The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-11-07
S
DICE.
54I5sJGE DEAD 81; f. x1PREsi-
NREFORM
uBRARp QUOTES Utter
lsfgcEs oFSSsP president ON 5s#5
s3fioNEsTYEssEk AxATlo ON.
sSPAY NfENT Or DUE SHARE
n sstouEDsB OF HIGHEST I'M
SPORTANCE.5s

Lrrnont read Il he following extract
Ts1-P sidents Harrison's address
he Union League Club of Chi
g $50 on Vashington, birthday, 1898.
of the preachers today might
take the hint given in the last
graph. Ii
Tne great bulk Of our people are
ice They do not believe
love of poverty is virtue ts-
Il crime. They believe in an
geana1itys OF opportunity and not of dol
But there must be no handicap
Of the dull brother, and no Chi
ssanary or fraud or sinking. = .
en- who have wealth must not
III from the tax gatherer and
on the street Such things
great discomfort. All other
nen are hurt. They bear a dispro-
portio nate @burd len strong soldier
carry the knapsack of q crippled
Eonrad but he will not permit ro-
bnst shirk 10 add SO much as his tin
the burd len The special pur-
my address to-day is to press
some el1-to-do people of our
nlnannities and especially of our
tiles IN hat one Of the condi-
Hons Of the security of wealth is a
rtionate and full contribution 20
expenses@of the State and local
tt is not only wrong,
Nsbnf IS unsafe, to make show in
ZONES and on the streets that is
rot made In the tax returns.
Equality isS the golden thread that
runs throughsa al the fabric Of our civ
inst tutions-the dominating note
I'm the swelling symphony Of liberty.
I.hssfaVorftisms and class distinctions
ahe goyernmen ts and administra-
a lions 0fEuropes were destroyed with
iheestablishmentof government un-
A,nerican Constitution. At the
polls before the courts, in all assem-
3 blfes Of the people, in all legislation
ahere vas toS be-; nota class peerage.
iYersal speerage. And as a
rofIarys necessary and imperative
ito this doctrine of an equality of
is#t the doctrine of a proportion
ate and s8ratable contribution to the
eostg Of administering the government.
sfndeed his principle of proportion
8sates burden might be more properly
eaHed an Inherent part of the doc
trfne Of equal tights.
Honesty IN Taxation.
part Of our individual cove i
nans 18th he State as citizens that
honestly and fully, III the
roportio1 fixed from time to
law contribute our just share
an public expenses. A full and
conscientious discharge of that duty
citizen IS one of the tests of
good citizenship. To evade that duty
mora delinquency, an unpatriotic
act Ehes tax,paying conscience is
times ofpeace. When a raw
aging eSthreatens population with
FIRE and sword men appreciate the de-
hich the government inter
poses between them and the danger.
8gl van 10 emphasize if | can, the
Though that Ihe preservation of tn!s
SIginciple&of a sproportfonatei contribu-
Stian, according to the true value OF
what each man has, to the public eS-
spendfturesi is essential to the mainte-
nance Of our free institutions. anc of
peace and good order in our commu-
nities do not say that every tax
must be universal and touch all prop
klI1Q-z ne SeueEaL prop
\ erty tax must do so. but ] recognize
the act that excise taxes and fran
v ehiseE taxes. and such like, may be lev
Heidi addition to the general proper
stysta0, and that the requirement as to
such taxes is#on1y that they be uni
form in the class which is subjected to
sdheIns and that the classification shall
he natural and not arbitrary
ss Highest Obligation.
Taxes are a debt of the highest OBJ
sEgation, and no casuist can draw a
Syorad moral distinction between the
man swho hides his property or makes
~ false#return in order to escape the
d pal Inent Of his debt to the State, and
the man who conceals his property
from his private creditors. Nor should
s5t be more difficult to follow the de-
SIaul ter IN the one case than in the
s0ther If our taxes were farmed out
to ansindividuaI or to corporation
they would beScollected. There would
he a vi gi1ant and unrelenting pursuit.
The civil and criminal processes of
the Raw would be invoked with effect,
just as they were against fraudulent