Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1903-10-22

few appropriate words introduced the
second speaker of the evening. Hon.
j.. M. Brenton, mayor of Des Moines,
who spoke in part as follows:
| Mayor Brenton's Address.
The speech of Mayor Brenton was in
part as follows:
"Of all good things. Iowa is the best.
She has the ablest men, the best look
+ ing men. the handsom est women and
| the finest cattle, horses and hogs.
| There isn't state that parallels with
Iowa.
The democratic party has no fixed
policy. In the days of Jackson and JEFF
ferson it may have had a fixed policy,
but if it had it has forgotten it. Today
the democrats are in search of an issue
with which to win campaign. And
no matter what issue they may
light upon they always predict dire ca
lamity il you do not vote with theme
for their issue. The democratic candi-
date for governor of the state of
Iowa is making his race upon national
issues. He can find no state issues.
A Few Facts.
| "He would have you believe that the
tax upon agriculture has been raised
out of all proportion to the tax upon
railroad property. Let me call one fact
to your attention. For twenty years
the assessed valuation of railroad prop.
erty has been added to steadily little
/ bit each year 1t has not been large
addition, but it has been steady adj
vance. For twenty years farm proper
ty has not increased in assessed valu-
alton. Your representative has told
you the truth in regard to the express
and telegraph companies. The bill
that they passed is now getting at the
tangible property which the assessor
cannot levy upon. 1t Is not the few
horses and wagons used by the express
companies to deliver their goods and it
| is not the little bit of furniture that
| they have in their offices that makes
them great dividend paying concerns.
1t is the great volume of business that
| they do. The merchandise which they
transport is their great wealth. You
cannot count the telegraph poles and
weigh the wire belonging to the tele-
graph company and arrive at the worth
of the company. 1t is the business
!, they do the franchises which permit
them to do business. that makes them
| concerns of great wealth. The supreme
court of Illinois has decided that this
1 intangible value of such companies
shall be taxed and slowly and steadily
| this advances is being made. 1t is slow
and hard fight and the great Hobbies
of men whom these companies
send to the state legislature makes the
work harder still. but in the face of
all there is constant and steady adj
| vance.
| Other Counties Besides Our Own.
"One thing we must not forget is that
/ there are other counties in the state
besides our own. A bill that may seem
all right for Vgapello county may seem
! all wrong for ninety-eight other coun-
] ties in the state and we must not for
get that their interests must be consid-
cred.
1--WE have great mammoth govern
ment and the expenses of conducting it
are something tremendous. This mon
ley must be raised and it must be raised
! by taxation There are but two ways
of raising money by taxation, one
direct, personal tax, and the other an
i indirect tax The experience of all ma
i lions of all times is that the one meth
cd OF levying direct tax upon the per-
/ son has been absolutely of no avail
i The method of indirect taxation is
! the only possible way to raise a just
and equitable tax levy.
May Not Be Cheapest
GA free government may not always
| be the cheapest kind of government
but we are satisfied to pay little
more for the privilege of having a
free government and of having our lit
| tie say in it's management. The tax
| that we pay is our tribute and our
share of the burden of the expenses in
maintaining it. The experience of all
nations of the earth has been that the
best and most equitable method of
levying this tribute is by indirect tax
alton.
1 Tariff for revenue only and tariff
for protection are two great opposing
systems in raising taxes. One is a
method of raising money to pay ex-
penses OF government from the neces-
saries of life, the other is a system of
industrial development in which a
4 sklllful adjustment of the taxes lev
led produce the expense money for the
4 government and at the same time af-
ford protection for home labor and
home industries. Tariff for revenue
/ only is passed upon tax on the neceS-
saries of life which are the chief sub
sistence OF the poor man and conse-
| quentiy the chief burden of taxation
falls upon him. The tariff party has
from 1889 advocated tariff policy
| with protective feature. Back in the
time of George Washington, Alexan-
der Hamilton recommended taxes with
the protective idea in order that the
manufacturing interests of the new
| country might be fostered If this had
not been done and the policy had not
been followed, we would today be
| wholly an agricultural nation The
| wonderful development of our manu-
featuring interest, magnificent as they
are would never have occurred and the
4 IL