Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-11-26
PREACHING AND PRACTICE.


the difference between his prodigality
of mugwumpery when he is dealing
out to the farmers his sermons about
the monstrous injustice of our present
mode of taxation, and his parsimony
of performance in lining up in support
of the q. o. F., when any voting is
to be DONE gives two reasons for his
conduct.
This editor has used up whole gobs
Of gray matter In impressing upon the
farmers aforesaid the enormity of max
ing them pay three times as much in
the way of taxes as the big corpora
tions pay ON their property, and he
deals with the taxing officials for
writing down the valuations of those
who are most able to pay, and keeping
up those of the ones who can hardly
make both ends meet, with n great
deal of irrelevant morality at long dis
tapce, after election, with all the gusto
of the grangers' winter opening Of
their stock of grievance in the matter
Of high county salaries.
When he is taken to task for not
saying something of the sort with a
practical application in the way of
advice to vote as he talks, instead of
beating the old tom-tom of what the
Republican party has done, he gives
the two reasons referred to. AS these
ere so cogent and conclusive, we ven
ture to repeat them.
The first is that Tom Johnson is
Q demagogue of the yellowest stripe"
This Is settler, and of course a COM
plete justification of the bald
scoundrelism of the system of taxa
tion in Ohio, which permits a railroad
company, whose dividends go to New
York to he spent, to have its property
valued at twenty per cent. of its mar
ket worth, wn,le the owner of house
and lot or "A farm Is taxed upon from
sixty to seventy per cent. of all his lit
the property would sell for. And when
the County Auditors who fix these val
uations In the first instance, brazenly
own up that they come to the meeting
with railroad passes in their pockets:
ana when, later on, the State Board,
composed wholly of Republican office
holders, claim the law don't let them
make any additions to the values as
returned, and, being reminded that
they have done this very adding here
tofore, they only say, please marin
IT was such n little baby" and have
nothing else TO otfer,-when all this is
a notorious fact. 1t Is thought to be 4,
4ood answer to pour ont this guff about
Tom Johnson being a "demagogue." :"
Docs his demagoguery If he is a dema.
9ogue excuse the rascallty of these
pass-mohgers, any more than the dem
agoguery OF the Medina Gazette does
This answer has not even the merit
OF being original. 1t is, apparently.
adopted from u writer on rhetoric ~
some fame, who characterlzes this
waste of mental tissue by the Medina
kpfa Al
""eacfe' thus; "One may often meet
with sophistlcal refutation OF oh
'ecuohs' consisting in counterobjec,
lions urged against something else
which Is taken for granted TO he.
though II is not, the only alternative.
II is thus that "A man com.
monty replies to the censure passcd
on any vice he Is addicted To- nv
representing sGne other vice as worse,
For example, If he is blamed for he.
Ing sol, he dIatcs ON luc greater
enormlty of being thlcf; as if there
Were any need that he should he
either
II the editor of the Medina Gin.
zette was not IN the mind of the lot,
Archbishop Of Dublin, when he wrot,
the foregoing description of him
theh we are a long way mistaken.
The next reason given by tho saif
sditor man for abiding 10y Republi
can evils rather than adopting an,
remedies, Is that Mr.. JOhnson's "pe
theory for years has been single tax-
tax solely upon land" This ia ,
reireShihg piece Of misinformatlon.-
coming, as 1t does, from one who #
calling his nelghbors "demagogues
II the Medina county farmers ar
TO be taught that this is any homes
definition of the single-tax. ana or
TO be asked to infer that TIA n,
iand values as proposed by s.ngle
tax advocates, Is the equivalent fl
meaning Of tax ON land, as ordlnar
lily understood, they had better shu
up shop and advertise for a ne,