The Monticellonian., 1894-10-19

It is said this tax is sodlous-inquisitoriai All : taxes are more or less odious and inquisi- toriaL Public necessity is the only justifea- tion for any form of taxation It has been truly said: The necessities Of govern ment are the beginning and ending of just taxation But you have been told that
 this tav cannot be collected. This state
 ment rests upon the assumption that men of
 wealth, the factors iu the great marts arc dis
 honest It assumes that men Of affairs will risk the pains and penalties of perjury, rather than disclose to the proper officer their annual income. This assumption is not only an in- suit to American manhood, but is disproyed by the facts of history. During the period Of eight years extending from 1882 to 1870, the revenues derived from incomes alone fell but 8 trihe short of three hundred and fifty million dollars I repeat the inquiry. is 1t not just that some portion of the burdens of taxation should rest upon she accumu1a tlonS Of wealth, and not wholly upon the articles of daily neces- sity to human existence: The expenditures or the national government are necessarily great | and annually increasing with the growth of the country The income tax is one of the meth ods devised by democratic congress to meet the imperative necessities of government Eo l you desire it's immediate repeal2 If so, elect q | republican congress- repeal the income tax and thereby add thirty million dollars of an- nual taXai 5n upon the articles of daily con- sumption.
 Il now ask your attention to consideration Of other sections of the tariff bill which has passed 10th the house and the senate and IS now the law of the land. I state to you, i'll all ..candOr, that 1t is not all that desired There never was moment that l would not gladly have given the casting vote in the senate in favor of the tariH btll as it passed the house Of i representatives From the beginning l have been firm believer In the doctrine of free | raw material. But 1t must not be forgotten that while the H5use of representatives con- tained democratic majority Of near one hun fra1 faaa Pif hut In, tH,pg
 In fact, with every state fully represented in that body, there would probably have been no democratic majority at all The senate con tatned but forty-four democrats, and with the republican senators voting selidly against the bill at every stage, it can easily Ie seen that in body so nearly balanced tariff reform had no easy battle to fight At one critical mo- ment of the struggle the btll was only saved uy the casting vote of the presiding officer of the senate. l have thus gone somewhat in 0 de-
 tails in order that you may realize something of the difficulties under which the present law was enacted. Recalling as l do the hos tilitS of republican senators to the tariG bill from the moment fl crossed the threshold of that chamber, l can only wonder that it ever became q law. Firmly be- leving as 1 do, that beneficial results must follow it's passage, rejoice with you in it's trI- ! umph and that the Mckinley law Is no longer | upon our statute books. In determining the merits of the present tariff law comparison should be made, not with an ideal tariff bill
 but with existing law-the Mckinley law then ] in force What then are some of the contrasts between the law just enacted and the McI1in- Icy law which il has displaceds Let me state i lew of them: The Mckinley law gave To the sugar planters bounty of two cents Fer pound 1 uIon their product. This was to extend for period of fifteen years from the passage Of the bill It was paid out of the treasury Of tho United States, and amounted during the last ycar to the enormous sum of twelve millions ot dollars The tarid bill just passed By a democratic congress repealed this sugar boun- tF. and removed from the statute books this gdious class legislation 1t WAS enacted by republican congress, and every republican senator and representa- tive voted against the i tili providing for its repeal. submit to you Ho~ the question, are you in favor of the re- ] enactment of this bounty: Is it your desire that 1t again find it's place upon the statute book If so. vote to return 10 the national i congress the republican leaders who strug- l gled so earnestly against it's repeal You have seen in the papers in the past few days an account of convention Of sugar planters in Louisiana, in which they re- solved to abandon their former political asso- eiates and heneeforth to support the republic an party. Why Simplg for the reason that , the republican lawmakers favored the sugar bounty which democratic congress has swept from tLe statute tooks If the new tarif ldX had no other merit this provision alone would
 
 ssIut this k but the beginning By the new tarin law more than one hundred articles, ] highly taxed under the Mckinley law, are placed pon the free list ] Will Getain you to eaamerate but few of them. The tariff tax iS now wholly removed f5ou lumber from salt i from binding tWine, from chemicals, oils and paints. Under the Mckinley law the taria | tax on coal was scyentg-tiye cents per ton the new law has reduced the tax to forty cents per ton Upon ron ore the reduction is the same i While l earnestly desired the entire abolition i Uf tariff taxes upon these necessary articles :. vet it is a matter of congratulation that we have been enabled to thus reduce the tariff ai- most one-haf. This k q long stride in the i right direction. and it must not be forgotten that bills passed the house of representatives l just before the adjournment of the late session of congress placing iron ore and coal upon the free list
 T will Hot weary you with further discus sion of the details of this bill. l cannot for bear, however, calling the attention of the farmers of Illinois 10 the fact that agricultural implements are now upon the free list After bitter struggle the tariff taxes have been removed and forty millions Of dollars saved 1 annually to the American farmers by this pro- vision Of the new tarH law alone. Is 1t your 1 wish that the tariff taxes of the Mckinley i law be again placed upon agricultural imple- ments and binding tWne: k this what the l farmers of Illinois desire: If so, you have but i to elect a republican congress and your wishes l will be gratned
 NOW, fellow-c itizens. you have before you something of what u democratic congress has i aecompliShed-sem of the manner in which 1t has kept faith with the people Tar if reform has achieved no easy victory. Since 1 the repeal of the corn laws of England by i which the people were permitted to eat un- i taxed bread, the world has witnessed no such I parliamentary struggle against monopoly and 1 privilege. It is your battle that has been i fought. and you are the beneicaries of the i victory which has been achieved. It has ltter- ally been struggle of the people against the l monopoly and gieed fostered and maGt power- l lul by more than thirty years of republican l legislation. The combinations and trusts l now the curse of our people, have only been made possible by the high protective tariffs which have enriched the few at the expense of the many. Under and solely because Of higr ] protection colossal fortunes have accumulated 1 which are menace to our free institutions. i The men who control the trusts and unlawful combinations against trade have been from i the beginning the beneHeiaries of high tariff ] the determined advocates of the Mckinley law The time had come, and fully come. when such legiS lation should cease. The people so deereed. By the popular edict the republican i party under whose evil auspices had sprung f class legislation and the trusts and conspfraefes which logically follow high protection-pa l from power. 1t was net To be expected that l the individual recipients of the benefits of pro. | teetion would sit idly by when the attempt was 1 being made to reduce the tarin. and lessen the l burdens of taxation. The struggle was long i and doubtful 1t was literally organized priv" ilege- monopoly and greed upon the one side and the unorganized people upon the other l. 1 repeat that with the single exception l have mentioned more desperate parliamen. ary struggle has never been known tO our pns.la h..