The herald., 1897-03-29
! LABOR VS.. THRIFF ;
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BY ABBOT KINNEY


Labor has only loss in tariff. Any
tax comes from and must be paid out of
production. Taxes finally rest upon the
| consumer. The consumer pays taxes
out of products only. Every tax dimin-
ishes the power to pay wages. A tax In
/ itself is disadvantage. The Justifica-
/ tion of taxes is that they support gov
ernment. The justification of govern
ment is that 1t insures to the producer
what he produces. This is the key to the
material progress of society When
government fails in securing to the pro-
diicer his product it fails as a human in
stitution. To the extent that it fails in
this 1t will fail to receive the support of
the people. FINALLY 1t will either become
the tool of an oppressive minority or
else break down altogether. When gov
ernment is used by forceful or immoral
minority for its own benefit the result
is always obtained by some form of tax
alton. 1t may be in the regular forms Of
levies and percentages, it may be in
commuted robbery as at present prac-
tice6 by Arab bandits in the Sahara and
Syria; 1t may be in commuted piracy as
in the case of the Saracen beys of Ia
riffa, the old port near Gibraltar that re-
ceived from all commerce entering the
strait tariff" to buy off the pirates;
or 1t may be in outright robbery and
open confiscation. The form is imma-
terial Any tax enforced by government
for private benefit Is robbery. 1t is
robbery in the most dangerous form.
1t is the use of government to destroy
the object of government. 1t is the
abuse of the public power of getting
forced tribute. to steal from the pro-
ducer. The only free consent of the
citizen to government and taxes is that
these are to prevent robbery. 1t is the
prostitution of government to use the
power of taxing to enrich the individual.
Such tax is the transfer of the product
of head or hand labor from the producer
by force to another. Pretty phrases can
be used and plausible excuses can be
framed for such wrongs. Error walks
abroad disguised unmasked it's life
would end. So our country has got on
a moral slide creased by theft and called
a protective tariff" The biggest profit
goes to the biggest thief. The benefi-
Charles swop lies, trade lobby influence
stand In on deals, put up direct and in
direct bribes and garner a harvest of sin
and plunder according to the extent of
their demerits. Half our people are de-
ceived, a considerable proportion are
bribed TO stand in by part of the plunder
or a promise of plunder; most of these
are fooled into living on wind. The few
real robbers, like the sugar trust, have
actually lied so much about the bounties
being a public benefit though going into
private pockets that they believe them
selves to be patriots of the patriots. To-
day with a certain class the tip-top Of
patriotism is to have a bounty. To put
your hand in the pocket of the taxpayer
while the government throttles him and
prevents resistance, is the ne-plus- ultra
of patriotism. A highwayman who robs
in defiance of law leaves the justice Of
the law intact in the mind of the citi-
zen. The man who uses the law to en-
rich himself out of the produce OF others
not only steals more than all the high
waymen of the age. but uses to promote
his thefts what was instituted to pre-
vent them. He undermines all govern
ment. He destroys the moral founda-
tion of justice which is the spirit and
support of government. He accumulates
property he never produced and in doing
so undermines the security of all prop
erty. The ultimate security of property
rests upon the substantial equity of it's
the taking of one mans produceto en-
rich another man who is a morn able
politician or a more unscrupulous lob
byist is nothing less than the placing of
60 much dynamite under the structure