The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-14

vigorously to enforce the criminal laws by the punishment of all guilty men, whatever their offence or their nominal standing in the community, can be other than fatal to justice and viola tive of all precepts, whether divine or human. are closely connected. there has been manifest, of late years, a strange ten dency to overlook the intimate rela- tions which the two, last named. must with which our society is now either afflicted or theratened, has grown out Of the abuse of the taxing power of the Government. It is, nearly half cen tury since we finally consented to levy Federal taxes for a purpose other than that of meeting the real needs of Gov periods of our history this policy had been concealed behind the plea of in- rant industries, or appeals for inde- pendence of some vague but shrewdly duty was not advocated as good. or mentioned without apology. It was defended only as an expedient, never as policy to be adopted or applied permanently.
 Development and its Results.
 But the time came when the world made unexpected, unforeseen demands upon us for food and the raw materials of manufacture. In order to meet these. our people, with renewed energy.
 
 ment of their internal resources. They brought large areas of lands under til- lage, opened mines. increased their fa- cilities for internal transport. and be- gan to draw from lavish nature re- sources which, in time. they came fond ly to think of as almost boundless This left them little time to watch the growth of taxation, levied not for it's own sake, but a system which poured $4 into the pockets of special interests aud individuals, while leaving $1 for the Government.
 Almost silently there accumulated in our communities the wealth that came from ability and enterprise, and from the quick apprehension. of opportuni- ties. To this our people have always been accustomed. and it's possession ac- counts for comfortable and even luxu- rious homes. high standard of com fort artistic tastes, and the general diffusion of education and culture. This wealthy came slowly and surely. as the natural reward of industry. and brought with 1t multiplied blessings, and no so- cial or political perils.
 A New order and New Kind of Wealth.
 All at once. with a growth like Jonah's gourd there came to our people Individual fortunes. amounting to hun dreds of millions of dollars, were seen to be the product of few years devo- ton, to single industry. in which; by it's laws, the Government had doubled or trebled the value of the wares be- fore they reached the consumer. With out doubt, great organizing %entE 6. with the gift of sweating both humtn n brains and human bodies. had been ap- piled to the work of making these gains, but. in spite of this, there emerged from the American steel and iron industry, no Bessemer or Siemens, no great original master process. which. bringing its due and proper reward 70 the inventor or the discoverer. makes the whole world better as well as richer Under our system. Government subsi- dies took from the American consumer the fruits of the ability and the inRen- uity of these great men, and enabled chosen few to pocket most of the profits for themselves.
 As time went on protests were raised. here and there. against these eXaCti0ns. so that it became necessary to defend. in every possible way. what mad been built up by public favor Whenever there was a threat of the reduction or the loss of a tariff duty, there stood monopoly armed. ready to defend its privileges. That 1t asked no questions how this was to be done is shown hv the additions to the political literature of our country. From the days when General Fitzpatrick said that the In diana voters were poor. needy. and in debt" down through those of the fiat fryer" and his successors. to those of the recent insurance scandals we have witnessed the pTOk resSiVn dcveIopment If the lobby. ard have seen the aVow- ed. deliberate open. shameless purchase Q of votes. still further to strengthen privilege.
 Then came the "foater." dealt with in blocks" of increasing size, until to- day thare are. in some of our States.