The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-07
BLOW no sUGAR porTxT,Es

ne decision of the Michigan supreme
court, declaring the sugar bounty act Of
that state unconstitutional is the clear
est and most comprehensive deliverance
of the kind yet recorded in this country
of sugar bounties With singular blind
ness to the true economics of the ques-
ton, legislatures have voted public money
to assist beet sugar factories until the
beneficiaries in this Industry have come
to look upon the favor as their right.
The argument that the beet sugar in
dustry is of public benefit and therefore
entitled to public money has been dwelt
upon till many newspapers and people
apparently believe it. For the sake OF
securing the location of sugar factories
they are willing to advocate bounties
from the drop of the hat, and when the
attack is made upon legislature poorly
versed in economic law the result is
usually a bounty act. Several states of
the Northwest have provisions for do
mating public money In this way, and 1t
will interest them to know that the Michi-
gan supreme court did not base its de-
cision on the state constitution. but upon
general organic law which applies every
where The following extract from the
decision should be taken to heart:
s 1T is not a law, but an act which at
: tempts to take the property of one ciu-
zen aud turn it over. to another; to COM
pei one class TO devote part of It's prop
erty to another. Under the express terms
of the constitution private property can
not be- taken for private use, even with
compensation, without the owners con-
sent, nor can it be taken for public use
without just. compensation There Is no
claim here, nor can any be made, that
these taxes, thus imposed under the act,
are for -any->publie use, could the
state itself carry. on such business.
THERE'S no power in the state that can
authorize Il tax for private purposes
Taxes can be levied only for public pur-
poses and to accomplish some govern
ment end. The legislature is the mere
creature of an organic law, deriving all
its powers from the constitution. It's linn
its within that power must be admitted
to be plenary, except SO far as otherwise
specifically prohibited. 1t cannot take the
property of A and give it to B, nor can
it tax it for the benefit of B. Here is
private corporation now calling upon the
state for a sum of money to aid it in car
rying on private business, most OF
which money, If paid, must come out of
the pockets of people who are not en-
gagged in that business and who have no
interest in it.
The manufacture of beet sugar is no:
more of a public enterprise than is the
manufacture of plows or of flour: The
argument that it is of benefit to the
community applies with equal force to
any other private Industry Of ike magi'i-
tude, and lit would be as. reasonable
to propose a bounty. on plows. or flour.
Yet the man who Should make suchsa
proposition to the legislature would be
regarded as mentally Unbalanced fs@
only necessary to bear this true COM
parison in mind in order to see the, ao-
surdity of sugar bounties. yet too many
persons fail to recognize the simple truth.
Economic education In this country runs
in strata of false and true. and the SUI
ment In the false. 1t is safe to say
that every man who supports it's claim
to bounty from the public treasury is
Jeffersonian Democrat when it comes 10
1AOuI VI plOWS- ASH 0lUl 10 duNOCdGC
bounties to millers who take the farm
ers wheat and make from it a greater
staple than sugar, and he will want to
know if milling is not private business,
moved by the claim that while the man
ufacture of -four is profitable to- sem,>
mills in some localities, it is not in certain
other localities, and that it ought to be
made profitable in the latter at public
expense. Yet 1t Is precisely this argu-
ment that catches legislatures for the
sugar people.
1t stands to reason that as long as there
is a demand for -four and sugar, enough
of each will be manufactured to supply
the demand, and under conditions iasul
ing profit regardless of bounty. A
man looking for location for Touring
mill does not select an impractcable
spot from the standpoint of legitimate
profit, and demand bounties in or
der to make up to him the
profit, but chooses a feasible location
suited TO his business. There is plenty
of flour, and we do not hear of bounties.
But instead of following this sensible
rule, the observance of which would not
reduce the necessary supply of sugar by
a pound, the sugar capitalists are anxious
to locate in any old place on condition
that the people guarantee them profit
in their private business They say it i;
ordinarily not profitable, which means
simply that the people are getting their
sugar cheaper than the proposed new
factories could manufacture it, and these
sugar mills propose to do bus ness only
on condition that the people pay more
for their sugar. This is what the pub
lie does when it pays bounties to mills
that cannot sell sugar at prevailing
prices and avoid a deficit otherwise. 1t
is not the most desirable enterprise in
the world that would increase the cos.
to the people of one of the necessaries
of life as condition to its existence.
VOTING BY MAIL.
A contributor to current Atlantic
Monthly advocates the estap ishment u
voting system which will make 1t cor
venient for the busy citizen and the