The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1912-08-17

Twice the referendum was USED
in Great Britain in 1910. First
in the month of January, and
last in December. 1t was one
war which was determined by
two battles. The landed aristoc-
racy fought against what was
simply fair and right. They
ghtagainst it in fullview of the
furnishing condition of the mass
es, whose burdens were and had
for three hundred years been so
great that they were no longer
an adequate source of revenue.
The landed aristocracy fought
against it in spite of the fact
that the life of the Nation was
at stake and the levy was an alb
solute necessity. The landed
aristocracy of Great Britain is
composed of precisely the same
kind of people as the crowd we
call 1.-The classes. They have
no virtues, they have no moral
sentiment, they have no moral
sense, they have no patriotism.
Having ears they hear not, hav-
ing eyes they see not. They be-
lieve that
They may take who hare the poscer,
And those may keep sUho can.
That is a safe and secure doc
trine as long as it is enjoyed and
INDUCED exclusively by the
classes. 1t would be different
should the masses adopt that
slogan.
The present Ministry in Great
Britain is very able, very Demo-
cratic, and very progressive.
They are on the firing line in the
vanguard of the worldwide
march that is moving against the
entertainments of Privilege.
The strangest and most aston
ishing movement in all the world
is the recent revolution in China.
Sun Vat Sen, who is no doubt a
man of Destiny, possessing am
pie knowledge of all things Chi
nese, and also intimately ac-
quainted with all things worth
knowing in the civilizations of
the Western World, led the revo-
luton to a successful conclusion,
never. hesitating nor hating I'M
til he had secured for the New
Republic a complete and perfect
system of direct taxation. We
may expect to see in the immedi-
ate future marvellous prosperity
and progress in the celestial Re-
public. Sun Vat Sen is a wise
patriot, and may he live to see
with his own eyes how great will
be the blessings it was his mis-
sion to bestow.
Sun Vat Sen is not in Louisi-
ana. He is in far Cathay. Woe
is me! If we have one wise pa
triot in Louisiana, he should now
come forward and submit his
credentials or forever hereafter
hold his peace. Every patriot in
the State should now enter the
fray, for we are threatened with
the loss of Home Rule and all it
stands for. The proposal of the
Tax Commission is to cancel, an
null and erase any and every yes
tige of direct taxation that we
now have and give us in it's place
a complete system Of indirect
taxation. Compared with the
march of events elsewhere our
wheel is to be turned backward.
1t has been said by some that
conditions here are bad. If so
we are to go from bad to worse.
In the present Constitution the
ordinances covering the system
of taxation aim at fairness and
equality. The intention is that
each taxpayer shall pay into the
State Treasury and into the Par
ish Treasury amounts in proper
ton to the value of the property
he owns. The intention is fair.
and granting that assessments
should be accurately and scrupu-
lously made, we would have
equality of taxation if it were
not true that there is an import
ant and natural difference be-
tween landed property and all
other property. Land is not a
thing created by labor. All other
property is created by labor.
Land was created by the Creator