volvocl in this tax no possibility of
saving , for the expenses of government
must bo met , and the money must bo
raised in ono way or another. In all the
endless discussion over "tariffH for pro
tection" and "tariffs for revenue only , "
the solo point of contention has lain in
the equable distribution of the burden
of taxation.
On the other hand , the fire tax hns
never been honored with the attention
of campaign oratory , editorial "leaders , "
or cross roads polemics. When mention
ed , people either yawn or concede with
out argument the claims of interested
parties that it is a crying evil imposed
upon the people by a remorseless trust.
Yet the fire tax is as important as the
import tax. It is as heavy a burden on
the people ; its equable distribution is as
essential to fair play , and what is more
important , it contains a possible saving
of fiftjr million dollars per annum , more
or less.
When the American public is willing
to give to the consideration of the fire
tax a mere fraction of the time it so en
thusiastically devotes to chopping logic
over "the tariff question" ; when it is
disposed to hearken to the voice of ex
perience in preference to the ex parte
mouthiugs of inexperience ; when it is
willing to recognize the fact that the fire
rate is not an inseparable whole , but a
thing of parts , some good and some evil ;
when it is prepared , without fear or favor
to encourage the good and discourage
the evil then and not before , may it
expect the substantial results that have
always crowned its efforts when it has
applied common sense and common fair
ness to the solution of its economic
problems.
EVOLUTIONAL ETHICS AND ANIMAL
PSYCHOLOGY.
Edward Payson Evans , a graduate of
the University of Michigan in 1854 , has
taken rank among the foremost thinkers
and writers of this republic. For near
ly half a century Dr. Evans has been
identified with the best and highest type
of ethical and scientific search.
' - In 1898 the Appleton Company pub
lished the instructive , interesting and
valuable work with the name of which
THB CONSERVATIVE heads this article.
The book is the result of good and large
brains , quick preceptions , conscientious
and impartial investigation combined
with modest and unconquerable power
to labor. Every student , every general
reader who loves to know the why and
wherefore of things , customs and laws ,
ought to own and read this remarkable
work.
Dr. Evans may or may not have been
thinking of the ancient landmarks of
this republic and of the potentiality of
principles among its founders when he
wrote : "Principles , once grown ob-
Bolete , are denounced as prejudices ;
religious beliefs , which have been sup
planted by superior creeds , are scoffed at
as superstitious ; and dethroned deities
haunt the imagination of their former
worshipers as demons. In like manner ,
the lower classes of civilized com
munities correspond , in a measure , to
the lower races , and reflect atavistically
the ideas and passions of primitive man ,
and in periods of great social and poli
tical upheaval we are often rudely
brought face to face with tumultuous
masses of these strata of paleosoie
humanity violently and unpleasantly
thrown to the surface. "
The campaign of the Bryauarchists in
189(5 ( and their impending campaign
confirm and verify Dr. Evans. The
above is quoted from page 38 of the
work in question. It will be quoted
again in THE CONSERVATIVE. Meantime
purchase it for every library in Nebraska.
THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY.
The net expense of managing most
corporations decreases with increase in
size of the corporation. For this reason
corporations often combine their capital
and operate under a single management.
There is one corporation , however , that
is an exception to this rule. The
statistics of our large cities prove that
in all of them the rate of taxation is
constantly increasing.
Mr. Bird S. Coler , controller of New
York City , says the Chicago Tribune ,
gives some interesting figures in an
article in the May number of Appletou's
Popular Science Monthly concerning
"The Most Expensive City in the
World. " New York has long been an
extravagant city , and the usual evils of
municipal corruption do not tend to
lighten its tremendous expenses. In
1899 its gross budget represented a per
capita tax of $34.62 on 8,500,000 inhabi
tants , of which $19.56 was for local
expenses. The actual current expenses
of the city government were $75,800-
000 , as against $78,000,000 for London ,
$75,000,000 for Paris , $28,000,000 for
Berlin , $85,000,000 for Boston , $82,000-
000 for Chicago and $27,000,000 for
Philadelphia.
The total annual expenses of New
York City are $20,000,000 more than the
total expenses of London , $18,000,000
more than those of Paris , and only $1-
000,000 less than the combined expendi
tures of Boston , Chicago and Philadel
phia. Yet Greater New York does not
equal the combined population of these
throe cities by at least 880,000 , while
there is a still greater disparity in the
areas governed in the two cases. Mr.
Coler thinks only about $1,000,000 a year
is stolen through contract jobs , but ho
admits that the city is robbed with im
punity in other ways , and that "fraud
upon the public treasury has become a
respectable calling. "
Of the enormous sum of $75,800,000
for current expenses , more than $85-
000,000 is paid out in salaries and wages
to 87,000 employes. The pay of till , in
cluding policemen , firemen , street
cleaners , and dook builders , is higher
than that of the same classes in any
other city in the world. Everything
seems to bo done on a scale of wasteful
ness. The city loses $1,500,000 in
interest annually because the taxes are
collected in the last quarter of the year
instead of the first. Public franchises
that ought to be bringing in $5,000,000
annually pay only $300,000. Mr. Coler
also estimates that Now Yorkers are
now paying $15,000,000 a year for the
luxury of having enlarged their city
without first bettering its government.
He says annexation has increased the
cost of municipal government in the
outlying districts fivefold.
The curious part of the case is found
in the fact that the tax evils of New
York are the work of the legislature
rather than of the city government.
The pay of the school teachers , police
men , firemen , heads of departments , and
chiefs of bureaus is fixed at Albany ,
where the representatives of the city are
in the minority. When the new charter
was prepared it was agreed that the
salaries must be equalized , but this was
done by increasing the lowest to equal
the highest in every case. In place of
the modest salaries of the former
suburban districts , there were substi
tuted the high figures befitting metro
politan standards. And the New York
ers pay the bills. Mr. Coler says it is a
dull and short legislative session that
does not add many thousands to the
burden of New York taxpayers. The
citizens are not as enthusiastic over
Greater New York as they were at the
time of the consolidation. The experi
ence of Gotham is a warning both
against excessive annexation and against
allowing a great city to be ruled through
the state capital.
THE CONSERVATIVE , the newspaper
published by the ex-Secretary of Agricul
ture , T. Sterling Morton , so far forgets
itself as to print an argument against
the Nicaragua canal by a writer who
says that the Middle States would gain
no advantage from it and that a few
merchants in the Atlantic cities and
some in Pacific Coast towns would reap
a benefit at the expense of the entire
nation. "It would not benefit the
farmer , " says the article , "since his
productions go in other directions. "
This writer appears never to have heard
of the farmers of the Pacific Coast , who
are now compelled to ship their wheat
around Cape Horn , which is said to be
the longest journey made by any
products Oakland Enquirer.
At Dewey , thirty miles south of
Coifeyvillo , a walnut log has been cut
for shipment to the Paris exposition.
The tree from which the log was taken
is supposed to be 400 years old. Kansas
City Journal.
