Year: 1867




United states Debt; its Organization, Liquda-


and % Financial f system. by =. J. G s. Gibbonsny oc
Wool Gathering, by Gail Hamilton. ;......... 0C
Diamond Dickns, 5v ols plain 81 ?5; illustrated 80


hA. A full stock of School Books, Blank Books
and Stationery always on hand.


EXcm ptiOn Of Wealth and Taxation Of


Poverty.


The necessity for the taxation of Gov
ernment Bonds, in order to measurably re-
lieve the labor and industry of the country
from the crushing burthens of the present
system of taxation, and thereby prevent
reputation Of the public debt, is becom-
ming more and more apparent to all class
es of people. The present Revenue and
prohibitory Tariff laws, if not framed with
special design to place the weight of tax
alton upon the poorer laboring and pro-
ducing classes, certainly operates to that
end and to make the weight of taxation
yet heavier and more exhausting upon the
poorer classes, Government Bonds, while
drawing from five to seven per cent. inter-
est, are wholly free from taxation.


Reputation in any form, by individu-
ais, States or Nations, is always to be de-
precated, and should be avoided by all
possible means and yet the legislation of
q Radical Congress could not have been
more completely devised to compel the
people of the United States to resort to re-
pudiation, if intended, than is the present
system of raising revenue for the support
of the Government for no thoughtful
man can avoid the conclusion that the
poorer classes are now paying the bulk of
the expenses of the Government. We
need not repeat here what has been fire.
quently published as coming from the best
informed circles, that taxation in the Unit
ed States is now higher than in any nation
on the globe. and that while there is an
occasional reduction of the public debt
announced, the expense of keeping the
Southern States under military rule, add
ed to the unprecedented profigacy of the
party in power making continuous apprO-
priatiOns of millions of dollars for mere
partizan purposes, and the untold millions
of unsettled claims against the Govern
ment which must eventually be paid, so
far from the public debt being gradually
reduced from its present alarming raagni-
tude, in time of profound peace, with ev-
cry thing taxed to its utmost capacity, it is
actually on the increase.


1t is perhaps difficult to fore-shadow
just the amount of exhaustion by taxation
that any people will bear, or the produc-
tive capacity of the United States in pay
ment of the present immense public debt,
but it may be safely assumed that in free
governments great inequality and injustice
in taxation can not continue beyond rea-
sonable length of time, without exhaust
ion and consequent reputation. The mag
nitude of the public debt is not the special
alarming feature of Radical rule so much
as Is the outrageous system of taxation.-
The poorer laborer and producer, of course
is the basis of wealth and while he pays
an exorbitant tax on everything he con-
sumes to support propibitory Tariff which
enables manufacturers to amass colossal
fortunes because competition is cut of,
from the very fact that this tax is paid in
dribblets each time he makes a purchase
of the necessaries of life, he does not feel
the stealthy tread of oppression and ine-
quality until the point of exhaustion is near
ly or wholly reached. The manufacturer
charges the tax to the purchasing mer-
chant or middle man, and he in turn char
ges it to the consumer, who pays it from
the sweat of labor. This is oppression and
injustice No. l.


No. 2 comes in under the law exempt
ing Government Bonds from taxation.-
Wealth is proverbial for its timidity and
its disposition to seek shelter from every
gathering storm hence, while Govern
ment Bonds pay an annual intesest of from
5 to 7 per cent, and are erempt from tar-
alton, the wealth of the Nation seeks in
vestment behind the secure protection from
the common hazards of business. 1t is
plain to any intelligent person, that every
dollar passing into Government Bonds,
pithout taxation, in addition to the gcner-
al arrangement in smaller classes of bus;-
ness which it produces, increases the bur-
thens of taxation upon the remaining prop
erty or wealth subject to taxation. The
remedy is simply in making every species
of wealth in the Nation pay its just pro-
portion of the National expense. If the
people-the mass of laborers and produc-
ers-wish to relieve themselves of the pres
ent oppressive system of taxation they
must do it through the ballot box, by vot-
ing for taxation of Government Bonds, a
reduction Of the present prohibitory Tar
i'll, and an honest, impartial execution of
the Revenue laws, under which now the
poor man representing 81 900 in farm or
workshop, barely able to make living, is
made to pay more tax than he who is worth
100000, with an income of $1,000 or
O,OOO, but who fails to report and be-
cause he can fraudulently conceal, is not
made to disgorge. The whole system of
taxation is rotten to the core, crushing the
poor and protecting the wealthy, and can
only be remedied by an emphatic vote of
the people, who have their own and the
destiny of the Nation in their hands,
-WinOnd Democrat.