The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1897-03-27
expenditure to population

From a consideration of this table 1t
appears that the luxury of government
(prohigacy) is increasing steadily from
decade to decade. and the cost of gov
erning. or being governed,i is becoming
more burdensome to the people. 1t
has increased from S1.39 in 1900 to
s514 ninety years later. And this in
creased expense is not only in national
affairs, but in state and municipal as
we'll. The strong arm of the govern
ment reaches out into the remotest
precincts and taxes the people to sus-
tain it. No matter where they are, on
the mountain top or in the valley, in
the work shop or at the bank counter.
the strong arm dives into the pockets
of the people and EFFORTS at tithe. Every
one, the rich and the poor, except they
be starving and naked. is forced to pay
tribute to the powers that govern. The
strong arm of the government gathers
from all classes, all sections, none es-
cape, but who are the benefclar1es:
Where Is it spent3 In precincts popu-
lated by the favored few.
Little of the money thus gathered re-
turns in its original volume to the
place where it was obtained. 1t re-
mains about the centers of government
to fatten the few who wallow in the
luxury of official life. The government
deals sparingly with the dweilers In
rural districts, with the farmers, the
artisans, the wage earners. 1t takes
their taxes and places the money in
the hands of the privileged, expecting
them to return it in some form, but
this they fail to do.
The above table is sufficiently con-
vincing of the strides being made to-
ward extravaganza and the certainty
that we are approaching time when
taxation will be unindurable, when it
will eat up the entire earnings of the
producers, but it does not show enough.
The appropriations of the last CON-
gress, which were made in the midst
of the hardest times, the greatest de-
preston the country has ever seen,
amount to the vast sum of 81, ,O46. .4S7,-
900. At present the population of the
United States is estimated at 72,OOO,-
600. Then for the privilege of being
governed, for the privilege which they
enjoy of eaking out a miserable exist
ence, for tho privilege of saying they
are citizens of the grandest and great
est nation on earth, for the privilege
of existing. during the coming two
years, each man, woman and child in
this great nation must pay S14.50. The
strong hand of the government will |
dive down into their pockets and fake |
that much from every one in order that
a favored few may recline in the lap of
luxury. And even more than this.
Congress now in session proposes to |
increase the burdens of taxation Sl12,- +!
O00, 900 annually, which will add over |
three dollars more to, the tithe each |
must contribute in two years.
Do the people realize what this ex-
orbitant burden of taxation really |
means? Do they understand what a |
drain upon their labors it is? The |
total amount of money. upon which the |
business of the nation is conducted is
less than two billion dollars. More |
than half the money of the country |
must be taken up and passed through |
the hands of the government every |
two years. The amount collected in.
national taxes each yearis greater than
all the gold in circulation.
With such expenditures for the gen.
eral government every year, what
would be the consequence if the legal |
tender money were all destroyed ex-
cept gold, as is proposed by some ofthe
single standard advocates? Would the |
people who now pay their taxes by the
fruits of labor find that labor less ar
duous? Would they give more hours
Of toll, more bushels of wheat, more |,
pounds of wool to buy their portion of
the tithe than they do now? Can the
burdens of the people be lessened by
diminishing the circulating Tedium of
The country to less than the amount
demanded by the government in taxes?
In short, can the people long endure
With the present amount of currency
% meet the demands made upon them
oy tax eaters? Must not a halt be
,alled in the profiigacy of the nation?