The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-04-24
FULL F|VE-TO-ONE
TRIBUTE IS PAID
To the Trusts Under Pres
ent Tariff Laws.
GOVERNMENT GETS A DOLLAR
While big Interests" Get
Five Out of the Reve.
nue. Collections.
EXCISE BILL LIKELY TO PASS
Especial Correspondence. }

washington, April lS.-The i'm
preston is steadily gaining ground
that the Democratic excise-income
tax, which proposes to place upon
wealth a part of the burden of sus-
tanning the Government, will pass
the Senate and the White House.
Senator Penrose, who pretends to
be the leader of the Stand-patters
in the Senate, has made the state
ment that none of the Democratic
bills would be allowed to pass the
Senate, but it is becoming more and
more apparent that Senator Pen
rose and those of his kind who have
assumed in the past to rule the Sen
ate, no longer have the power to
ALLOW" certain measures to pass,
or prevent others from passing.
The truth is, a great many of the
Senators on both sides of the cham
Der, either because they are at last
| frightened by the wave of protest
against the high tariff injustice, or
because they believe in the inner
ent right and justice of the income
| tax measure, have come TO look ia
vorably on the bill. At least there
has been a cessation of the talk
about the unconstitutional of
the measure, and since this argu-
ment always has been the Stand
pat answer to all logical proposals,
the sign Is considered a good one.
Nobody pretends to know, of course
what the ultimate fate of the pres
ent bill will be, but from the
popular approval that has been ac-
corded the measure, it is admitted
by all that such legislation must
come eventually.
The present tariff law raises
about $33O,OOO,0OO annually in
Government revenues. For every
dollar of revenue thus turned into
the United States Treasury, il is
estimated by Democratic leaders in
Congress, who have studied the
matter from every possible angle,
that the tariff barons put five dol
lars into their own pockets in the
form of loot. In other words, the
tariff gives these beneticiaries the
right to collect five dollars in trib
ute for every dollar the Govern
ment collects in revenue.
This condition Is alone RESPONSE
BILE for the horde of mushroom mil
lionaires in this country. On ev-
cry article of daily use the people
of this country pay this "tive-to-
one" tribute.
In the past, the tariff barons
have urged a tariff for two princi-
pal reasons. First, they pretended !
that they desired to protect"
American workmen. That this ar
gument, which the protectionists in |
Congress listened to with a willing |
ear for the past sixteen years, is a
farce, pure and simple, has been !
proven beyond a doubt by the Dem |
ocrats at this session of Congress, |
chiefly through the various investi- !
cations into trust methods. Sec
ondly, the trust heads pointed out |
that in no other way could revenue
be collected for the Governments
support. They thus gave their
plea for a tariff the form of an ex-
cuse.
Having disposed of the first "rea-
son" for keeping up the tariff, the
through the excise-in-
come tax bill, have offered a solu-
ton of the other alleged difficulty.
The bill repeating the tax on SUI
gar, which will reduce the price to
the consumer cents a pound If the
measure is enacted into law, and
the bill to place tax on all in
comes of more than $1,000 a year,
are two of the most important
measures passed by the House of
Representatives in the last quarter
Of a century.
These sister bills, conceived and
framed by Democratic committees,
we're so good, in fact, that eighty
were forced to vote for
hem. Forced to vote for them"
s the correct expression, because
he Republicans refused steadfast-
y when in power to pass such leg
Station, or even to consider it, but
when the Democrats forced them to
Tote one way or the other, they
we're afraid to vote against either
ill, lest their constituents retire
hem to private life.