The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-11-03


In other words those great public util-
tiles which are too great, too powerful
to be left in the hands of private men
to be used for their private gain, ought
to be bought by the government, taken
over by the government, owned by the
government and operated by the gov
eminent for the equal benefit of us all
rich and poor. prolonged applause.)
Taxation
Under the present system of taxation
how much federal tax do you pay?
From your hat down to your shoes
you are heavily taxed-federal taxes.
Every particle of food that goes on
your table. everything that makes up
your bed. everything that furnishes
your house, everything that ministers
to the necessities that comfort the wife
or child, you are taxed on it, and the
great burden OF this tax rests on the
shoulders of the middle classes and the
poor. The great corporations pay none.
Do you ever stop to think of it? On
your one-norse farm or in your little
cottage il you are a miner you pay
more taXes-more federal taxes than
the Standard Oil company pays. The
Standard Oil company is worth any
where from S500,000,00 to $1,000 000,-
000 and SO far as federal taxes are con-
cerned it does not pay one blessed cent.
You pay your taxes and theirs too.
The great express companies whose
stock can not be bought in the market
because it is so valuable, pay no fed
eral taxes. The great insurance COM
panies which pay their president $780,,
GOO year. just as We pay our presi-
dent, pay no federal taxes at all. The
great railroad corporations worth ten
billion dollars, having revenue greater
than that Of the United States govern
ment pay no federal taxes whatever.
You not only pay your taxes but you
pay theirs too, just as you pay for
yoiii'filas-.ssn the train and pay for the
rich dead head too fEs g.
you stand situation like that? CA
voice, Not very long, How long can
you labor under disadvantages like
that? When | tell you of things like
that do you wonder where the wealth
of the land goes? If one man has an
advantage given him by law at the ex-
it will reduce the man who has not got
it to poverty and want. The peoples
party proposes to take the taxes off Of
the necessaries Of life which the poor
have got to buy in order to live. Take
it off. Don't tax the neceSsaries of
life. Don't tax the common clothing
that man has got to have to live.
Don't tax the common food that he has
got to have to live. Don't tax the
simple furniture and bedding that he
has got to have to live. Don't force
him back to barbarism where he lives
on bread and water and sleeps like a
beast in lair. Treat him like man.
Take Off the taxes from the necessaries
of life Treat him like a God-made
man with the breath of immortality in
him and put the taxes on the ric4 cor
pOrations that get the most out OF the
government and pay nothing. Gap
plause) Let us have an income tax.
Put it on these great corporations and
make them help support the govern
! ment under which they have got rich.
The democratic party does not say SO.
The republican party does not say SO.
The peoples party says SO, always has
said it and always will say it. Cap
l'fessse@l
Now it is very Tssllsnsssting~ to me to
talk to you under these circumstances,
no matter how much am flattered by
your interest because | see with what
interest you follow these discussions).
l say this is the system as we have
got it. If it is all right, then vote for
the system just as we have got it with
all it's injustice, with all its favoritism,
with all its discrimination in favor of
concentrated and corporate wealth
against the unprivileged and unfayored
many. If you are in favor of it, sup
port it. But if you think it is wrong,
if you think that every man ought to
be taxed alike, according to what he
has got according to his ability to
pay and that every man ought to have
equal and exact justice before the law,
then inquire who is responsible for the
system as you have got it. The peo-
pies party is not. They never had a
chance to remedy it. We did not orig
mate the system. What we say is
that both the old parties have been in
control of the government, both the
old parties united to do these things
both the old parties had the opportun-
ity to reform these abuses and neither