upon the subject of its u~npopularity, Mr..
Smith said:-
.tThat it has no supporters in the East
needs no demonstration. The press, regard
less of political affiliations, is, with a single
exception, united in opposition, and in this
ld az 1(G6U wv Aot
Congress knows that the people are in &C
cord with the press. But it is urged that the
East has become a very small factor IN the
country aud in the government, n That
the people in the South and West are
equally unanimous in its favor. l dispute
that assumption. A majority mlgnI OF
might not declare for the income tax If an
opportunity should offer itself for a direct
vote upon this proposition alone. But no
man can tell what they would do, and the
only indication yet afforded of their wishes
does not warrant the belief that they would
accept it. In the latest national campaign
there was no mention of the income tax In
either the Democratic or the Republican
platform.
1.-THE income tax said Mr.. Smith, in the
further course of his argument. "was I'M
democratic, for from the day on which the
Democratic party sprang into existence to
the present time, it has steadfastly opposed
this method of taxation. Thomas Jefferson
had enunciated the principal upon which
this opposition was based"
Mr.. Smith denied that the Democratic
party at the Chicago convention had
pledged itself, as had been stated in the
House, to this tax, and in doing SO used this
language
Gas a democrat and a member of that con-
~vention, 1 repudiate any such Interpretation
of the platform of 1892. The Democratic
party is not a free trade party, and the mere
fact that an Insignificant number OF Tree
trade theorists haye engrafted themselves
upon it cannot make it SO. Taxes collected
at the custom houses have been the chief
source of Federal revenue, n such they
must continue to be. Nor can the utterance
of a Congressional convention in Missouri,
nor the assertion of its candidate that an in
come tax is Just and right ~contl'overt a
principle declared by Thomas Jefferson and
affirmed by every national convention since
the organization of the partyg"
Mr.. Smith asked If it had come to this
'sThet the most prosperous, most tolerant,
but withal the most powerful nation on earth
must throw a sop to anarchy, socialism and
demagogy. When the pauper-ridden nations
of Europe have just shown their capacity to
meet and master this cowardly curse of
modern civilization. shall free America
or ant the necessity of concessionY'
tThis is not Democracy" said Mr.. Smith,
sit is cowardIce and folly. Ii ~disapproval
Of such a tendency involves the reproachful
designation of conservative then | am a
Conservative. The true Democratic party
stands today between and above the class
rapacity and greed ~engendered by Republic
can legislation and the unbridled license n
unreasoning prejudice of the unsuccessful
It is charged with the responsibility of pre-
venting, by the exercise of wisdom, pru-
dence, and courage, the clash of these OPP
posing elements. And it has the power to
perform its full duty, because, behind it,
greater and stronger than all other forces
combined, is the sturdy common sense OF
the American people.
HIS OLD FRIEND-.BETRAYAL OF 'TRUsT.p
st would be as distinctly a betrayal Of
trust to yield to the one element as to yield
to the other. II Democratic party has no
better right to tax the few for the benefit OF
the many than to tax many for the benefit
of the few. And yet that and nothing else
- - - AZ,
ssShall it stand2 Shall Democracy as
sumo now for the first time, without a SEM
blance of authority from the people, the
burden of class legislation and the response
bility for Indictment to class hatredFa
The speaker devoted considerable space to
a discussion of the un-American character
of the tax and the lack of wisdom mani
dividual freedom from despotic and dis
criminative laws was the secret of American
success. 1t was our chief attraction and
chief advantage as a nation today. 10
eliminate in this light and the degree S this
dominant feature from our system of gov
eminent was the height of folly. This was
! precisely what this provision did. In con-
clusion Mr.. Smith said
Nobody regrets more earnestly than my
self the necessity of touching upon the sec
tional character of this legislation. 1t has
ever been my boast that the Republican
party is the sectional party, and that the
| organization to which / profess allegiance is
| free from bias of any kind. But the truth
cannot be ignored, and to bring the full
enermity of what they are doing home to my
friends from the south, I ask them to con-
slider a parallel proposition.
"Do you understand now why we OF the
| East oppose the law? And Is it a proper re-
turn for the help which we have given to
| you in Kidding yourselves of oppression to
turn around at the first opportunity and in