The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-06-05

prisoner fingered in the jails of Eng
land year after year-held for the jail
fees although they had been acquitted
OF the charges brought against them.
How were those evils stricken from
our social, political and legal system9
By the efforts of brave men who did
just what you are gathered here to do
to erect the standards of right and to
battle under them until the wrong goes
down beneath your feet. applause
loud and long)
Seen through the strained glasses of
party hate, we have appeared to you
to be wild men, with horns on our
heads and hoofs on our feet; enemies
to prosperity, enemies to private prop
erty; people who paid no attention to
principle and vested rights. To night
If my strength and patience should per
NIT intend that the city of Atlanta,
so far as this audience can testify, shall
hereafter hold us in higher respect be-
cause it understands us better. Gap
plause)
What is our creed9 What are our
principIesG
We believe in the coinage of the Con-
stitution-the free and unlimited coin
age of gold; the free and unlimited coin
age of silver, and the supplementing
of that volume of currency by the issu.
ance of treasury notes whenever the
necessity of business requires. That
is the theory of Thomas Jefferson, who
never did dream that his entire doc,
trine should be stamped under the feet
of those who destroyed his ideas while
they pretended to worship his memory.
(Applause)
We believe that the making of money
is a national, sovereign right. No
citizen can make it, no corporation can
makeit but that the government ought
to make it and not farm out that privi-
lege to any Individual or any corpora
tion. (Cries of Right, right'D
We believe that the taxes should be
placed where accumulated wealth will
bear them, and that they should not
be put upon mans hat, mans coat,
mans shoes. In other words, that
the taxes should be laid upon accumu-
lated wealth and not upon aggravated
necessities; that the burden should be
placed according to the ability of the
citizen to pay; that man ought to be
taxed on what he has and not on what
he needs. (Applause.)
We believe, with Thomas Jefferson,
that the accumulation of property be-
yond reasonable limit is danger to the
citizen and to the State. The posses
sion of one hundred million dollars
never made man happier, never made
him a better husband, never made him
better father; it never made him
better citizen, and never made him a
better Christian; but it makes him
danger to society. Accumulation of
wealth should be discouraged by put
ting upon it what is called a graduated
income tax, a progressive income tax
which means what7 Start at any arbi-
trary limit you like. Say start at a
net income Of four thousand dollars per
year and then as you go up make your
tax heavier. Tax the man with the
net income on one hundred thousand
dollars heavier than you would tax the
man with an income OF ten thousand
dollars; tax the man who has an in
come of a quarter Of a million dollars
more heavily than you would tax the
man with an income of one hundred
thous and dollars. When you get to
man like Rockefeller, who has an IL
come Of st least one million dollars a
year, or that sweet citizen, Andrew
Carnegie, or that model Of the repub
lie, George Gould, or the Astors, or
the Vanderbilts-when you get to these
men, with a net income of a million
dollars a year, come down On them
heavier, and try to save their souls as
well as save the'republic. cloud and
continued applause)
Before dis 3ussiDg the currency ques-
tion, I wish briefly to discuss what is
called the widest plank in our plat
form. Iwould like to have the respect
of every honorable citizen in the State
Of Georgia. 1 would like to have the
good will Of every man whose good
will can be purchased upon honorable
grounds. But say here and now that
sacrifice no principle to gain any
votes or to gain any mans good will.
(Applause and cheers,) They say that
our railroad plank is wild and vision
ary; that to buX up all the railroads
would bankrupt the country and the