The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1898-06-29
the DEEIANI trusts.

With fuller discussion and N
controYertible logic of expeIienoe
the declaration IN the Chicago
platform fayoring an income ta.
! when If can be secured by strictly
constitutional means. is becoming
Recognized more and more IS {
rightful policy the adoption d
which justice TO hepeople and the
necessities of the government de,
mand-
The war with Spain. a weak and
bankrupt power, Is already costing
us 81 600, 600 a day, and the Senate
voted to take. a small portion Of
this expense off the backs Of the
poor toiling mass of consumers and
place II on few corporations that
have accumulated fabulous wealth
81 8 nionopolistic robbery Bht The
sleek atto1nsss ana slgLl1les -
these combines point exuItantly 10
the decision of the Supreme Court
rendered possible only by the re-
maTkable change of mind of one of
the Judges. declaring that an in
come tax is unconstitutional With
that baneful decision they viii ap-
peal to the courts and defy the
government to collect the proposed
tax, if 1t is assessed.
The Standard Oil Trust, which
declared a dividend last year of
Ss1. .o40. 900, with $500, ,OoO,O 600 Jno.
D. Rockefeller at its head, say that
it viii not pay the tax. TheSugar
Trust, which divided among its
stockholders $4,000. 600 last year,
which it extorted from consumers
by controlling the sugar markets,
says that IT will resist payment.
The amount which 1t is proposed
to collect from both the incarna-
ions of greed combined, for full
year is only $500. enough per
haps to defray the expenses of the
war for half day. The Eve great
palace car and railroad corpora
tions to which the tax would ap-
ply are also understood as defying
the government to collect dollar
for war revenue.
Conditions such as actually con-
front Us today were prophetically
pointed out by Mr.. Bryan and 9th
er champions of the people in the
campaign of 1896. The deafening
answer to their representations and
appeals then was, anarchy" But
some of the plutocratic Republican
policies are coming home TO roost,
and we do not hear so much said
about anarchy" now when The ex-
padiency and justice of an income
tax are considered. The mum Der of
Republicans in the Senate who vo-
ted to tax few of the most opu-
lent corporations under the pre-
sumption, right or wrong. that the
anti-income tax decision of the
United States Supreme Court does
not prevent doing so, is a pointer
showing the drift of public opin-
ion towards an income tax.
But through the dictatorship of
Boss Hanna the Republican party
as political organization is bound
hand and foot to the magnates of
accumulated wealth and what can
it do2 The great bulk of the mil
lions of dollars of campaign money
used IN '96 came from the trusts
and big corporations and now they
naturally demand immunity from
standing any share of war taxation
by the party they placed in power.
Whatever may be done by the
government to compel the great
trusts to yield obedience to the
mandate of Congress, the Chicago
platform, which has a bearing on
this matter, Will stand vindicated
IN the light of serious conditions
and the income tax will be an issue
which which viii help to win
Democratic victories.
The more closely The Chicago
platform is studied as a whole the
more closely does II appear that It
is a manifesto of human rights
conceived in wisdom and the
courageous determination to make
popular government a bene6ceDt
reality. Charleston Gazette.
The Register urges upon the