Year: 1876

.o - suS hhb ihOot
widely circulated newspapers in this
country is the Chicago Times. 1t is
independent in politics, owes no al
legiance to any political party, and is
the acknowledged leader of public
opinion in the West. In discoursing
on the evils which have beset this
country it says:


There is species of woodpeckcr
called the sap sucker, from the popu-
lar suppositiOn that this winged de-
vourcr perforates the bark of trees for
the purpose of sucking their saccha-
rine life-current. This notion is pro-
baby erroneous, the better founded
opinion being that the sap sucker, like
other woodpeckers, taps his tree in the
pursuit of inferior races, regarded as
less fit for survival than himself in
the struggle for existence, Neverthe.
less, the sap sucker will serve to illus
trate the habits and character of an
other species of voracious biped, com:
monty known as the pap sucker.


The sap sucker and the pap sucker
resemble each other closely. The for,
mer subsists by tapping trees, frequent
ly destroying them by profusc bleed
ing. The latter subsists by tapping the
body polite, and sucking out its vital
current in the way of extortionate
taxation. Just as the most bealthful
trees have been lnoculated with dis
ease and death by the borings of the
sap sucker, so the most healthful and
thriving societies have been ruined by
/ the insidious and persistent tapping of
the voracious pap sucker. Nearly all
history is made up of accounts of the
struggles of society,". against the en>
croachments of insatNte pap suckers.


There are many species of vermin
(rats, for instance, that multiply uns
der favorable conditions, with amaz-
ing rapldity, but society is infested
with no devouring parasite that null
tiplies under all conditions so rapidly
as the pap sucker. The history in
brief of every organized society is
this; AT the outset, government is
simple and limited in its activities to
the political function, taxation is
therefore light, and pap. suckers few in
number. AS time goes on, pap suckers
multiply taxation increases; govern =
ment becomes complex, and its activi-
ties are extended by the irrepressible
tendency of pap suckers to multiply,to
the commercial, the industrial, the
moral, the religious, the educational,
and every other function of human ex-
istence. The burden of government,
which at first was light and bearable,
becomes heavier in the ratio of the
multiplication of pap suckers, until it
can no longer be borne, when a cry for
the determination of the pap.suckers
arises, and the voracious tribe is swept
away by the fury of revolution.


The people everywhere are strugg-
ling under the oppressive weight of a
great burden. They have only a vague
idea of what the burden is. They feel
the oppression. They know that all
they can possibly earn is required to
meet the demands made upon them
They know that it is with the utmost
difficulty, even with the most rigid
self denial, to make ends meet. They
know that instead of richer they are
growing steadily poorer. They realize
intensely the fact that in order to ess
cape complete ruin, there must be
some way out of this desperate situa-
tion. But they do not clearly see a
way out, because they have not dis
tinct perception of the nature of that
which is impoverishing and crushing
them.


The great and overshadowing politi.
i cal curse of this people is pap sucking.
The worst enemies of this people, ma
tional. state, and municipal, are the
ravenous pap suckers who refuse to be
weaned from the public teat. 1t is
pap sucking that has cursed the indus.
I try and prosperity of the whole country
1t is pap sucking which will not let
industry revive.


1t is high time for the people to take
up weapons against the pap suckers,
national and local. The weapons which
may perhaps be made available, and
which al all events should be first ems
ployed. are ballots. If by ballots the
grand army of pap suckers cannot be
reduced. and the pap sucking be in
great part brought to a stop, then bull
lets will be in order.