The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1923-12-29

pOlIlC Ol SOuHu llildHce lOI Tie HdtlOI vi
course it will be assailed by the dema-
gogues, the vote buyers and the radicals
who are planning contiscation through tax
alton; but it does not take particularly
keen intelligence to see how it will benefit
every man, woman and child in the United
States. Particularly will it help those who
do not pay dollar in direct taxes, for
they are the ones who bear dispropor-
tionate amount of all indirect taxation.
The Simplest illustration of the effect OF
taxation will suffice to make this clear.
Everyone lives in a house that he owns or
one that he rents, or in an apartment or a
single room. Every time real-estate assess
ments are raised and taxes are increased
the house owner pays them directly out OF
his pocket, and his cost of living is in
creased just that much. The landlord
who rents houses, apartments, tenements
or rooms also pays his higher taxes and
then raises rents to cover them, plus a
little extra to make it even money. Exactly
the same process takes place in the case
of every commodity. The manufacturer
adds his taxes plus to his costs; the whole
saler adds his taxes plus to his quotations;
and the retailer adds his taxes plus to his
prices But this is not all. The man who
draws his income from any profession or
business finds it materially reduced, after
ne has paid his city, state and Federal
taxes, SO he presses for ever higher fees or
salary and dividends to enable him to
maintain his standard of living. These
too, must be added to retail prices and be
paid in the end by the man who thinks
that he is paying no taxes, as we'll as by
the one who knows that he is.
Good roads, great public buildings, pa
ternalistic departments, government own
ership, with its overstaffed and inefficient
bureaus, first aid to blocs and classes
may seem desirable to you, but they all
cost money all raise taxes and the cost of
living, your cost of living, no matter who
you are or where you live. That huge
bond issue for which you voted without
consideration goes to swell the total for it
must be paid off by you or your children.
In the meanwhile you must pay the interest
on it.
Can you afford so much of these things
and is it wise to buy SO many of them on
credit? 1t is not. You cannot afford so
large a public charge account-for all
these things are part of your personal
Expenses.
The taxgatherer makes the installment-
plan man and the loan shark look like
amateurs. No matter who else waits, he
gets his money on the minute. He is on
hand to collect every time you eat, drink,
smoke, dress, motor, telephone, play, work
or sleep.
If Mr.. Mellon can put over his program
he will have done much more than have
saved the country money-he will have
saved it from course that finally leads
nations to turn to the Mussolinis and Ri
veras as their final hope of salvation from
the politicians land the abuses that they
have tolerated and too often fostered. We
are still far behind Europe in these things,
but not so far behind that we cannot catch
up and will net catch up if we continue to
stand for blocs, class legislation, waste and
extravaganza with the confscatory taxa
ton that these things entail.
Present tendencies could easily be
checked if our great inarticulate mass of
so-called good citizens home-loving,
country-loving law-abiding, church-going
people-who do not vote, or who, if they
do, vote for the setup that the machine
provides for them, could get it into their
heads that protected vice, bootlegging,
dope selling, banditry and too-high taxes
can exist only with their tacit consent. If
they would take as much interest in their
taxes as they do in the baseball scores;