, * - > r \f- -r *
Conservative * 9
repealed are each and all of those which
have invaded ,
Repeal. checked up , limit
ed , restricted the
widest aud most generous recognition
of the rights of the individual to life ,
liberty and his own legitimate earnings.
But in modern times under the pretense
of protecting these rights the most in
sidious assaults have been made upon
them.
All governments are born paupers.
No government has come into existence
with a patrimony.
Poverty. The history of the
world demonstrates -
strates that monarchies , democracies ,
oligarchies , republics , and in fact every
form of government as yet devised by
human ingenuity , have been established
and maintained , not out of an inherit
ance , but by the taxation of either sub
jects or citizens. A legitimate tax is
payment by the citizens to the govern
ment for a service , arid the true service
is protection to his natural rights. The
power to levy taxes was originally vest
ed in governments for the sole purpose of
raising public revenues , and those rev
enues were intended primarily for the
protection of the life , liberty and prop
erty of the people. Offices were created
and men appointed or elected thereunto ,
because the functions of government
could only through them be properly
exercised. No one , in the beginning of
good governments , so far as records
show , ever conceived the idea of creating
offices for the emoluments and honors
which might accrue from them to the
benefit of favored individuals. In the
earlier and purer days of this Republic
the youth in the schools , in fact every
man , woman and child , was instructed
by high examples and by common con
sent , from the beginning of an educa
tion in the district schools up to and
through the hustings , the church and
the lecture room , that it was the duty
of each American to do all in his or her
power for the elevation and advance
ment of citizenshipfor the commonweal.
The sole trend of ambitions and intelli
gent effort among the best of the found'
ers of this republic , was to do for the
people , for the government , everything
elevating and honorable. The epitaph
on the modest tomb of Thomas Jeffer
son at Mouticello is pertinently illustra
tive of the fact that the far-seeing
founders and leaders of the thought
of the eighteenth century on the
West side of the Atlantic Ocean ,
were animated by the loftiest am
bition to accomplish great deeds for
the age in which they lived and for the
benefit and exaltation of the generations
following. This epitaph , written by
Mr. Jefferson himself , does not boast oi
his having been elevated to the position
of secretary of state or to the presidency.
It tells not what the people had recog
nized in or accomplished for him-nor
V s
does it even mention his election to high
places. It simply says :
"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson ,
Author of the Declaration of American Inde
pendence ,
Ofi the Statute of Virginia for Religious
freedom ,
And Father of the University of Virginia. "
Mr. Jefferson thus asserted that those
khree acts of his life he wished recorded
"as testimonials that he had lived and
as evidence that he wished by them
alone most to be remembered. "
The power to tax has been too often
perverted both by the national and
state governments of this republic. The
mathematical absurdity that a part is
greater than the whole has been made
a fundamental dogma , a declared princi
ple in the economics of a national po
litical party , and the relatively few , the
comparatively small part of our citizen
ship who have been engaged in the iron ,
tin , woolen , and some other industries
have secured laws for their own benefit ,
by which artificial prices have been
placed on things which a few
make , and whijh all use. Per
fectly protective tariffs put a shut
out tax upon would-be compet
ing articles from abroad , for the sole
purpose of making possible an arti
ficially profitable price on like com
modities manufactured at home. Ever
since the Merrill tariff the people have
been burdened with various tariff
schedules most of which ought to be
repealed because they enrich the few
engaged in certain lines of manufacture ,
at the expense of the many. To my
mind it has long been perfectly clear
that the constitutional provision which
limits the power of taxation on the part
of the federal government to the rais
ing of money for the payment
of the public debt , for the com
mon defence , and to promote the
general welfare , intended to prohibit all
taxation except for the public revenues.
Then it logically follows , that any and
all taxes laid for any other purpose than
getting money into the public treasury ,
are unconstitutional and ought to be
utterly abolished. A tariff purely for
protection brings little or no revenue ,
and a tariff purely for revenue brings
little or no protection.
At the October term of the Supreme
Court of the United States in 1874 , the
Court consisting then of Chief Justice
Morrison R. Waite , Nathan Clifford ,
Samuel F. Miller , Stephen J. Field ,
Joseph P. Bradley , Noah H. Swain ,
David Davis , William Strong and Ward
Hunt , Judge Samuel F. Miller rendered
the opinion of the court in the case of
the Citizens Saving & Loan Association
of Cleveland versus the city of Topeka ,
Kansas. See 20 Wallace Supreme
Court Reports.
The able and learned Judge evidently
held views very similar to those now becoming -
coming popular among the thinking
citizens of this republic. In that very
clear , just and righteous decision , he
says :
"Of all the powers conferred upon
jovernment , that of taxation is most
liable to abuse. Given a purpose or ob
ject for which taxation may be lawfully
used , and the extent of its exorcise is in
its very nature unlimited. It is true
that express limitation on the amount
of tax to be levied or the things to bo
taxed , may be imposed by constitutions
or statutes , but in most instances for
which taxes are levied , as the support of
government , the prosecution of war ,
the national defense , any limitation , is
unsafe. The entire resources of the
people should in some instances be at
the disposal of the government.
"The power to tax , therefore , is the
strongest , the most pervading of all the
powers of government , reaching di
rectly or indirectly to all classes of the
people. It was said by Chief Justice
Marshall in the case of McCullough
versus the state of Maryland , that the
power to tax is the power to destroy.
"A striking instance of the truth of
the proposition is seen in the fact that
the existing tax of ten per cent. , im
posed by the United States on the cir
culation of all other banks than the
national banks , drove out of existence
every state bank of circulation within
a year or two after its passage. This
power can as readily be employed
against one class of individuals and in
favor of another , so as to ruin the one
class and give unlimited wealth and
prosperity to the other , if there is no
implied limitation of the uses for which
the power may be exercised.
"To lay with one hand the power of
the government upon the property of a
citizen , and with the other to bestow it
upon favorite individuals to aid private
enterprise and build up private fortunes ,
is none the less a robbery because it is
done under the forms of law and is
called taxation. This is not legislation.
It is a decree under legislative form.
We have established , we think , beyond
cavil , that there can bo no lawful tax
which is not laid for a public purpose. "
Merchants trade with each other so
long as trade is mutually profitable ; for
all legitimate exchanges are advanta
geous to both parties thereunto. When
ever one of your customers finds that
trade with you is unprofitable , or when
ever you find that trade with one of
your customers does not pay , exchanges
between you immediately cease.
If we have a great and growing trade
between the United States and foreign
nations and we institute a protective
tariff for the purpose allegedly of pre
venting unfair competition we impede
only that trade which is mutually profit
able.
The bad trade , unprofitable exchanges
between the American people and any
aud all foreigners , stops of its V
own volition. Nobody pursues a
business which proves unremunera-