The age-herald., 1898-06-05
THE NEW AMERICA.

l1E NEW AWEhlOh.
 If we look little into ''Uncie sam's ledger the balances found there will so much surprise us that we must admit that there is more of the implication Of truth than rustic caricature in the scanty of the gentlemen pictured to us. The balances are on the wrong side.
 There is no doubt of possession of the land, no doubt of the flag, no doubt of Shiras and the higher law, but the ability of the United States to live on it's income from taxation Is pro carious. This govern men has not paid its current expenses since 1899. Can 1t pay them next year or at any time hereafter? There was a general elec- tion in November, 1895, and the loudly promised result was change from poverty to plethora in the federal exehequer. The newly chosen president made haste to sum- mon the fresh congress. In the spring of 1897 the Ding'ey tariff law was enacted. The law went into effect with the fiscal year, beginning July 1, 1897, asd in tie twelfth month of its operation it is not to be denied that the expenses of the gov- ernment on peace basis, are s75, ,0O0 900 in excess of it's total income for the fiscal year closing June 30, 1s9S
 The United States is the richest of tba family of nations. The Pennsylvania rau- road alone transports a domestic tonnapa in excess of all the roads Of Great Britain and Ireland The railroads of the ITnited States have a domestic commerce three times as valuable as the ocean carriage of all Europe combined. The census of 189o put the aggregate wealth of the IJni,ed States at sS0,0OO,ODO,OoO. It was only s1s.- oOOOO0 thirty ears before it must be s1OO- OO00O now. tax of one-quarter of per cent on this property would yield $250 .OOo. OOO, and that sum Is sufficient for the peace expenses of this government leeiti- mately administered. It is federal taxation enough added to state, county and munic fpal taxation. The manufactures of the United States in 1890 were worth s9 ooo ,05o.- OO), and we bought from Europe. freight added, about H,OoO,OOOOOo Our grain. cot ton. petroleum, live stock, sugar and other products, gold silver, copper, iron. et,.. swell our aggregate of comerce and com mercal values almost beyond computa aticn. Bank deposits are at least SC, ,o)o, ,oOo 900.
 Wages are low and lowering; the cotton mills of New England, after forty years of "enjoyment' of prote ton. dictated bv themselves, closed down last spring in or der to force reduced wages upon their eln. pioyes. Money is generally scarce Cot ton and iron are unprofitable Millions of men in the United States are out of work; our resources half developed
 We are to have a war revenue The au- thor Of the Dingley tariff will be pracu- cally the author of the system of increased taxation we are to enter upon
 Pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco beer kegs and whisky jugs must be stamped with stamps bought from the government. Cathartic pills, strengthening pasters, cor dials and powders must be stamped: notes that close horse trade and liens that ena- ble the farmer to make his crop are to be stamped. Articles of consumption that take up all of the $1 each day that the poor man makes are all taxed. Property is not taxed. Shiras wrote an opinion that the property tax might be laid c3nstitu- tionally, but wrote another opinion the next week. Property cannot be taxed to acquire Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, the Nicaragua ca- nal and Central America Labor only may be taxed to augment our landed possess sfonS.
 There Is plutocratic influence engrafted in our practical government. Can the gov ment survive it?
 What kind of government Is the pluto- cratic government, in which Shiras law operates to concentrate 60 per cent of the money and the property in the hands of one-twentieth of 1 per cent of the popua ton and relive it of taxation?
 According to Shiras, the only way to perpetuate the practice of federal taxation is to preserve and multiply the class that owns nothing but quid of tobacco, a porous plaster and that owes a promissory note stamped.
 Rich pensions by the privilega of en ct- ing Dingley tariffs. The understan ding is that all revenues collected by trust-protect- ing tariffs shall go to pensioners. So trusts get votes The following table shows reve- nues from tariffs that protect trusts:
 Last year of Mckinley tariff. .. .$131 S07, ,75S Last year of Wilson tariff ........ 159 516275 First 10 months of Dingley tariff. 121 797 80
 Pensions annually exceed the tariff rev. enues. Pension vote
 MT. Cleveland waged a fierce war from the beginning to the end of his first ad- ministratlon against silver We cou'd not overthrow the Bland-Allison law. He left s1G0 0O),0O0 surplus fin the treasury March A. 1889. after having paid a large part of the public debt.
 Harrison got the Bland-Allison law re- pealed When he went out of office March A. 1893, he left the new plates he had had prepared to issue bonds to obtain money for the government to live on.
 Cleveland get the whole legis slatfon in- creasing the volume of currency. based on silver, repealed, and borrowed s262 ,OO0 0OO to