People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1896-09-18


Cutting military bill, which sought to
bring the State militia of every State
under federal control and thus increase
the power of the federal government,
centralize the military strength of the
plutocracy of the land and put the
laboring people and the farmers of the
country under the heel of such men as
Grover Cleveland. I defeated that
law. (Cheers.) Not only that; the
resords of congress will show that l
took leading and decisive part in
passing the automatic car coupler bill,
which compels the railroad corpora
tions within fve~years from the time
that law was passed to buy and put on
their trains these automatic car
couplers-self-couplers of trains, which
will rescue the laboring men from dam
ger an save the thousands of men who
are every year mangled and manned
and are killed in coupling cars. Was l
right? Shouts of approval and loud
and prolonged cheering,)
'Then, fellow citizens the party has
been true to you and its nominee has
been true to you. Then, say, the
contract ought to stand that you made
with us at st. Louis; that you made
with us in 1892 again; that you made
at Indianapolis, and that you made
at Omaha. The contract ought to
etD Z il, gla1
have already been carried out. Have
these reforms been carried out? What
were they? First of all, you demanded
that the tax system OF this country
should be equalized, should be upon a
juster footing, so that the wealth of
the land might bear its fair share of
the taxes. Didn't you do it, didn't you
think it was right then; don you think
now 1t is right? Oughtn't the federal
taxes to be levied upon those who are
best able to pay them? Ought not the
principle that is in your town tax, that
is in your county tax, that is in your
State tax, obtain also in your federal
taxes-that a man should pay in ac-
cordance with what he has got?
Oughtn't the federal tax be paid in
proportion to Che property which the
federal government protects? The man
who has got LOCO acres of land ought
to pay ore tax than the man who has
got one, the values of the two tracts
being relatively the same. The man
who has got 1000 cattle should pay
more tax than the man who has got
only one dozen, the value of the cattle
being relatively the same. We say this:
that the federal tax is so levied that
the wealth Of the country escapes taxa
ton. Who is it that pays the taxes?
1t is the laboring man, it is the small
merchant, the small farmer, the artisan
and the mechanic. The day laborer
pays his federal tax when he buys the
goods that clotbe his nakedness, the
food that feeds his hunger, the house
which shelters him from the storm,
ana when be bpgs the tools ne works
with. He pays federal tax on cloth
like he pays federal tax on tobacco
The amount of the federal tax is added
to the cost of the tobacco and the man
who chews and smokes tobacco is the
man who pays the tax. He pays to-
bacco tax like he pays whisky tax.
The man who buys and drinks whisky
is the man who pays the federal tax
because the tax on the whisky has bsen
added unto the price thereof. 1t is the
same way about the house, about the
clothing, about the shoes, about the
furnishing goods and about the 5000
articles which enter into the home life
as necessaries of life The tax is added
to the price of the goods, and you pay
for the tax when you buy the goods;
therefore the tax is levied on the man
who buys these things, on the man
who buys farm implements and on the
man who uses farm implements, and on
the man who needs the necessaries of
life, therefore it is that the poorest
man may pay more tax than a rich
man. We say this is wrong. We say
that the federal tax, like the State tax,
ought to be levied on wealth. We say
that the great railroads, owning one
fifth or one sixth of all the wealth OF
the land, who pay no federal taxes,
ought TO pay them. The great manu-
facturers who used to pay federal
tas, pay none now. The manufacture
ers' tax was a tax laid on wealth.
They sent lobby to congress to have
IL repealed and congress obeyed the
demands of wealth and took off the tax
of the manufacturers. Therefore, hav-
ing laid it uponyo you thereafter had
to pay your own tax aud the manufac-
tmers tax, too. "a voice-That'sr right
Not only that; there used to be tax
on the greatinsurance companies They
have the wealth of the land, they bring
in royal revenues and they pay princely
salaries. They have no federal tax.
The federal government in former years
made them pay tax, It was tax on
wealth. Wealth objected to paying it
and the insurance companies sent a
lobby to congress and demanded a re-
peal of that tax, They had it repealed
and had their tax laid upon our shout
ders, so that today we pay the tax of
the railroad companies, the manufac-
turers tax and the insurance com
,onias' fax and still Won don't oe+