The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-10-22
MIR. HAYES DEFINES THE ISSUE.
1t is Not One of Taxes, but of Morals
and Good Government.

1t is Not One of Taxes, but of Morals
and Good Government.
EDITOR HERALD:-In the Inde-
pendent of the 9Th, st. Ledger
White signed his name to what he
terms a "roast." 1t may have been
a roast" certainly it was not an
answer to one single statement had
made.
The issue is submitted to the vOt-
ers, and the lines are drawn as dis
tinctly as the MONDAY sun, and I
shall not allow myself to be led off
by any decoy duck, or side tracked
on side issue.
l will say, however, just to satisfy
Mr.. White, that / have never ac-
cused-nor heard of anyone else &C
cusing-the "LipscOmb Board" of
extravaganza or misappropriation Of
the city funds. That was not the is
sue two years ago, and is not now.
Neither can you make it a personal
issue by your little personal thrusts;
L pass them all by with the silent
contempt they deserve, except one.
You have said that pay no taxes
in the city of Columbia; that there
is no property assessed to me; if
your statement is true, then the city
Of Columbia is indebted to me about
500, for which hold tax receipts,
for taxes paid in this corporation.
You ask, "what is it my bust
ness any way?" A candidate on the
Peoples ticket denying a man the
right to his own opinion, because he
is not a bloated bondholder or the
owner of mansion in ColumbiaT
Is that your platform?
Has the time come when a poor
man cannot express his opinion on a
moral issue without being scoffed
at? Is that the way you will treat
the nom taX-paying class when you
become Alderman?
If there be a people on earth who
should stand firm for morality, it
should be the poor. What is it to that
wife who pays no taxes, to see her
husband spend the last dollar he has
in saloon or gambling hell, while
she and her children 90 hungry and
thinly clad! What is it to the
mother who pays no taxes, to see
her son fill a drunkard's grave?
What business is it of the minister
unless he pays taXes-if the mem
bers of his flock frequent the saloon
and entice Others to follow? Chris
tian men of Columbia, what is it
your business if there be twenty sa-
looms open on Sunday selling the
poisonous stuff to your sons, unless,
forsooth, you are taxpayers? What
business is it to the parent too poor
to pay taxes, whether his son Is a
moral, upright, christian boy, or a
drunkard and gambler?
Mr.. White seems to think that this
is no business of mine because | am
not a large taxpayer. That the poor
have no Interest in the matter. But
differ with him. l think it direct
ly and vitality concerns every chris
tian father, mother, brother and sis
ter in Columbia, whether they pay
any taxes or not.
God alone can tell what the end
will be if the morals of Columbia
are not protected by our ballots on
the 10Th of next November.
Now as to the poor being turned
out on the streets on account of de-
linuuent taxes. I don't know what
that bill was, as have never read
it but I have this proposition to
make. If you will show me one man
who has taken his life, one thai
has gone to the gallows, one that has
filled a prison cell, one that has
brought sorrow to the wife he swore
to love and protect, one whose morals
and intellect have been destroy
one brought down to shame and deg
relation, one who has been turned
out on the streets as pauper or beg
gar on account of high taxes, l will
show you thousand that whisky
has done all this for, and evel
worse.
Let us come as one man and cas-
our ballots for good morals and goot
government and vote to relieve thu
boys of the future from the sins AM
temptations that beset those of to
day. GEO. w. HAYES.