The Advocate and news., 1898-10-05

progress toward true democracy, and
the only question is how long the people
themselves will stand the shifting Of the
tax upon them by those for whom 1t is
intended. This complication may hasten
public ownership faster than in the
dreams of the most radical Socialist.
This decay of the protective tariff sys-
tenn has been fOreseen by those to whom
the thought of the consequences are ex-
tremely distasteful. AS an instance, let
us quote for the editor of the capital
from one whom he will recognize as
high authority, the late Chief Of the Bu-
reau of Statistics at Washington, Worth
ington c. Ford, who is decidedly opposed
to the Socialistic taxation which we have
predicted as inevitable. He, with the
Capital and the United States Supreme
court and others, is decidedly opposed to
the income tax, yet he said in the Sep
tember Harper's Magazine:
In thus veering from a financial system
in which taxation Of imported merchandise
has been the leading feature, to one based
almost entirely upon internal taxation, 1t
is altered. Capital becomes the object OF
taxation. The steady progress toward an
income tax in countries where democracy
has recognized the force of wealth in divid-
ing classes is a notable feature of modern
popular finance France has for some
years sought to incorporate an income tax
into her system, believing that 1t would still
more tend to equali2e the general dlStribu-
ton of well-being among the people, and
at the same time give what may be the
most important source of State income In
her finances. In the United States the
same tendency has been even more pro-
nounced At first, taking the form of q
dislike of the money power" 1t found
vent in propositions for paper money, free
silver at ratio to gold widely divergent
from the commercial ratio, government GER
tihcateS, advances as loans on farm prod
ucts, and a number Of such schemes, de-
signed to make the payment OF debts easier
by Wiping out a part or a whole of the cap
ital of the debt. From mOney-lenders 1t
was an easy transition to recognize in cor
pOratiOnS, and especially in trusts, huge
instruments of oppression, by which the
poor and well-tO-dO were crushed. They
used the ineXorable law of competition to
destroy their smaller and weaker compet-
itOrs, and once settled in monopolized
market, they could squeeze the consumer
and the Wage-earner for their own profit.
But the bond or share holder, the holder
of realized capital, was the support OF those
corporations, and the fear of his machina-
tions became pronounced. So the money
power, the banker, the corporation, and
the trusts were objects of solicitude, and
have figured in many political campaigns
as real issues. The taxation of sim
gle corporations has been adopted in the
new measure 1.-THE war revenue bill, to-
gether with duties on legacies and success
siOns, and all forms Of corporate activity
AS a measure of protection against or re-
taliation upon supposed monOpOlies, and as
a measure for apprOpriating to the State
a part of great fortunes, these taxes COM
mend themselves to the financial theories
of a democracy. The gradual shifting OF
political power from a small and somewhat
favored class to the largest component Of
any political community has been accom-
panied by this growth of socialstic taxa
ton. 1t has further led to progressive
taxation, in which the amount of the tax
Is determined by an arbitrary scale of du-
ties. graded by the amount of property to
be taxed. This scheme Of progression finds
q place in the new system, and notably in
the legacy tax, where 1t has features SO
oppressive as to contain a direct dlsc0ur-
agement to realized wealth.
This is not encouraging reading for
the editor of the Capital, but the truth
10 In 1t.