Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-12-08
An Unabridged Right.

lran party was to he congratulated
upon the fact that "the revenues of
tn" country" despite the war cx-
p"n'r~, "wcre now showing consd-
cradle surplus over expenditures" and
this result, it will be remembered it
claimed, WAS mo small credit 20 Re
publican iinanciering."
The STANDARD thought at the time,
that the Press was treading on rather
ticklish ground by the endeavor to
claim party credit for a system of tax.
alton which reached the poor man as
surely as the tariff in nearly every
thing he cats and wears, on the tools
with which he tills the earth, or hcws
Il living out of the forest, or ,lclvcs it
from sea or land. And sure enough,
the STANDARD and other papers criti-
ciSms have kept the Press in fer
ment, ever since, in endless endeavor
TO show that the "credit" is still due
the party, ii, indeed, the people have to
pay the bills.
There is very little doubt but that
Congress intended to place the stamp
tax on Geographic messages, bank
checks, proprietary medicines, etc,
upon the corporations using them, or
to, at least, make showing OF that
intent; but the Press thinks it would
have been unjust to have done so, and
exclaims, with show of righteous in.
dignation: Just as though the COM
panies the telegraph could have
borne the tax without raising the
price of messages which would
have been another simple method of
distributing the tax as widely as under
the stamp requirement"
The idea that the individuality of
the nation should pay all the taxes,
ordinary and extraordinary, seems to
be the line of thought of some Repub-
licans of the class of our St. Paul
ncighbor. They cannot see that the
man with his millions has much more
to be protected by law-and by the
life OF the citizen in its defense if need
be-than the man who may not even
own the roof over his head nor the
porridge-pot he eats out of, nor the
bed he sleeps upon. He can give his
life In support of the war, it is true,
but, ii he is killed in battle or by
"embalmed" beef, or by pestilence,
he has done but his simple duty in
"life's fitful struggle" and the regula.
ton head-board at his grave dis
charges the debt of the government.
The Press says that criticisms of its
position seem to involve the assump-
ton that the corporations and capital
lists OF the country have greater in
terest in establishing free govern
ment in Cuba and the Philippines,
and in maintaining the honor of our
flag, than the people at large, and so
the former ought to foot the bills"
Certainly. That is just the claim
made by corporations and capitalists
OF the counry." They are bold and
arrogant in all their political dealings
with the people, and claim for them
selves privileges which the humble
citizen never thinks of assuming.
The old leaven of the Hamilton party
has continually cropped out in opposi-
ton to Democracy till the present
day, in which the wealthy and the
professional classes of the country are
almost invariably found arrayed
against muscle and Drawn.
And cannot our st. Paul neighbor
see the weakness of his contention
when it is universally acknowledged
that the stability of any tax levy is
based upon that uniformity" which
makes the burden fall lighter on the
shoulders that are least able to bear it,
while covering property values as ba-
sis. The man whose earthly possessions
aggregate in value five thousand dollars
very justly pays about five times the
tax OF the man whose property is as
sessed at one thousand, and why
should not the individual whose &C.
QUESTIONS have reached q million dol
lars pay correspondingly as much
more as the man with five thousand
does over his neighbor with a single
thousand This principle was at.
frmed by tie vote of the U. S. Supreme
Court, and a majority till Bradley
Topped" when it was held that it
was right and constitutional to tax the
incomes of rich men, and the whole
court intimated a willingness to waive
any constitutional inhibition should
the emergency of war demand it.
Does not this seem to imply that there
is vested responsibility in large for
tunes q?
The wealth of the country looks
upon conquest and expansion of our
national domain, as opening up field
for still greater accumulation of gi-
gantic fortunes, and the assumption
OF the Press that "The interest of the
biggest capitalist in these humanitari-
an undertakings has been and is no
greater than that of the humblest
workingman," is simply absurd, and
that he (the workingman) is not to re-
ceive an equivalent. even in extending
the field of labor, is manifest by the
assimilation OF large element of serf
labor to compete with him at every
step in adoption of the colonial sys.
tenn.