The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-22
PEPPERY PEPPERELl
Confined from First Page,

described the sufferingS OF the people
from the time Of the demonstration
of silver In 1873 till it's partial reStora-
tion in 1878, as follows:
mo man can imagine, all the Ian
guages of the world cannot express,
what the people of the United States
suffered from 1873 to 1879. Men who
considered themselves millionaires
found themselves beggars; men living
In palaces supposing they had enough
to give sunshine to the winter OF their
age, supposing they had enough to
leave all they loved in affluence and
comfort, suddenly found that they
were mendicants, with bonds, stocks,
mortgages all turned to ashes in their
| aged, trembling hands. The chin
went out, the poor families were
turned adrift, and the highways OF the
| United States we're crowded with
| tramps"
Prior to the beginning OF your ef-
forts fer specie resumption, when the
the people had plenty OF money to do
business with. the same able writer
| described the condition Of the people
| of the United States as follows:
| "On every hand fortunes were being
made, wave of wealth swept over the
| United States, hutS became houses,
houses became palaces, latte rs became
| garments, ana rags became robes,
| walls were covered with pictures,
| floors with carpets, and for the first
time in the history of the world the
| poor tasted OF the luxurieS OF wealth.
We begin to wonder how our fathers
endured life. Every kind Of business
was pressed to the very sky line"
i hat hn nnnIiftnr ~ fEic
try at the close of the war OF the re-
bellion, before the simeon OF specie
resumption struck it. Since then the
suffcrings Of the people have been
greater than human tongue can tell.
Senator ingalls,, another leading Re-
publican, described the situation in
1891 as follows:
"a financial system under which
more than one-haIf of the enormous
wealth of the country, derived from
the bounty OF nature and the labor OF
all, is owned by q little more than
thirty thousand people, while one mil
lion American citizens, able and will
ing to toll, arc homeless tramps,
starving for bread, requires re-adjust-
ment. A social system which offers
to tender, virtuous and dependent
women the alternative between pros
titution and suicide as an escape from
beggary is organized crime, for which
some day unrelenting justice will de-
mand atonement and explanation.
So it happens, Mr.. President,
that our society is becoming strait
fed, almost hopelessly strait fed, into
a condition OF superfuous rich and
helplessly poor. We are accus toned
to speak Of this as the land OF the free
and the home of the brave. It will
soon be the home OF the rich and the
land OF the slave"
There, my dear sir, is the result of
your ''grand and crowning' life work,
as described by one Of your wiSest and
ablcst political friends, and as known
by every intelligent man to be true.
And in order to main tain the prese n t
status-in order to prevent matters
from growing worse still faster-it is
now necessary to continue to load the
American people with new issues oil
gold-bea ring bonds; and the general
Of the army recOmmedS an increase OF
the regular army in order to hold in
check the suffering thousands OF cor
ganized hunger" Sir, these are the
results of your own ''grand and crown
ing work."
To show still further that you have
entirely changed front as to the per-
sonnet of your constituents" | now
desire to prove that in the seventies you
were in favor of an income tax to be
levied on men of wealth. In the nine
ties you are not In your speech oil
Jan. 49, 1871, you argued ably and earn.
estly in favor of an income tax. You
said, 1T is the only tax levied by the
United States that falls upon property,
and you argued most justly that such
tax should not be repealed. AS tt
objections against this tax, you said:
What objection can be made to the
income tax that does not apply to an.
tax, except one, and that is, that the
income tax is from it's nature tax Of
espionage, while the tax on tea, coffee
and sugar is not? But the tax on tea
coffee and sugar takes from the little
lump Of sugar dealt out in charity, OF
to perjury, as we'll as from the confec
tions of the rich There is no argu
ment of injustice or hardship that car
be mentioned against the income ia,
| to be compared to the tax upon tea
coffee or sugar. Take also the tax OF
salt, an article of prime necessity; an(
yet we levy on that article $2,O00,O00
; So upon lumber. So on the stamps
| which reach every mans business ant
every mans transactions, and yet no
| OOuy " OpOoCO " lCpCdl Cuc SIdlup CdA
AS to the inquisitorial nature of tn,
income tax your arguments in defens
, were unanswerable. The espionage int,
a mans business required by this tax
you conclusively showed is nothing t,
J that required in collecting duties on i'm
ports. On the latter subject you said:
ION landing at the city of New York
, as l have done once or twice, what i
the first thing you meet? A custom
Ii house officer. What does he demand
He wants to look at your trunks; h.
wants to spy into your baggage TIL
I | first feeling is one of resentment.
think no man can arrive at port from
, foreign country where he first meet
, the custom house officers without feel
: ing angry that the law authorizes
: private inspection Of his coats and pan
falcons. But no custom house laws ca
| be enforced unless this espionage
! allowed. It is not allowed for the pur
pose Of interfering with men and wome
engaged in ordinary travel, but tn
espionage must extend to them in orde
to reach the fraudulent importer or til
, ! Smuggler."
Further arguing this point you said
There is not state in this unio
. | which does not authorize more espion
: age into a mans private affairs tha
the income tax law of the Unite
States"
: Respecting the claim that the incom
: tax is odious and unpopular, you yer
: properly replied:
odiouS and unpopular with the peopl
xx,1,<~