Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1931-12-24

later, under heading or lncom
! Tax"
What have we gained as a nation
from the past season of so-calle'
/, prosperity? We have the 40.00'
miIlionaires and billionaires. Yes
about oone-fortieth of one per cen
of our population own one-half o
the entire wealth of the nation, ant
during this exchange of wealth
from the many to the few, we have
greatly decreased this nations re
sources. The farmers of the natior
are poorer to the extent of more
than twenty billion dollars.
Labor has been pauperized, farm
lands and real estate have greatly
deprecated in value, thousands OF
banks have closed their doors, at
cess wealth" What would be fair
definition of "excess wealth.?
would say the accumulation of
wealth in excess of the needs of the
| Individual Now what are the needs
/ of the individual? Food, clothing,
i
the pleasure in the ownership and
uses of what we term Injuries.
When we desire more than this, it
is Vanity" Now my friends it is
my aim to tax vanity. 1t is my aim to
cause or create general revision of
our taxing system, to tax those most
able to pay, to reduce taxation on
farm land and other real estate, to
discontinue and reject all manner
Of taxation by means of "Sales
Tax Any sales tax Is a tax on
poverty. What we need is tax on
excess Wealth." Now friends, do
not misunderstood me, I do not de-
sire to place a tax on thrift. 1t is
my desire to encourage thrift and
| discourage vanity.
There is limit to all things, and
| one of the limits for us to decide is
this: In amassing a fortune what is
the dividing line between the indi-
vidual need and vanity? 1t is Ger
! tain that no man needs five billion
dollars Few men will express a
desire for wealth in excess OF one
million dollars, very small per-
cent of our population accumulate
fortunes of more than 100000. In
my estimation no man can accumu-
late million dollars without in
jury to his fellowmen. In doing it
he must take an unjust advantage
of labor and an unjust profit from
the consumer. In my opinion, any
man who accumulates for his own
vanity as much as one million dol
lars and dies without properly dis
tributing it with those who have no
bread, leaves this world with a
through ticket to hell, and he will
have no stopover in purgatory
There will come a day when in
dividual wealth will be limited,
possibly at as low as 100000. Now
compare that amount with the five
billion dollar fortunes reported to
be held by one of our monopolistic
manufacturers or one of our finan-
cial wizards. Can you realize what
100000 would buy? Can
you imagine what good could be ac-
complished with that amount of
wealth? Should our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ at his birth had
a legacy of five billion dollars and
should he have lived to this day
and distributed this wealth to the
poor and needy at the rate of two
! million five hundred thousand dol
lars per year, he would after 1881
years of distribution have enough
! left to satisfy the average man who
labors and earns his living by the
sweat of his brow.
The entire world is suffering
from the same cause, "Unfair Tax
ation," and excess wealth in the
hands of the few, and unless we
work fast and earnestly to adjust
conditions. not only our country
but the entire world will be engulf-
ed in war, rebellion and revolution
Our financiers and certain high Of
ficials of our nation are more anx-
ious to save Europe and the monies
invested there, than to save the
farmer and the laborer from the
state of slavery, toward which we
are drifting. Contrary to warnings
from Washington and all of our
wise leaders of the past, We are
now financially. politically, official
ly and unofficially steering our boat
into the rocky waters of foreign en-
tanglements. The same men who
advised us that business was sound
and encouraged us to invest in
stocks and bonds; men who sold us
foreign bonds in 1923 and early in
1929, and then after the crash ad-
vised us from time to time that
prosperity was just around the cor
ner; these same men who advised
us that the World war was to end
war (Which by the way, has not
ceased for single day since the
Armistice was signed, as we have
had war and revolution in some
part of the world all this time);
these same men who advocate
world peace treaty; these same men
who advocate disarmament are fast
placing us in a position where we
will need much armament. These
men who are leading us to believe
in our false security will be the
first to call this nation to arms to
secure or save their foreign invest
ments and to untangle their attempt
to conquer the world under the
Gold Standard.
AS nation, we are in greater
danger today than at any time since
we declared our independence. Out