The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-11-13

tCber financial letter issued 10y the
Farmers e. Merchants National bank
of Los Angeles, 'ithe Oldest bank in
southern California" that is out Of
the ordinary. The writer leaves the
we'll beaten paths usually followed by
bankers in discussing business con-
ditions and endeavors to place the re-
sponsibility for our national troubles
where it properly belongs, hewing to
the line regardless Of the fact that
most of the chips fall in the White
House yard:
1T is an old saying that whom the
gods would destroy, they first made
mad One can not calmly eontem-
plate what is going on In America,
without wondering if this quotation
does not APPLY apply to this nation.
'iWe are, as a people, thoroughly
impregnated with the 'uplift' spirit
We are adopting every ism known to
humanity. We are adopting every
experiment in government, all the
frills of the theorist that have been
developed We have adopted woman
suffrage, although, if left to a vote of
women in this country, 1t would have
been defeated We have adopted
drastic prohibition, running the wine
growing industries of the entire ma
ton, and destroying the personal lib
erty of our citizens. We are spread
ling the doctrine that the people
should live without working. We are
allowing sworn peace officers to join
unions. Their oath to the unions will
always be more binding upon them
than their oath to the public. Boston
mating example of the vice of allow
ing policemen to unionize. We are
passing class legislation, for instance,
the Adamson act, the Clayton act
(wherein certain people are exempt
ed from prosecution for crimes for
the commission of which other peo-
Pile can be prosecuted), and the fed
eral farm loan bank act. Some con-
gresham, with statistical turn of
mind, has made calculation whereby
he proves that, for every dollar saw
ed the farmer under this act, the peo-
Iple of the United States government
Ipay the sum of $3.50. The land set
Element scheme, put into practice in
California by the progressive cranks
now in the saddle in this state is pa
ternalism of the first degree. If the
labor unions are to receive special
privileges, why should not unorgan-
lied labor be treated with equal liber-
ality. If the farmer is to receive as
sistance at the hands of the people,
why should not the lawyer, the ply
stefan, the merchant the manufact-
urer the plumber (who is now receiv-
ing the mere stipend of $500 per day
for eight hours labor), the shoemak-
err the blacksmith, the automobile
dealer and repairer, in fact, every
other citizen, be treated with equal
consideration?
1T was maxim in jurisprudence
in America that taxation should be
equal and uniform. That doctrine has
long since been discarded. 1t is over
ridden in both the income and inner
itance tax laws. The small property
holder escapes the burden under these
laws, while the large property holder
Is penalized because he has been
either. lucky or successful Admit
that the power to tax is the power to
destroy still, is there any sense in
exercising the power so as to de-
stroy? If this policy is to be pursued
by the government, it might as well
come out in the open, and proclaim
that it will rob the successful to care
Tor the improvident and the shiftless.
Under our present system of leg
alizbed robbery of capital, how long
will 1t be before the mob, driven by
want (even if it's necessities result
from its own actions), takes by vio-
lcnce what it needs or desires?
THE state of North Dakota has
gone farther than any other commun-
ty in the United States in state So
clalism. 1t will soon put into opera
ton laws passed at a meeting of its
last legislature, organizing a state
bank, and giving the state power to
enter unto every sort of business i'm |
aginable, and back the same with
state deposits in the state bank. Bonds
IN large amounts are to be sold to nut |
these enterprises in motion. If the
state succeeds in selling the bonds.
while her politicians are spending the
money realized therefrom, great ac-
tiVity will be created. The state-own-
ed newspapers will point to this ac-
tivity, as proof of the success of ex-
periments, only yet in the experi-
mental stage. 1t is possible that
neighboring states, carried away Inv
of this sort, may be in
duced to follow North Dakota into
state socialism.
We are everywhere stretching
governmental functions into inouisi-
lions and regulations of all private
When we suffer from
laws passed by demagogues and en-
Forced by theorists, when enterprise
Is deadened and competition killed. we |
to overcome these condi- I