The Topeka state journal., 1897-02-20

| hecause of the partiality shown to him
| by his father My friends. that feel
| ing of Indignation against part1ality has
never died out; it is just as potent to-
day as it was among the brethren who
kept their fiocks in Dothan. There is
nothing that so excites Indignation;
there is nothing that so aroUses COM
plant, as the feeling of people that they
are being Disseminated against by a
government which ought to stand as an
impartial protector of the rights of
everyone,
Now, 1 might follow this argument
out into various directions Let me
suggest one phase of it. The SUBJ
feet of taxation we always have with
us; no matter what your legislative
body it always has to deal with the
subject of taxation. Now, is there
any just rule for levying taxes?
think 1 can propose one that you will
all. admit to be just, and that is that
every citizen should pay taxes for the
support of his government in propor-
ton to the advantage which he receives
from that government; that each c1t1-
zen ought to pay in proportion to the
protection which he enjoys No one
will say that taxes ought to be assessed
per capita: no one will insist that
man who is worth a million should pay
the same amount of taxes as the man
who is worth a hundred or thousand
dollars. Everybody admits that taxa
tion should be in proportion to the pro-
lection which the citizen enjoys. If
that be true, then the only question is
to find some system of taxation which
will be exactly just in its operations,
and since it is impossible for human be-
ings to reach perfection in anything,
we measure and compare different sys-
TENS for the purpose of accepting that
one which, though not absolutely per-
feet, comes nearest to perfection, which
means nearest to absolute justice. Now,
have you ever analyzed an instance,
have you ever tried to find. what un-
lust taxation means? If you have not,
7 Mt for a moment. to
slider it, and see how wide larceny is
when you come to ferret out the vari-
Gus systems of taxation. Let me sup
pose a case: Suppose that we have two
men here; one pays ten dollars taxes,
when he ought to pay five, and another
pays five when he ought to pay ten
Now, what is the effect of that? The
effect of that unjust tax law, which
collects ten from the man who ought
to pay FIVE and five from the man who
ought to pay ten, is to collect five from
the man who ought to pay hve' and
give it to the other. That is the effect
of it, and the only effect of it, because
a law which compels a man to pay ten
dollars when he ought to pay only five.
takes from him So unjustly. and that
same law gives that five dollars to the
man who ought to pay ten, but only
pays five. Now, that is the effect of
unjust taxation.
I have taken what you might call an
extreme case, where one man pays dou-
bic what he ought and the other only
one-half what he ought to pay; but
having established the principle, it is
only question of degree. If you take
from one man one dollar or one cent
more than his just proportion and give
it to somebody else, letting him OF with
his just proportion, you are supporting
an unjust taxation law, a law that you
cannot defend. Everybody Will admit
the abstract proposition that taxing
laws should be just and uniform in
their operation, but the trouble is, when
TO " "a each fellow
is apt to want that system of taxation
which puts the burden on somebody
else and lets him out. He is like the
humOrist who once said ne was IN favor
of putting down the rebellion; that he
insisted on putting it down, If it took
all of his wife's relations. (Laughter:)
We find people who are always will
ing to indorSe, to approve ana TO sup
mort any system which lets them out
and puts the burdens of government on
somebody else; and, yet, my tr1endS'
I want you to understand that a man
who knowingly supports an UNJUST Sys-
tenn of taxation Is simply supporting a
system of larceny, because, if it is in
territorial, it has all the moral elements
of larceny Remember that it is the
thing itself, and not the manner in
which it is done, that determines the
moral character of an act II L lose
five dollars and somebody else gets my
five dollars and wrOngfully retains 1t,
how it is done is of far less Importance
to me than the fact that 1T is done
| legislative larceny is more polite, as
we'll as less dangerous than highway
| robbery but it has the same moral ele-
ments that highway robbery has (Ap-
| plause.) Now, suppose that your tax
! law is just, but that the execution OF 1t
| is lame, there may be larceny there
just as well.
Suppose you have two houses side
by side worth the same; one house is
| assessed at one thousand dollars, the
other at two thousand dollars. The
rate of taxation is the same on both,
but as one is assessed at double the
value of the other, when they are both
of the same value, one man is paying
twice as much taxes as the other. NOW,
you will say this is an extreme case;
1t is an extreme case. II you VIII
| look at the assessors books you Will
| find that he does not make the mistake
| of assessing two houses side by slde,
| of the same value, on such a basis, put
l-if you will go into different parts OF the
town, taking into consideration the
! values of different houses, you VIII
| find, 1 venture to say, here in the city
| of Topeka, within the last twenty
| years, there have been instances where
| one mans property has been assessed
upon scale as different from that up
on which another mans property mas
| been assessed as that which 1 have
| supposed If you have not suffered
| from that here, you are the only city
which I know of which has not But
you will find it to be true How Goes
| from the fact that the man who mas
| the under assessment has more 1nfiu-
| ence with the assessor than the man
| who has the over assessment.
I call your attention to this method
| by which wrong can be done because,
| my friends, I believe we ought to have
| a n11tlic sentiment so active that q man
won't wait to have an injustice done to
| him. but will correct the system before
! the injustice reaches him, knowing that
! a fair and honest and just policy is In
| the long run better for every member
| of the community. If you ask me
what the effect of this campaign is
| going to be. I look far beyond the I'M