The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-07-05
HON. [. J. JARVIS,
HIS ABLE SPEECH IN THE SEN
ATE.

Ale.
The Heaviest Burdens of Taxa
ton Should be Put Upon Those
Best A bic to Bear Them---The
Working People, 80 per Cent.
OF the Population Of the Coun-
try, are Creating the Wealth
and Should be the Favored
Glass.
North Carolinan.
Mr.. President, dislike at this late
hour of the evening to participate in
this discussion, yet | shall ask the in
diligence of the Senate for 4 few
moments while | express some thoughts
In favor of this system of taxation.
| believe, sir, since the days of
Horace to the present, in poetry and
prose, by male and female, it has been
sung that " 1t is sweet to die for one S
country" Pancgyrics have been pro-
nounced upon those who have died
for their country; monuments have
been erected to them, and their
memory held sacred ; but | have never
heard it said by anybody that it is
sweet to be taxed for ones country.
That seems to be duty that men and
sections feel at liberty to evade if
possible. Men will go to war at their
country's call, and risk and sacrifice
their lives; but when it comes to
meeting this duty and obligation OF
national taxation they and their
property are ready to hide away.
The question that we are now dis
cussing is simply and purely a ques
ton of taxation. There is, as every
Senator knows, a certain amount OF
money to be raised for the support oi
the national government, and believe
each year, as time rolls on, the amount
to be raised increases rather than
dimnshes. Where and how shall tha,
money be raised is the question.
The Senator from Ohio says put the
burden on sugar. The Senators from
New England say put it on manufac-
,ured goods. The Senator from New
York, / believe, would say put at least
a reasonable portion of it upon the
cuffs and collars that the poor people
wear.
Mr. President, my idea is that, in
imposing these burdens OF taxation
the heaviest burdens should be put
upon those best able to bear them
and the least burden upon those leas,
able to bear them. If you are going
TO make any distinction in imposing
these burdens upon any class of oul
people, those who strive and toll in
the shop and the field-the SO pei
cent OF people who, the Senator from
New York says, own neither real nol
personal property-I say if any class
of our people are to be favored in oul
system of taxation, it does seem to me
that they ought to be the favored class
because of their inability to bear the
burdens.
Then they ought to be the favored
class, because | believe it is this 50 pei
cent of people in this country, who
have been diving in the mine and
working in the shop and in the field
on the farm and in the factory, who
are creating the wealth of the country
| know when the honor of our country
is threatened it is from this SO pei
cent of people without property tina,
the soldiery will come which is tC
defend the honor and the glory of the
country. So, | say, if any class o
our fellow citizens are to be favored
it does seem to me that they ought tC
be the favored class.
But we are told that this proposition
to tax incomes is a sectional pro-
position. | will admit that it has
been made sectional, and it has been
made sectional by one little section
of our common country. 1t is from
one section of our country from which
we see this opposition come, and
can properly describe that section by
saying that it lies east of the Allegheny
Mountains and north of the Potomac
River. | do not mean to say that
every man in that territory is opposed
to this proposition to tax incomes, nor
do | mean to say that everybody out
side of that territory is favoring this
proposition but | say that the ad
vocates of that proposition living
within that territory are few, and the
opposition, SO far as l know, of people
living outside of that territory is
feeble. All the great newspapers in
that territory are laundering against
it. The Senator from New York, as
the mouth-piece of that sentiment,
occupied hours of the time of this
Senate laundering against it.
That section of the country, Mr..
President, occupies a unique and
peculiar position. 1t embraces, l
believe, only about E per cent of our
entire territory, and yet it contains IS
per cent of all the wealth of this entire
country. 1t embraces ~ per cent OF
all the banking capital of this country ;
and | heard the Senator from Massa-
chusetts tell us that in his own State
even the laDOrerS, the common labor
ing people, had in the savings banks
hundreds of millions of dollars. How
comes it that this little section of our
country, embracing only about 6 per
cent of the area of our country, has
within it so much of the wealth and
so much of the capital of this country?
l want to give the people living in
that territory credit for being intelli-
gent, economical, industrious, full OF
energy, full of perseverance, and
setting up helpful and proper ex-
ample to the balance of the country
in these respects. Yet they are no
more industrious and hard-worklng
than the people of other sections. But
it comes about, in my opinion, because