The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-14
THE PEOPLES CHURCH.
Rev Alex Kent on an EXP residents
Warming TO Men of Wealth.


share Of taxation.
He spoke, in part, as follows:
The Union League Club. of Chicago, on
the occasion of Washingtons birthday, |
listened to some very wholesome and
timely words from ex-President Harri |
son on the matter of honesty in paying |
taxes. virtue which he freely admitted |
was not much in vogue. and which, he |
plainly intimated was particularly out of |
fashion among men of wealth. Such |
evasion of taxes as was known to be |
common among them he denounced as
among the grayest evils which imperil |
the republic 49,
Men of wealth. - he said SHOULD not
only show a Willingness to bear their full
share of all public burdens. They should |
have a zeal, in this direction, that would |
act as proper eXampletfor their less faV-
ored brothers," He warned them that
continuance in the present course would
beget sense of injury among the people |
so strong that ways would be found to
exact more than is equal
TO do justice" he said, lis the best
safeguard against injustice" They owed
a special obligation To the state and
ought TO be foremost in readiness to do
their full part. He called attention TO
the prevalence of agitation on this sub
iect, to the feeling that equality of
right and opportunity has been submerg
ed; to the growing bitterness of the at
tacks IN accumulated wealth and cor
porate power; to the fact that 'only
enormous combinations are now sure of
returns" and he warned them that II
there is not enough public virtue left in
our communities to make tax frauds dis
creditable and bring to punishment men
who defraud the state and their neigh
bors il would not be long before crimes
of violence would make insecure the Tor
/ tunes that have refused to contribute
! ratably to the cost of maintaining social
! order"
1T is not only wrong, it is unsafe 20
make a show in our homes and on the
/ street that is not made on our tax re-
! turns" And yet Mr.. Harrison says tn 1T
! the evil CT tax evasion, through false
returns. has grown that in our great
cities the forms of personal property, in
! W hich most of the great fortunes are in
! vested. are almost eliminated from the
/ tax list. Comptroller Roberts of New York
/ State is quoted as expressing the opin-
I ion that the taxable personal property
/ in the State is fully equal TO the real
I estate, and yet the returns only show u
per cent of the total And Mr.. Harrison
says that Illinois and other States present
J similar conditions. This evasion of a plain
duty reveals a moral delinquency and
want Of patriotism which Mr.. Harrison
/ regards as serious. This is a mild way Of
| saying that those men are really thieves
I and traitors: for as he queries in another
| sentence: Where is the moral distinction
| between putting ones hand in his neigh
| boris pocket and clandestinely abstract
| ing his Docketbook and the fraudulent
| shifting of debt one owes TO another?'
| There isn't any. and so we may fairly
| rank the tax evader with the pickpocket.
at is easy TO see" says Mr.. Harrison
"how this offense against patriotism
! grew to such proportions. The very
/ sense that inequality is injustice pro
| NOTED it, One Sees that his neighbOr
| is not making true return, and knows
! that if he does he will pay dispropor-
| tiOnately. and so he SalVes his con-
| science by saying everybody does it
| As Mr.. Cooper, of Siegel, Cooper & Co..
said, there is one day when we business
men all commit perjury-the day when
| we make returns TO the assessor respect
| ing the amount of property" The
! most serious aspect OF this state of
| things. says Mr.. Harrison, is the injury
| that results to the offender. The man
| who is robbed has not lost character or
| self-respect, but the man who robs has
| lost both. He denies that any sound
| moral distinction can be drawn between
| the man who hides his property from the
state and the one who hides it from "a
| private creditor: aud when we consider
that they ''all do it," and in the doing OF
it lost both their character and self-re-
spect, we are obliged 10 feel on so high
| and conservative authority as our
esteemed eX-President that the men of
wealth in this country are badly bank
rupt in all that is most essential to moral
| worth and real manhood.
| Mr.. Harrison reaches the climax of his
/ arraignment in the following question:
IF we admit the disgraceful conclusion
that the state Of public and private
| morals has become such in our country
that the wealthy may not be brought
| under the law and compelled 10 yield it
| reverence and obedience have we not
confessed the failure of republican insti-
| tutionS?"
Here is clear implication that largely
the wealth Of this country is at present
using it's power in contempt of law; r.
fusing to be brought under law; refus-
ing to yield it reverence and obedience.
This answers in very effective and cor
elusive way the mooted question, "Who
are the anarchists of our country
Mr.. Harrison has sketchcd them for us.
"~" b." thieves and traitors who
go f"lsn so their coun-
try, and are living in open defiance of the
,.c isuu-Jhe men about whom
-t't.L whether lncy "tn be
brought under the law and compelled to
revere and obey it.
Mr. Harrison does not propose any
| change in the system of taxation He
hopes to put conscience into the present
system. a task which The Evening Post
of New York, says has been often attempt
ed before and is not likely to succeed
now one reason for agreeing with the
Post on this view is the fact that the
| seeds of dishonesty Inhere in the syS-
TEN. 1t not only offers temptations to
| dishonesty and lying, which few have
the moral stamina to resist. 1t involves
Injustice and dishonesty i'll its very ma
ture. 1t puts land values and all other
values on an equal footing and obliges
the man who has $40 900 of his own hard
earnings to pay the same tax as a man
who has a $4,000 lot which all told never
cost him 5000 Il lot, of which 50 800 of its
| present value have been put into it by
the industry and enterprise of his hard
of taxation recognizes the moral validity
OF a title which not only confers owner
snir of land, but carries with it owner
shin OF ali land values which the COM
munity itself may create. This is an in
| Justice which works greater financial .ld-
vantage to the few and injury to the
I many than even the ordinary evasion Ct
| taxes. If wish to offset a moral re-
form, therefore. we must begin to build
on Il moral foundation. We mustn't
strain out the gnats from our cup of tax
alton and leave the great humpbacked
camels.
1t is a self-evident proposition that
values created by the community belong
to the community, and cannot rghtfuly
be taken for private use. Let the annLal
rentals based those values 60 into he
common treasury for the common use