Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-12-08
EMPORIUM, PA, THURSDAY DECEMBER s. 1904.
The Observer.

ing upon the subject of good citizen
ship. The Observer is decidedly of
the opinion that citizenship is one of
the prime duties of manhood. One
part of the duty of citizenship in its
widest sense is the payment of taxes.
Ours is free country, it is true, but
this does not mean that it costs us
nothing to govern ourselves. Our in
stitutions are free, and SO is water
free; but a system of waterworks
cannot be maintained without some
little expense, and it costs some money
too to maintain the institutions of a
| free government. The Observer thinks
that we are not sufficiently alive to
our responsibility in the matter of pay.
ing for what we get in the way of gov
ernment. From the point of view of
good citizenship, it would be better if
we were to pay all our taxes directly
instead of paying the greater part of
them indirectly in the form of an
added cost to the tea and shoes and
other necessaries that we buy. If we
should pay our taxes directly, we
should feel the cost of government
more keenly, but we should also ap-
preciate better the extent of our obli.
cation to the country for the blessings
of freedom and safety. If thing is
worth pay ing for at all it is worth the
feeling of cost that ought to go with
the payment.
Still, the great bulk of our people
recognize the necessity and justice of
taxation, whether direct or indirect,
and are willing to pay for the main
tenance of things which exist at public
cost. But there are some who are will
ing to shirk their share of the burden
If they can. We hear ofmulti million
| aires who try to have their assessments
cut down below what they ought to be
and Of others, rich and poor, who
would gladly escape the assessor alto
gether. But public sentiment is severe
upon these tax dodgers, and this
public condemnation is righteous and
healthful. The ordinary citizen has a
hearty contempt for any one who is
willing to live in the enjoyment of the
protection vouchsafed by the county,
state or nation, and yet will avoid if
he can bearing his part of the cost of
government.
But the benefits which we derive
fTn i,,g
any means to be measured fully in
dollars and cents. A man may be as.
sessed to the full value of his property,
and may pay his taxes promptly, and
yet he may be far from realizing the
ideal of good citizen. One may pay
taxes cheerfully, and yet not care to
vote Such a person is not a whit
better citizen than is the person who is
willing to vote but not to pay taxes
The Observer is glad to note that there
exists strong, wholesome sentiment
on the part of the great body of citi.
zens against this disposition on the
part of some to shirk the duty of
going to the polls. Any man who
stays away from the polls through
sheer Indifference is rightly looked up
on as first cousin to the man who votes
because he has been paid to vote.
But good citizenship extends beyond
the mere perfunctory marking and de-
posting of ballot. 1t is III our civic
institutions that we find the founda-
ton and the protecting walls within
which our whole social and Industrial
life is realized. No one can estimate
in terms OF money the value and mean
ing of the whole Industrial, social,
civic atmosphere in which we daily
live and move and have our being.
Every one of us is the constant bene-
ficiary of this larger spirit and atmos-
phere, and each one of us is under
bonds to do our part towards main
tanning and perpetuating it. The civic
and social air which we breath is gen
Grated in the large hearts and broad
minds of unselfish, public. spirited men
and women. We are all being bene-
fitted daily by the public-spirited
thoughts and actions ofothers, and we
owe it in our turn to contribute our
own share of moral aud intellectual
ozone to the public atmosphere, with
out which none of us could live. There
are some who are willing co live on
the oxygen which others generate,
and to give off in return for it moth.
ing but their own negative and poison
GUS carbonic acid gas. These are they
who say that the sphere of politics is
80 corrupt that no self-respecting man
can take part in it. They forget that
we all live constantly within the
sphere of a larger public life, and that
the public atmosphere would be a
great deal worse than it is if some per-