The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-03-19

cl'lHrn VINO sought TO lnlure MS TEL
low man or to take advantage of
him directly or indirectly. No
citizen had a right tn iniure another
and no good government will either
enable or permit one citizen to in
jure another. The speaker then
took up the subject of taxation, and
showed that robbery could be COM
mitted as well under the forms of
law as upon the highway. If taxa
ton was not just and equal it was
in effect taking from one man and
giving to another.
"If law is made so as to take
money from one man and give it to
another then the man from whom
the money is taken is cheated and
robbed and the other mans wealth
is increased, and such law is as
much moral thief as the man who
Nmeets you and takes your money
from you on the public highway.
! (Cheers.) 1t is not the manner in
which it is taken. 1t is the fact
that it is taken which makes the
wrong. For instance, if you have a
law which assesses your property in
proportion to the assessed valua-
ton, and your assessor discrimi-
mates in your favor in his assess
ment, it is the same"
He said that man had no right to
keep silent when his property was
assessed too low or his neighbours too
high.
MY friends, those who want good
! government have got to rise to a
position where they are unwilling to
reap benefit from an injustice and
where they are unwilling to stand
by and see their neighbor suffer by
any injustice whether they are per-
sOnally benefited or not. (Cheers.)
If we are going to have good gov
eminent we cannot sit by and reap
the benefits of gains to which we are
not rightfully entitled and content
ourselves by saying it is not our
fault, that it is somebody else's
lookout. If my neighbor has to pay
more than his share it is his lookout
and no business Of mine. If we
want good government we have got
to be good citizens and want good
government badly enough to see
that our laws are just when made
and just in their administration"
The speaker happily illustrated
his idea of the restraining power of
government as follows:
II once saw lot of hOgs-you
know you can get an idea anywhere.
(Laughter). l was going through
Iowa and saw lot of hogs roofing
through the fields and the first
thought that occurred to me was
that they were destroying good
deal of property, and the thought
took me back to the time when
used to live in Illinois on a farm.
We used to keep hogs and we used
to put rings in their noses, and the
thought occurred to me, why did we
put rings in their noses? 1t was not
to keep them from getting fat, be-
cause we wanted them to get fat. II
was to our interest to have them get
fat more than it was the hogs, be-
cause the longer they remained
lean, the longer they would get to
live. 1t was not for this purpose
but it was to keep them from de.
stroying more property in getting
fat than they were worth. Then the
thought came to me. What is gov
eminent but putting rings in the
noses of hogs (laughter), and don't
, mean it in any offensive sense wher
say that we are all hoggish and we
might as we'll admit it. daughter
, and applause.) If you won't admit
| it in regard tn yourself you will ad
nit your neighbor is and can prove
by your neighbor that you are
, (Laughter.) Every law which says
you shall not is putting ring in the
nose of the hog (laughter), and WI
. will all support legislation which
tiguratively speaking, puts rings il
5 our own noses to get rings in othe
: peoples noses to prevent them from
: injuring us. In other words, a.
l civilization progresses we recognize
5 that it is far better for us to submit
5 to restraint preventing US from in
: jurtng Others in order that we il
: turn may not be injured by some
3 body else. And this restraint o
9 government is becoming more anC
more important every day"
| The speaker applied this especi
e ally to corporations:
: "Why, in these days of improved
= machinery, in these days wher
| wealth is concentrated IN corporate
4 power, the corporation is sometime
!, a thousand times as strong as tn
9 individual and therefore if it il
= necessary to protect man from an
!, other man who is only twice a
t strong then you should protect hin
5 against the corporation which is /
thousand times as strong"
t He said corporations should no
h be allowed to contribute to cam
: paign funds to spread its politica
n views because it had no politica
Y views. He continued as follows:
: AN investigation of the Suga
e Trust took place few years ago, il
: which the head of that great trus
h testified before the investigator
S Committee that in Republica
: States they contributed to the Re
il publican campaign fund, in Demo
: cratic States they contributed to tn
e Democratic campaign fund and i
: the doubtful States they contribute
s to both. (Laughter) And so
n goes. The trust desired to secur
c such legislation in the variou
l. States as would secure to them in
e munity for any violation of law the
k might commit. say, then, as a
l. expression of my own views, an
you are not compelled to acceI
e them unless you want to, say thl
d L do not believe a corporation
= created bV law, should he npruitte