Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1913-05-23

ANYWAY at d point
' miles south Of the city. Con-
fusion in orders is supposed to nave
been the u of the wreck.
act nigh rate from farmers" he
says. 1T will industry, which offers
the next highest returns. This
Will stimulate industry. build new
factories. and raise wages by in
creasing the demand for labo.."
Washington, May ia con-
crete example of the often msds
statement that under our present
system Of raising revenue to meet
the expenses of the general gov
ernent the poor man with the fam
lily is actually contributing more
towards the maintenance of the
government than the millionaire
bachelor. was given to the House
of Representatives by Congressman
Clyde H. Tavenner of Illinois.
The pending income tax mea-
sures," declared Tavenner, will
mean that for the first time since
our government has stood, wealth
will be required to bear a fair
proportion Of the burden of nation
al taxation. Under the present
system the National Government
raises the money necessary to run
the government by taxing, by
means of tariff and internal rev-
enue taxes, the things that the
people eat, wear and use. Wealth
alone goes untaSed.
"ln order TO make it perfectly
plain how it happens that a mao
with a large family working on
the section OF a railroad is actually
paying more toward running the
National Government than a mil
lionaire bachelor who is too proud
to marry and raise children. | will
cite n illustration out of a multi
tude which could be given.
The Payne-Aldrich tariff tax
on sugar Is approximately 2 cents
a pound. Everytime the American
housewife buys a pound of sugar
that is in reality worth a cents she
pays 6 cents for it. not knowing
that the sugar is worth but 4 cents
and that she is paying 2 cents
as a tax to the National Govern
me.
That the price Of an article is en-
HANGED by the amount of the tariff
tax. is evidenced by the fact that in
England, where there is no 2-cent
tax on sugar the average wholesale
price Of sugar the year around is
approximately IL cents (the
amount of the Payne-Aldrich taxi
less than in the United States.
"The average tax on all articles
under the Payne-Aldrich law is ap
proximately 400 per cent. Nearly
everything n must buy at the
grocery. the hardware store and
the dry goods store carries a tariff
tax which means that the local
merchant acts ia the capacity of
tax collector for Uncle Sam with
out being paid for it, and he is as
unconscious of the fact as are his
customers hat in making pur-
chases they are paying taxes.
ITO show, finally, that under the
present fiscal system the millionaire
bachelor does not contribute as
much toward maintaining the Ma
tional Government as the average
workingman with q family II is
but necessary to point OUT that
the millionaire docs not eat as much
sugar as the entire family Of the
workingman and, as the tax is
wholly on consumption, it is OBJ
vious that the workingman with a
family buys more pounds of sugar
in a year, contributing his 2-cent
sugar tax to the Government a
greater number OF times than the
millionaire, and thus actually pay
ing n larger tax than the million.
aire.
This illustration need not be
confined to the purchase of sugar,
for II applies with equal aptness TO
any protected article and there are
400 items in the Payne-Aldrich
tariff law.
"ThePayne-Aldrich law, however.
taxes neither wealth nor income.
-on mov hive n million dollarR