Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1922-11-03
CONCERNING GENERALIZATION AND
PATEHhAllSM.

2
OF taxes collected and Sduandcrcd
by the burcaucratS. patcrnali>.> and
graftcrs The volume. the amount
Of taxes is the issue and not HON
they get the money. HOW they get
| il is only Il secondary matter. These
graftcrS fool the people by talking.
about the METHOD of Taxation. We
do not care whether it is done by
tariff. income tan. sales tan or
whether it is equal and uniform.
or how it is. the giSt Of the question
The common man has to pay the
taxes there is nobody else to pay
them and all schemes TO make any
body else. corporation or what not.
paw them are frauds. The method of
taxation is a question Of very little
| i,sportancc. Nor does ii matter
whether property is assessed ut ITS
true and actual value. Or one half.
or one tenth OF its true and actual
value. Take our primary election
| law. 1t is all fraud no matter who
has to pay the tax for it or how II
is paid. We are grated to the tune
of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars to
hold il primary election. DO We gel
any better men. more efficient men.
or wiser men in office? We are
crazy ON the subject OF voting any
way. "popular Vote is not an
American discovery by any mcaN>.
Popular voting is as old rs human
history. People voted in the days
of Sargon Of Akhad. Tarquin. the
Proud. and Ivan. the Terrible. In
old Greece. they voted every day III
the weekday time. all The time,
the polls were always open. the
Greeks could do more by voting
than we ever thought Of doing. They
could vote any man out Of the coun-
try thew wanted to vote out. The
right to vote was so we'll recognized
that our forcfathcrs did not deem II
necessary to mention it in the Con-
stitution of the United Safes. Votes
in themselves, says II. G. Wells. are
worthless things. Men had votes III
ltalv at the time of the Gracch.
Their votes did not help them. Tn
til a man knows what he is voting
about and for whom he is voting a
vote is dangerous thing for him to
possess. We have i'm West Virginia
the most expensive. elaborate ana
complicated system OF voting. all
briStling with pains and pcaitIc>.
4 man can gel into the pcnitrntlarH
some sixty different ways for rlol-
atiny our complicated PRIMARY cleo
! 4: Il -IN.li
! whole rattlctrap Of il In every
primary election there is '>c:n-
DIAL" and the very 'roOlS Of alt "uv
institutions arc struck at" and the
w.:olc expensive graft does not pro-
! ducc one whit better officers than
| if they were nominated by conrcn-
| ton or if they were nominatcd by
| the Smiths or the JOncScS. And with
all our expensive voting theEQtopic
of this country never vote on the
| most vital questions. They have no
voice in voting on war and peace
or in amending the Constitution OF
the United States or in most other
really vital things and yet it costs
us more to indulge in pretending to
run he Government tina any people
on the face of the earth. One great
trouble about our modern patcral-
ism is that it tempts people to vio-
lac the law. Look at Edwards case
in the recent West Virginia Primary
Such things bring our whole system
into contempt. The Primary SyS-
item invites the candidacy of the
unfit and the candidacy of the unfit
invites the CRATER.
Patcrialism is always foStcrcd by
the petty tyrant and the ignorant
rich. What do the rich care about
high taxes? Whit do they matter to
The Corporations? If We tax the
Standard Oil Company the tax is
added to the price of oil and gaso-
line; tax the railroads and the tax is
added to freight and fare: tax the
coal mines and the tax is added to
the price of coal; tax Henry Ford
and he adds the tax to the cost Of
"FlivcrS:" tax the telephone com
phone messages; taisN the tariff
and the extra cost is added an i'm all
caSSc> the people pay. The heads
Of great corporations are hand i'm
glove with The DatcrnaliSSticS. Both
are interested in ccntralizin9 the
Government for by the process the
rich ad the burcau"ratS gain. and
the people lose control. We spend
millions Of dollars in elections.
nominating Democrats and Rcpubi-
cans and the patcrnai>t> and tax
GraftcrS capture them bag and bag
gage before they gel to Washington.
] 50 We have just about as much to
TO with running our own Govern