The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-06-12
BILL ARP READS COIN.
ATLANTA CONSTITUTIONAL


/ have just finished reading Coins last
answer it and prove it lie it will shake
this country from center to circumfer-
ence. The bankers and spectators and
money-kings will be overthrown and the
danger is that the masses will go too far
in rtvenging their wrongs and, like Sam
son, pull down the temple and crush all
alike. When he shows up the inequali-
ties of taxation and how the rich escape
it makes the blood boil with indigna-
ton. Aside from the silver question, he
gives certificate of David Gore, the
of Illinois, which shows that all that the
bankers and brokers of Chicago had as
sessed for taxation was only 1000 of
money, while farmers of that country
were assessed $4,000 for agricultural
tools and implements. Think of it! The
farmers tools are assessed nearly twice
as much as all the money credits and
securities of all the banks, bankers and
brokers Of that great city. And all the
diamonds and jewelry in Chicago were
assessed at $7,750, when it is known that
single families live there who own dia-
monds and jewelry ten times that sum
in value. The money of these banks
amounts to hundreds of millions, but
through the manipulation of municipal
politics the rich control the assessors
and escape taxation. Can this be true?
If it is false. why doesn't Eli Perkins
say so? I see that he has taken the
field against Coin, but can't tell exactly
from his last piece whether he is lying
or joking. He closes it by saying that
after he had shown Coin the errors and
fallacies Coin gave it up and the tears
rolled down his cheeks and he dismissed
his school and declared that he wasn't
gwine to teach any more. l like Eli.
like any lie that is funny and harmless.
| used to like to read Baron Munchau-
sen, and l like to read Eli now. I con-
fess that it strains my credulity to be-
lieve what Coin writes about the Chi
cago bankers tax, bu: there is the GER
tificate of the state auditor. Surely
there is some explanation of all this.
We know what Solomon and Paul and
the Savior said about rich men, but I
never believed that our rich men were
that bad. We poor folks whose income
is under the mark, believed that to tax
large incomes was the right thing to do,
but it seems that we can't do it. We are
taxed all the time on the outgo through
the operations of the tariff-a tariff for
revenue only with incidental protection.
1t is the incidental that gets us. An
American sewing machine or mower
or reaper can be bought in London or
Brazil 80 per cent cheaper than we can
buy one here. There comes in the Incl
dental. 1t is protected here from foreign
competition and the profit is so great
that Mr. Singer or Mr.. Mccormick can
pay the freight across the ocean and
then sell it for less than he will sell to
U.S. Isn't that funny? Harpers Maya
zine sells all over this country for s.
cents, but sells all over England for Is
cents. An American cedar pencil of the
best quality sells here for a nickel, but
you can buy the very same in London
for copper. And just so it is with hun
dreds of other things that are made in
this. country This incidental is not ac-
cidental, but was done on purpose at
Washington, and our lawmakers say we
| must stand it.
Boys, let's fight. No, l don't mean
that exactly, but let's meet and pass
some resOlutions-let's do something.
Now, the Chicago goldbugs have called
a meeting to see if they can't stop all
| this rumpus about silver but they might
| as we'll try to stop tornado. l wasn't
| taking much stock in these financial af-
fairs, for 1 had read so much on both
sides that it made my head swim, and sc
| when a friend sent me Coins first book
I took it up with prejudice against it
| for 1 supposed that Mr.. Harvey was 6
| Chicago Yankee and was paid by the
| Inter-Oc to write on that side, anC
so l fortified myself against being Sc
| duced by his book. read it rather hur'
riedly, watching for traps and triggers
| but l didn't find them, and I found sc
much information that was news to me
that read it more carefully the seconc
1 time, and l came to the conclusion thai
| Coin was very smart man, or was
great fool-One or the other. His las
| book is better than the first, and if these
| two little books are made up of fallacies
| the goldbugs had better get somebody
else besides Eli to expose them-Elis
forte is fun, not finance-though I'll be-
dollar he was opposed to the income
tax. BILL ARP.
A CARTOON THAT TELLS.