The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-05-01
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
He Has Been Reading Coin and Has
Learned Much.
atlanta Constitution.

circumference. line bankers ana spec
ulators and money kings will be over
thrown and the danger is that the
masses will go too far in revenging
their wrongs and, like Sampson, pull
down the temple and crush all alike.
When he shows up the inequalities of
taxation and how the rich escape, it
makes the blood boil with indignation.
Aside from the silver question he
gives certificate of David Gore, the
auditor of public accounts for the
State of Illinois, which shows that all
that the bankers and brokers of Chi
cago had assessed for taxation was
only sA, 900 of money, while farmers
of that County were assessed S84, 1000
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
SIT, $50, when it is known that single
families live there who own diamonds
and jewelry ten times that sum in
value. The money of these banks
amounts to hundreds Of millions, but
through the manipulation of munich
pal politics the rich control the asses
sors and escape taxation. Can this be
true? If it is false why don't Eli
Perkins say 80. I see that he has
taken the field. against Coin, but I
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 his errors and fallacies.
Coin gave it up and the tears rolled
down his cheeks and he dismissed his
school and declared he wasn't gwine
to teach any more. like Eli. I like
any lie that is funny and harmless. I
used to like to read Baron Munchau-
sen, and I like to read Eli now. I
confess that it strains my credulity to
believe what Coin writes about Chica-
go bankers tax, but there is the GER
tifcate Of the State auditor. Surely
there is some explanation of all this.
We know what Solomon and Paul and
the Saviour said about rich men, but I
never believed that our rich men were
that bad. We poor folks, whose in
come was 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 opera
tions of the tariff-a tariff for revenue
only with incidental protection. Itis
the incidental that gets us. An Am
erican 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
incidental. It is protected here from
foreign competition, and the profit is
SO great that Mr.. Singer or Mr.. McCor-
mick can pay the freight across the
ocean and then sell it for less than he
will sell to us. Isn't that funny?
Harpers' Magazine sells all over this
country for 81. cents, but sells all over
England for 25 cents. An American
cedar pencil of the best quality sells
here for nickel, but you can buy the
very same in London for a copper.
And just so it is with hundreds Of
other things that are made in this
country. This incidental is not acci-
dental, but was done on purpose at
Washington and our law makers say
we must stand it.
Boys, let's fight. No, I don't mean
that exactly, but let's meet and
pass some resolutions-let's do some
thing.
Now, the Chicago goldbugs have
called meeting to see if they can't
stop all this rumpus about silver, but
they might as we'll try to stop tor
nado. / WASN'T taking much stock in
these financial affairs, for I had read
so much on both sides that it made
my head swim, and 80 when a friend
sent me Coins first book I took it up
with prejudice againt itfor I supposed
that Mr.. Harvey was q Chicago yam
kee and was paid by the Inter Ocean
to write on that side, and SO I forti-
fed myself against being seduced by
his book. I read it rather hurriedly,
watching for traps and triggers, but
I didn't find them, and I found so
much information that was news to me
that read it more carefully the second
time, and I came to the conclusion
that Coin was a very smart man, or |
was very great fool-one or the
other. His last 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-Eli's forte is fun,
not fnance-though I'll bet dollar
he was opposed to the income tax.
But I received very interesting
letter from lady Of West Virginia,
telling me that William Hope Harvey,
who writes these little books on
finance, belongs to our side, and was
born and raised in Putnam County,
not far from her own home; that his
father resides in Huntington, and was
Confederate soldier; that his elder
brother, Thomas, was the Democratic
candidate last year for Congress, but
was defeated because Of the blunders
of the administration; that he, too,
was in the war and lost an arm at Fort
Donelson; that the whole family are
Democrats and Southerners to the core
and have as good blood in their veins
as any in the Old Dominion, being re-
lated to the Lees and to Stonewall
Jackson. She says we who know the
Harveys are proud of them and especi-
ally of William Hope, the author Of
Coins books.
That settles it with me. That kind
Of a man can't be bought or bribed
and he believes what he writes, whether
it is 80 or not. So let the ball roll
on. If the whole property Of the ma
tion is twenty-five thousand millions
and our Indebtedness is eighteen
thousand millions and the property
keeps shrinking and the debts keep
swelling and taxes keep getting higher
and higher, we can't be worsted by
any change. So let's try the silver
again as we had it in 1873. Neither