The herald., 1897-07-06
oS ANGELES HERALD. TUESDAY MORNING, JULY s,

LOS ANGELES H
with an income, say of one hundred
thousand, contribute more to the sup
port of the government through inter-
nal revenue taxes than the man with
an income of one thousand? The mere
statement of the proposition carries
conviction with it. So far as we col
lect taxes through internal revenue;
that is, on liquor and tobacco, men do
not pay in proportion to their income
or in proportion to the protection they
receive from the government. In other
words, the extent that we collect in
ternal revenue taxes to, the people
with small incomes on an average pay
larger per cent. of their incomes to
support the government.
How about import duties? Why peo-
pie pay import duties on what they eat
and wear and use. A man with an in
come of one hundred thousand does
not eat one hundred times as much as
a man with an income of thousand.
[Laughter.] If there is any difference
the poor man will eat the most.
[Laughter.1 There is an old saying
that the poor man is hunting for food
for the stomach while the rich man is
hunting for a stomach for his food.
l.
the fact that the taxes paid on what
we eat are not paid in proportion to
our incomes. Neither are the taxes
paid upon what we wear paid in pro-
portion to our income. Neither are
taxes paid upon the taxable things that
we buy paid in proportion to our in
comes. And when you remember that
our Federal taxes are collected from
these two sources, when you remember
that the taxes collected from those
sources bear most heavily upon the
people of small incomes, then, my
friends, you will realize the truth of
what I say; that people with small
incomes in this country today pay more
than their share of the expenses of the
Federal government, and people with
large incomes pay less than their share
of the expenses of the Federal govern
ment.
WHAT THE TAX MEANS.
In fixing an income tax with an ex-
emption of all incomes below $4,000 an
attempt was made to equalize taxation.
an attempt was made to bring the peo-
pie who are paying less than their
share up to the point where they would
pay more nearly their share. That is
what the income tax meant; and, my
friends, we have not had proposed any
system which has reasonable hope of
ton of the taxes upon the people ex-
cept the income tax. And l want to
say to you that instead of being dis
couraged by the fact that the Supreme
Court by a bare majority declared that
tax to be constitutional, which ON for
mer occasions had been held constitu-
tional-instead of being discouraged,
say to you that l am young enough so
that l expect to live to see the day
when there will be an income tax pro-
vided for in the Constitution of the
United States, [applause] an income
tax provided for in that Constitution
SO that, no matter what party may
come into power, this country will not
be denied the right to levy taxes in
proportion to the benefits received.
And when l advocate an income tax. l
am standing upon the principle that I
first declared. of equality before the
law. 1 am not saying one word against
the man with large income except
this; that if he enjoys the income he
must pay taxes upon it if he lives un-
der government that protects it. Zap
plause.1
THE HOG STORY.
But. my friends, l want to call your
attention to another way in which this
principle is applied. l state that the
government to be good must not only
avoid acts of affirmative injustice, but
government to be good must prevent
injustice as between man and man.
An idea is the most important thing
that a person can get into his head. An
idea will revolutionize a life; an idea
will revolutionize community; an
idea will revolutionize a country.
need not dwell upon this statement be-
cause you know that within the last
year of our nations history, you have
seen how ideas have broken family
ties. have sundered party ties and have
sent men out as men with a mission
bent only on carrying into effect the
idea that had taken possession of them.
every source. Sometimes we get an
idea when we are not expecting it.
Sometimes that is the only way we can
get an idea into a. mans head-put it
in by surprise. [laughter] but, my
friends, you can gather your ideas
from each other; you can gather them
from nature; sometimes you gather
your ideas from animals, the domestic
animals. I remember that l was pass
ing through Iowa on train and l saw
some hogs roofing in the field and the
first thought that came to me was that
they were destroying a. good deal of
ground, doing a good deal of damage,
and then 1 was carried back, in memory
to the days when as a boy 1 lived upon
had hogs. and I remembered also that
we used to put rings in the noses of
our hogs: and then the thought came
to me, why did we put rings in the
noses of our hogs? 1t was not to keep
the hogs from getting fat. We were
more interested in the hogs getting fat
than the hogs themselves We're. The
sooner the hogs got fat, the sooner we
killed them. The longer they We're in
getting fat the longer they lived; but
why was it that we put rings in the
noses of our hogs? Simply so that
while they were getting fat they would
not DESTROY more property than they
We're worth. Applause and laughter.]
And then the fact came to me what is
government but a method by which
we put rings in the noses of hogs?
[Laughter.l I don't use the phrase in
any offensive sense, but my friends
we are all hoggish; we are all selfish
and the hog stands as the representa-
tive of the selfish propensity. / say
we are all selfish. If you deny it, if
you say you are not, l will prove it
by your neighbor that you are. Laugh
teri If your neighbor denies it, I will
prove by you that he is selfish.
(Laughter.1
HUMAN SELFISHNESS
We are always selfish, and 1 am not
one of those who condemn selfish
ness abstractedly. I am glad that the
Creator gave to each one of us the in
stinct of self-preservation. l am glad
that He made each one his own guar
dian, Why, if He had given me some