The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-10-07
THE DEMOCRATIC FAILURE

THE DEMOCRATIC FAILURE.
This war tax bill that Is in the IL
nal stages of its adoption by consress'
with its stamp impost on checks and its
levy on chewing-gum might better be
called a measure to extend first aid
and relief to the deficient economic
policies of the Democratic statesmen.
That they have failed miserably to de-
liver the goods that were expected rom
them by their promoters Is fact be-
yond question And had the war not
come along when it did. the Democrats
at Washington would assuredly have
had to devise ways and means to offset
the decreasing governmental revenues
on the one hand and to>satiate their
methods of governmental
administration on the other.
AS a producer Of revenue, the tariff
law had proven itself a distinct failure
long before the war began. 1t is prov
itself to be such daily even under the
the trade conditions that the war has
brought about. At several OF the
American ports the imports OF late
have been almost as large as they were
before the war and in normal tines.
But the revenues from them have been
as nothing as to what they were under
tariff laws. The income
tax law also fell down miserably from
what was expected of it. 1t was aimed
almost exclusively at the rich Of the
nation. And one of two things Is GER
tain Either the rich are able to 'evade
the law, or else there is not pluto
crat of predatory tendencies under ev-
cry bush to be found In these United
States, as the spellbinders are wont to
declare in their pursuit Of the elusive
and equally gullible vote. And the lat
ter is the moro likely.
Added to the failure Of these ecOno-
mic policies, the finances of the nation
have been further crippled by the I'M
paralleled extravaganza OF the Demo-
cratic party. The appropriations OF the
congress have actually
been in excess Of the high-water mark
that was touched by the Republican
congresses that came in for such bitter
criticism on this score. And no criti-
cism in this line was keener and more
vigorous than that which came from
the Democratic party. Under the head
ing Republican Extravaganza" it IL
written in the national Democratic
platform on which woodrow Wilson
and his party campaigned two years
ago:
I'VE denounce the profligate waste Of
the money wrung from the people by
taxation through the lavish
Of recent Republican
which have kept taxes high
and reduced the purchasing power OF
the peoples toll. We demand return
to that simplicity and economy which
BELTS a democratic government and a
reduction in the number Of useless
offices, the salaries of which drain the
substance Of the people,"
So much for Democratic promises.
Their performances are far from being
in keeping with them. Just to cite an
other concrete instance. The force of
the treasury department alone has been
by more than a thousand adj
employees since the Democrats
obtained control of it. Not only have
the tariff and the income tax laws
failed to produce the revenue that the
Democrats expected of them and that
the nation needs, but the tariff law has
failed so far to make any appreciable
dent in the cost Of living. And one Of
the paramount promises of the Demo-
Gratis before they tried their tariff tin
kering was that it would.
The war certainly arrived at an OPP
perfume time for the Democratic party.
The war tax bill will provide the rev.
enue that is demanded by the failure Of
its economic policies and its extfava-
gances. But the Democrats are prob
ably going to have a difficult time in
fooling all the people into q belief that
the European war made any such
revenue legislation neces-
sary. Their own mistakes and their
for pork and patronage has
placed the finances of the government
In such shape that additional revenue
from other sources, than the usual ones
must he raised