The herald., 1895-10-20
AN EXPENSIVE LUXURY

One thing that afflicts the people of the
United States is superabundance of
public offices and otficeholders. There
are today, according to reliable author
ity, about 800, 900 offjceho olders, OF various
grades whose salaries range from $4,000
to $50, 900 year. And instead of there
being any prospect of speedy dimmu-
ton of this number the tendency is in
the direction of an increase. That there
is any real necessity for such vast
horde of officeholding, salary drawing.
tax-eating employees. no sane person can
believe. A large percentage of them
could bc dispensed with and the salaries
of many others cut down fifty per cent
without injustice being done to any body,
and with no detriment to the public
service. The aggregate cost to the people
OF supporting the federal government
and all the state and local governments
with their complicated machinery and
multiplicity of Official fgureheads and
supernumerariss Is. in round numbers,
$500, 000, 900 year.
This m axes government "of, for and
b. the people" a very expensive luxury.
And when We consider that the people
are getting only q minimum of benefit
for maximum of cost, the situation is
rather heart-siokening than otherwise.
Tho truth is ours is bad case of too
much government, too much legislation,
too much political machinery of various
kinds and too much squandering of the
peoples earnings. So far as legislative
bodies are concerned, it may well be
doubted whether they are worth on an
average 10 per cent OF what they cost.
Just how the people get satisfactory re-
turns for the enormous outlay does not
appear on the surface. In truth the re-
turns are not satisfactory; yet the people
keep on grumbling and complaining and
voting against their own interest, vainIy
imagining that they are capable of self
government. The chief aim of legisla-
tufes, city councils and county boards
seems to be to pile up laws and ordi-
nances which the trainers themselves do
not understand ald which for the most
part violate, in one way or another, mans
natural rights. At the same time thess
legislative bodies seldom miss an oppor-
tunity or overlook a possible scheme for
applying tho thum bscrew of taxation to
everybody within rsach-except, perhaps,
tho,e who do nothing in the way of
wealth production and who hold natural
opportunities out of use while others do
the work.
The remedy for these evils is in tn
hands of the people themselves. If theywill
not apply the remedy they must continue
to suffer the consequences. So long as
voters continue to imagine that the path
of progress lies through governmental
restriction and extravaganza, rather than
through freedom and abundance, so
long will present conditions continue.
Possibly some day the people will get
their eyes fully open, and by wise use
of the elective franchise bring about a
change In the management of fiscal af-
fairs so that ''equal rights for all and
special privileges to none' will be the
prevailing principle with the federal
government and with every subordinate
government down to the smallest munich
palIty in the land. Such change of
conditions, however. must involve the
overthrow of legalized special privileges.
the abolition of restrictions on com.
meroe, the relief OF industry from unjust
burdens and the raising of puplic reve-
nue. by taxing monopoly instead OF USE
fuluess.