The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-01-24
Will HISTORY
REPEAT ITSELF?
Senator Borah Vividly Draws Most
Significant Historical PARALLEL
Warns the Nation of Its Comina
Danger.
UNJUST AND UNFAIR TAX LAWS

America Is Now IN q Position Simila
to That of France at The Outbrea
of the Fierce and Bloody Frenc
Revolution. +
Since Congress has reassembled an
,till has the revenue question to de;
With, it is to be hoped there will b
more wisdom and statesmanshi
shown than was manifest in framin
# the present law, The Importance Q
his. matter was not exaggerated b
Senator Borah when he drew paral
ell from French history in whic
Louis XVI appears as being no les
weak than the majority in the presen
Congress. In his address, which ar
,ears on page. 6945 Of the Congress
,ional Record, Senator Raroh said:
"Tax laws, unjust and unfair
tax laws, have been the source
Of more misery, more agony,
though often voiceless, and finally
more bloodshed and slaughter,
than any other form of legisla-
tion to which men have given
their efforts. The unequal burdens
of government distributed unjust
ly by those in power have been
the undermining inuence Of gov
ernmental organizations time and
time again. It was the refusal
Of the king to listen to his great
finance minister, Turgot, which
brought on the French revolu-
tion. Turgot said to his king,
4 will re-distribute these taxes.
I will take off the taxes on the
necessaries Of life, the taxes that
are crushing your peasantry and
reducing 80 per cent Of your peo-
pie to poverty and drudgery, and
breeding discomfort and disloyal-
ty everywhere, and l will lay it
on the great estates, the wealth
which surrounds YOU The king
was pleased, for while Louis did
not have great mind he had
better heart than it is usually
piven to kings to possess. He
told the minister to proceed. The
minister did not proceed far, how
ever. The wealthy estates de-
manded an 4 audience with the
king on the question Of taxes:
The king listened, wavered, and
in that wavering lost his head.
Turgot was dismissed, the taxes
were distributed as of old, hun
ger and want and crime came to-
gether and executed their wild
system of justice, and lords and
satellites and kings paid the for
felt of their crime. The French
Revolution was the most stupen-
dous exhibition of retributive JUS
tice in the history Of the human
race, and it's origin, it's source
and it's moving force were the un-
lust tax laws of France" j.,
Senator Borah did not want I
rirhten his colleagues too badly an
. did not explain more definltel
What Turgot's ideas were. lurgo
vas one Of the economic schoe
Inown as physiocrats. They advo
,ated the raising Of all public reven
8 by tax on land values, as tn
single Takers Of today would 90.
] no wonder that the privileged class
8 of his time, no less blind than ou
,wn Rockefellers and Morgans, IN
listed on his dismissal. So far con
,ress has not, shown as much coul
zoe as poor old Louis XVI. he a
east made Turgot minister OF tlnanc
Nth the intention Of letting him pu
,;s ideas into force. He showed a
Inclination to do something user
,efore he was scared away. Congress
Il the other hand, seems to have bee
,cared away before it showed an III, ~
to something useful. Dill
! raise war revenue by taxation Q
and values were introduced by Con
,ressman Crosser and by Senate
l1rews. Neither emerged from Tn
committee stage. Congress fear .
he land monopolist was 50 great tns s
While it put war taxes on near
.verything, it exempted land vaiue'
How like the protests OF the ian la !
nonopolists Of today are those tna
we're urged against Turgot's propos,
ion They. too, make assertions SIN
lar TO what Senator Borah quote'
Md because their protests have pee
,eeded, 4 system Of taxation is man 7
aimed which puts the heaviest burae a,s
4 necessaries Of life, keeps up tn
,ost Of living and reduces the grea
majority Of the people to poverty an
lrudgery. -. j
. Congressmen and Senators who 9
,ot want to lose their political head'
vould do we'll to ponder over Wns
senator Borah told them.
ON BUTTER IS
ANNOUNCED BY Y.
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