Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-04-30


crease wages is one of the most stupend
ous frauds Ger impo ed upon human
cledulity. The great tariff barons, VIII
persuade the laboring classes of tn
country to join them in securing protec
ton, on the ground that it will bette
their condition, are like the lion in tn
fable who induced the leopard, the lyn,
and the wolf to join him in a huntins
excursion, and who after a fine deer ha(
been captured awarded the whole priz,
to himself by virtue of his prerogative
The only protective measure that il
just and that should receive the sane
tion of the American people is one that
will protect the American laborer from
the competition of the heather Chinese
and from the pauper and criminal
classes of all other countries. This pro-
lection is afforded neither by the Nc
Klnley law nor any other tariff law.
They are framed to protect the rich and
not the poor. The protection of Ameri-
can labor is the very highest duty of the
nation. Such protection is not based on
the indefensible grounds upon which
tariff laws are framed, but is rather
based upon that broad and fundamental
doctrine that it is the first and most i'm
peratlve duty of all just governments to
afford to the weak the most ample pro-
lection. For long ages in the worlds
history cities were guarded by massive
walls and towers and ponderous gates.
With increasing civilization these walls
and towers and gates have disappeared,
and no armed resistance is made to the
lngress or egress of people by any city
IN all Christendom. With increasing
advancement in knowledge the burden
some tariff restrictions now existing on
trade will also disappear, and future
generations, enjoying alike the liberty
OF travel and traffic, will class these out
grown restrictions as the twin offspring
OF a semi-civilized era. The age has al
ready nearly outgrown them.
Political economy as taught in all our
hlgher institutions relegates protective
tariff to that seclusion assigned to it by
the logic of justice. To-day only the
thoughtless and selfish are its defend
ers. and the time is not far distant when
with the ever-increasing enlightenment |
OF our race, the defenders of tariff laws |
framed to enrich some at the expense of |
Others will have become SO scarce and |
1nfrequent that they can only be seen in
the sldeshows of some travelling circus
where they will be exhibited as great
living curiosities. The cause of exist
ing national distress is a lack of sound
money and not any particular adjust
N n foY~ff lnrrv
ais who are engaged in diverting public
attention, from the disastrous oppres-
sion OF the British money power, to the |
question of tariff legisla-
ton, or to the more insignificant ques-
tlon of resistance to church organiza-
tlons, which have relieved rather than
produced the present distress of the
people, are as culpable as the man who
would call his neighbor's attention to
the danger of being stung by humble
bee before him, while at the same time
he knew that a rattlesnake was coiled
up behind him, ready to make the fatal
stroke.
Income Tax.
No fairer system of taxation could
possibly be devised than the taxation of
by which a man pays for the
support of the government according to
his ability to pay. Under tariff taxa
tion man pays on what he eats, drinks
and wears. Under that system labor
ing man, not worth dollar in the world,
with family Of 10 persons, pays nearly
10 times as much as his bachelor neighbor
worth a million. It is indeed most
that such an unjust and un-
equal mode of taxation could be toler-
ated among an intelligent people. And
then when to the tariff laws are added
The protective feature by which the poor
man is not only compelled to pay an
undue share for the support of the gov
but tax for the enrichment :
1f monopolies, it becomes a national
offense so rank that it smells to heaven.
Take, for instance, the people of Ore (
yon, and how very few, comparatively [
speaking, are benefited by protective I
aritf; and yet every man not bene-
tied is surely injured. There are no
leutrals allowed under a protective
aritf. 1t is! the old game of robbing {
Peter to pay Paul, and every citizen of I
oregon can rest assured, if he has not
he clear figures to establish his identity
Is fortunate Paul, that he can safely
De counted among the innumerable hosts !
IT poor despoiled Peters, Under an in 1
'ome tax no such robbery can prevail;
man pays according to his means; a I
ystem which has the sanction of both '
common sense and common honesty. s
The Roman people "a centuries ago s
hanged their system of taxation l
rom a per capita tax to a tax l
aid upon citizens, commensurate c
With their wealth and ability to {
'ay, and the American people should q
ollow that just example. If the Will S
on bill becomes law the income tax '
eature will be placed upon the statute r
ooks never to be removed. For this C
reat stride toward a just system of L
a1atlon the nation is indebted to the Y
'opuliat party, which was the first to
emand it. With an income tax all v