The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-02
THE SUN. FRIDAY, JULY ,, 1897.

shorter Periods than the iawt q the general expeCta-
zion have contemplated waf. indeed. end untoward
events may change this prospect Of thinnA and call
for expenses which the imposts could not meet. But
sound principles will not justify our taxing the In
dustry Of our fellow oitirens 10 accumulace treasures
for wan TO happen No know not when. and which
might not happen perhaps but from the temptation
offered by that treasure"
Tho beneHcent effects Of this policy b.
came apparent during the ensuing three
years in q marvellous prosperity, 30 that
President JEFFERSON, in his second In.
augural message to Congress, wa In a POSI-
tion to congratulate the country In the fol-
lowing words:
"The revenue on the consumption OF foreign art
cies is paid chiefly by those who can AFFORD 20 add
foreign luxuries to domestic comforts, being collected
on our seaboard and frontiers only, and incorporated
with the transactions Of our mercantile oitisena. II
may be the pleasure and pride OF an American to
ask; What farmer, what mechanic. what laborer
ever secs n tax satherer Of the United stateaf
Adverting to tho repeal Of the internal
tax laws and to the abolition OF the
Offices created to give effect to their ma
chinery, he said:
"These rlaws] covering our land with onicers and
opening our doors to their intrusions. had already
begun that process Of domiciliary vexation which.
once entered on, 10 scarcely to be restrained from
searching excessively every article OF produce and
property. n among these taxcs some minor ones fell
which had not been inoonveniont, Il was because
their amount would not have paid the oficeu that
collected them. and because II they had any merit,
the state ofices might adopt them instead Of Others
less approved"
This continued to be the policy Of Mr..
J~EFFERsoN's second Administration. n it
was followed by his successor, Mr.. MAD
IsoN, with results equally satisfactory. Mr..
JEFFERSON made approving reference to 1t,
in 1911, in q letter to NJ. DUPONT DE NE
MoURs in these words:
ave are all the more reconciled to tho tax on i'm
ports because It falls exclusively on the rich. and an
equal partition of intestates' estates constitutes the
best agrarian law. In fact, the poor man in this coun-
try. who uses nothing but what is made within his
own farm or family. or within the United States, pays
not n farthing tax to the general Government but
on his salt: and should we go into that
manufacture, as we ought to do, We will mot
pay one cent. Our revenue once liberated by the
discharge OF the public debt and It's surplus applied
to canals, roads. schools, &c and tho farmer will SEQ
his Government support d, his children educated,
and the face OF his country made . paradise BY the
contributions OF the rich alone, without his being
called on to spare a cent from his earnings- Tho
pain we are now pursuing iehuB directly 10 tnlb emu,
which we cannot fail to attain. unless our Admins
tration should fall into unwise hands,"
TIL dire distress into which the Treasury
was thrown by the second war with England
compelled a revival of the internal taxes,
but as soon as that conflict came to an end
and the state of the finances permitted it,
Mr.. MONROE, following the fiscal policy of
JEFFERSON, urged their repeal in a message
to Congress. He said:
at appearing in q satisfactory manner that tho
revenue arising from imports and tonnage and from
the sale Of public lands will be fairly adequate to the
support OF the civil Government . . . without tho
aid of internal taxes, I consider It my duty to recon-
mend to Congress their repeal"
Thus fell a second time. under Jefferson
ian Democracy, the internal tax system,
with the odious income tax features en-
braced in it. 1t was nc part of the Jeffer-
sonian creed. That creed was embodied in
JEFFERsoN's declaration that the true
foundation Of republican government is in
the equal right of every citizen, in his per-
son and property, and in their manage
ment," and that "taxes on consumption,
like those on capital or income, to be just
must be uniform"
The spoliation Of property under tho
forms of law was denounced still more en-
phatically by the founder of the Demo.
cratic party in these memorable words:
ITO take from one because 1t Is thought that his
own industry, or that OF his fathers. has acquired too
much. in order to spare Others. who. or whose fathers,
have not exercised equal industry and skill. Is to
violate arbitrarily the mat principles of association. '
In other words, it is robbery of the few
for the benefit Of the many; the admission
of the abhorrent doctrine that property is
the result of pillage and the provision of a
punishment for it. That is the very re.
verse of the Jeffersonian teaching of equal
rights for all, n noman who inculcates it
can be a Jeffcrsonian Democrat, except by
a false assumption of the name.
The income tax question is not now a
constitutional question; it is a purely po-
litical one. The Supreme Court has dis
posed of the constitutional phase of it.
Discussing it. therefore, from a political
point of view no disciple OF JEFFERSON, no
Democrat can be an advocate for its i'm
position while the country is at peace. He
may be a Bryanite, a Tellerite, a Tillman-
lite, or a Cafferyite, or Clevelandite, but he
cannot be n follower of JEFFERSON.
IT, therefore, Senator CAFFERY and those
who acted with him at the Indianapolis
Convention are really in favor of an income
tax, the last vestige of Fundamental Jeffer.
sonianism is eliminated from the Democracy
of the time, and the different factions of 1t
are masquerading undera mn they have
no right to carry. They have apostacizcd
from the true Democratic faith and are con.
verts to the c~ommunistic theories of gov.
eminent never contemplated, except with
adherence, by JEFFERSON and the fathers
of the republic.
mr. Wnraa