The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-23
A GREAT QUESTION FOR THE
PEOPLE TO DECIDE.

population by the United states gov
eminent was s4.15; in 1895 it was s5.11.
Increasing as population increases,
thus reversing the true rule-tO dimin-
ish with growth Of population. Ex-
Secretary Morton justly condemns the
omnibus bill" scheme Of appropria-
lions as vicious and e~xtravagant. He
says:
Under this masquerading legislation
She congress of the United States has
deity despOiled the national treasury
during the last twenty years Of $51O,-
1888, 245; and during the period from
1878 to 1887 this omnibus hauled out of
the public treasury more than 1926
900, 600. And all that almost incompre-
hensible and be~wildering number of
dollars had first been collected from the
people"
The salaries of the government are
TOO high and there are too many Off
Gals by probably 80, 900. Offices and
places nave been created in order to
give hungry retainers pap and to
bleed the lOng-suffering people. AS
We wrote a few days ago we here re-
peat, taxation is an imperative but
necessary curse IL Is IEe price lie
citizen must pay for government to
afford to him protection in life, liberty
and property. When government fails
at either point it is defective, an abOr-
ton. Government must be carried on
just as economically, honestly, justly
as it is possible to be done. Every dol
lar levied as a tax is to that extent a
- -.
zen that sum forever. It is a very
bad, a very unjust, a very oppressive
government that takes a dollar or five
dollars, or one hundred dollars, or one
thousand dollars from a citizen in
taxes when One-ha1f, O~ne-fourth, or
even One-tenth would have answered
to meet the ends of equitable, honest,
economical government. What must
be thought of a government calling it.
self a republican-democratic govern
ment-a government of the people and
by the people and for the people, that
with marked purpose. elaboration,
9 calculation sets to work to levy a huge
tax upon the people at large for the
benefit of q few or of a class? 1t has
all the pretense of a republic without
it's reality. 1t is a counterfeit, wearing
the garments of autOcratic oppression,
and seeking to outrage in their pockets
the burden bearers and the great mass
of br~ead-Winners and toilers. Such is a
high protective tariff, the pet, the dar-
ling of the republican party. We
would positively vote as soon for a fell
low who espoused the old Rob Roy
doctrine of seizur openly on the
stump as we would for one of your
veIvet-moUthed fellows who rolls out
his plausible platitudes about the
blessings and wisdom of protection as
a system Of taxation-oppressing the
millions for the benefit of the few.
Mr.. Morton says that the government
WAS born "penniless and a pauper' and
that it only handles tax-raised money,
and adds:
And it has no constitutional or other
right to levy taxes, except for the pur-
pose Of getting money into it's treas
ury with which to pay the public debt,
to provide for the common defence,
and to promote the general welfare.
All other taxes, some of them falsely
called protective ought to be speedily
and utterly abolished. The gigantic
sums struggled out of the treasury,
disguised as necessary for sundry civil
expenses. are increasing from year to
year. This is shown by the fact that
during the ear from 1888 to 1897 there
WAS takcn by this method 1924, COZ, GOA.
This startling sum is an increase OF
more than fifty-eight millions Of dol
lars over the amount appropriated by
a same system of false pretence in
legislation in the preceding decade.
THIS ten years developed an increase
OF IS per cent. in appropriations for
-surdry civil expenses"
1t is by taxpayers understanding
more clearly and in~telligently their
form Of government. and by watching
the operations in the congress, with
the constantly increasing burdens OF
taxation-that endless draught upon
their pockets-that they can appreciate
E the sacrifices made by themselves and
The great, unbrOken trend on the part
Of their public 'sbosses"-once called
public 'servants'-to usurpation of
power, to reckless extravaganza in the
expenditure of the money of the once
sovereign" people. There is in every
department and in all possible ways
Of expenditure a growing extravaganza.
If not stopped it will bankrupt the peo-
pie. The many classes of expenditures,
the many ways Of disposirg of the pub
lie moneys, the predatory ways of the
politicians and plunderers of the peo-
pie are all SO many sources of ruin,
of oppression, of robbery. The rdina
ry member of congress (either house,
will not hesitate a minute to vote aye
for any expenditure, whether for an
exposition, digging a foreign canal.
building a fine house, improving an i'm
passable creek, or educatingS ambo. Two
days ago one of these sort of despoilers
introduced a bill to appropriate a great
sum-$750, 000-to have this country rep
resented in Paris at the next EXPOSE