The herald., 1895-07-17
THE ISSUE OF .o6

"we have taken the citadel and later
we are going back tor the town. re-
marked Senator Mills of Texas subsequent
to the passage of the tariff act of 1894.
The outposts of protection were carried last
year: the inner intren chments will be as.
saulted next. The presidential campaign
OF 1896 will not find the money question
the chief subject OF controversy. The is
sue will be the one that of right ought to
be supreme in the estimation of the peo-
pie until it is settled in accordance with
the principles of equity-the issue of tax
alton. Conscious of the hopeless division
in the Republican ranks on the financial
issue and inspired by the alarmed bene-
ficiaries OF the imperiled and unrighteous
system of special privilege called protec.
tion, the organs of the party of loud pro-
fessions, false prophecies and economic
absurdities are rallying their dazed and
demoraized forces with the bugle call of
Mckineyism. This contest over the right
OF the few tollevy tribute upon the labor
OF the many, the hosts of the Democracy
will welcome. Beside this issue of taxa
ton all others become Insignificant. The
questions of the kind and quantity OF
money we have are important, but it is
distinctly subordinate importance they
possess so long as the problem of equits-
BILE taxation is unsolved. Agricultural
i'm plements are important. but they are
so only after landiupon which they may
be employed has been obtained. Money,
like a plow. is tool, but only q
tool; it is tool of exchange. The activ-
ity of its circulation or the manner Of its
distribution depends neither on its guam
tity nor its quality, but on the freedom of
exchange. the liberty of trade. The vol
ume of money might be 100 times what it
is and the per capita OF circulation $1,000
instead of SIG, and the circulation be re-
stricted and the amount belonging to the
same people who now possess it.
1t is immaterial what the kind or the
amount of the money may be, the only
way people can obtain it Is to give some
thing for it. and to get that something
they must be free to produce and ex
change. The spectacle of two men
vehemently discussing the character of
the pow they should purchase, when
neither OF them njoys the slightest pros
pect OF acquiring an acre Of land on which
the i'm pement could be utilized is no
more idiotic than that of the American
people contesting bitterly over the issue
of more or a different kind of money
when because of obstructed production
and restricted trade only few have much
to give for any kind that may be devised.
An uni Just and an unnatural system of
taxation, such as a tariff for protection,
will obstruct production, restrict trade
and. through the operation of the special
privilege that IS an inherent and insepa
rable feature, divert the wealth of the
masses to the storehouses of its bene tic-
aries as unerringly as the rivers flow to
the sea. In the presence of such a system
the grandest scheme of finance that the
mentality of men might conceive would
prove impotent to secure an equitable dis
tributon of the wealth of a country.
The Democratic party is founded on the
broad and impregnable principle of
equal rights to all, and exclusive privi
leges TO none.' 1t will prove recreant to
its duty ana untitled for existence if it
falters in the battle until the natural
right Of the citizens of this republic to
produce, to buy and to sell, untaxed and
unrestricted, is restored.
There should be no grounding of
arms until the iniquitous Republican
doctrine that trade is an evil that dear.
ness is preferable to cheapness. ana that
people can tax themselves rich, has become
a reminiscence.