Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-12-18

Legislatures OF the states aflu the coun-
ellis of the nation. Their interests will be
better and more wisely subserved. partly
for the reason that the fact is better I'M
derstood that all substantial prosperity
of every profession. trade and occupation
depends upon their prosperity and sue
cess, but mainly because. schooied in the
Oranges of the Nation. they will be able
to skillfully formulate their desires and
effectively defend their positions, for
1T is the growing soul within the man
That makes the man grow:
Just as the fiery sap. the touch from God,
Careering through tree dilates the bark
So life, deepening within us. deepens all
This was followed by the report on
taxation and legislation read by the
chairman of the committee. NJ. l.. Mer-
rel. member of the next Senate from
Somerset county. The full report fol-
lows:
Report Of the Committee on Taxation and
Legislation.
Thirtythree years ago last month
Abraham Lincoln standing on the con-
secrated soil of Gettysburg uttered
these immortal words:
-Four score and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth upon this con-
tinent a new nation conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.
Could conception be more glorious or
dedication more grand? To us. their
children. is bequeathed the sacred trust
of preserving in all their original purity.
those principles established at such
fearful cost. May we not we'll ask our
selves whether we are worthy of the
priceless inheritance?
Unequal Distribution of Wealth-We
see al! too many places in this good
land of ours, with all its faults the
best on earth) where it's but a step
from the palace of the millionaire to
the howell of the pauper. We know, too,
that in many of those cases the wealth
is not the accumulation of honest,
legitimate business or the poverty the
result of idleness or dissipation Yet
the Shylocks passing these scenes of
misery with coldly averted eye, talk of
eminent domain and vested rights.
1.-The rich preach rights and future DAYS
And hear no angel soothing
The poor die mute with starving gaze
On corn ships in the offing
Be pitiful, o Cod
Monopoly and Demagogism the Scylla
and Charybdis of Society-We have a
class of men whose life-work is the
creating of monopoles trusts and syn
dicates to rob the people. They first
crush competition and then, taking
honest industry by the throat exact
the last dollar of business, the last
drop of the sweat of labor. Such is
heartless, soulless monopolist
Another class we have which we re-
luctantly admit belongs to the genus
homo who devote their energy to the
stirring up of strife to the destruction
of all good feeling, all legitimate bust
ness. They make their appeal cunning
ly with such catch words as liberty,
equality and justice. but seemingly
with no conception of the true, meaning
of the term as applied to civil society.
With them liberty is but license justice
a misnomer and equality the bringing
of the honest worker to the level of the
tramp. And such is that most con-
temptible of Gods creation, the politi-
cal demagogue. These are the Scylla
and Charybdis between which we must
steer the good grange ship with care
that she strikes not the rock nor is en-
quilted in the whirlpool.
Justice the Bedrock of Civil Society
Men cannot live together in a social,
civilized state without laws protecting
their lives and property and restraining
them from acts of injustice. The
office of government is to make and
execute such laws. or. in other words,
to maintain justice among men. Ex-
perience and observation unite in
teaching us that men must be placed
under restraint.
Even our first parents who are sup
posed to have been free from all faint
of heredity We're not above temptation.
while their son, the first born of the
human race, was a murderer.
The state, then, that is. civil society
is in duty bound to secure justice to all
it's members, and to form such laws as
will accomplish that end. If justice,
the great end of government, could be
perfectly administered every man
would have all the liberty and also all
the protection he could rightly ask.
Equal Rights and Equal Burdens
AS government is for the equal protec-
ton of the life. liberty and property of
the subjects. it would seem to logically
follow that the expenses of government
should also be equally borne by the
subjects in proportion to the value of
the protection. Many systems have
been tried aiming at this result and
none found perfect. Our State provides
in it's organic law that all property. real
and personal, shall be assessed equally
according to the just value thereof. We
see that this provision has not been
carried out in practice and have here
tofore proposed what we honestly