Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1886 — Reducing General Taxation. [ARTICLE]

Reducing General Taxation.

Oa leading the earnest appeals of the President and Secretary Manning for a reduction of taxation it may s’rike some people as peculiar that words should need ti be multiplied to induce Congress to perform a duty at once obvious and beneficial. If the taxes are too high for the needs of the government, bringing in juotq

money than can be honestly aud ju>. diciouily expended, whv should they not be reduced as a matter of course? Beoause many of these taxes have been laid for the double pmpose of putting some money into the Troaa* ury and a great deal more money in* to the pockets of favored rings and combinations. Vast businesses nave sprung up under this system, and to the extent that thsyd pend upon it for their profits they ars as much a public burden as the same number of poor houses, prisons, or deaf and dumb and insane asylums would be. They <esist the reduction of taxation because it wouiti cut down their profits and necessitate the employment in their enterprises of the same sagacity which is to be found in the man* ageraent of all industries which have not been leeches on the people Always ready to have taxes Increased, these interests are never prepared to have them reduced It thus ha ppens that a class appears in a country •which should have do classes, and that while the mass of the people favor low taxes n small element is actually uenefitc-d by high taxes. Taxation al o opera'es in another way to make certain interests favor it as against the wishes of the majority, but this cannot very well bo helped, and as it does not put public money into private purses it is not particularly objectionable. When a heavy tax is laid upon an article of manufacture which must be paid by the producer and afterward collected from the consumer, the business calls for large capital aud men with small means arc practically debarred fiom engaging in it. It consequently becomes to the interest of the wealthy manufacturer to resist all attempts to reduce the taxation u on the article which ho produces, bccuuse with lower taxes or no tares at all, competition is sure to be more formidable It was this which caused the old match monopoly to fight to the last the proposit.on to abolish the tax on matches. It is the same spirit which causes the presen' manufacturers of whisky to oppose the reduction of the tax on liquor. The resistance to (he reduction of tariff taxation is inspired by tne comparatively few men who profit by It and whoso businesses are adjusted to it. It is from them that all the twaddle about pauper lubor emanates, and they are the people wuo, oy the libi eral use of money in i olitics and elsewhere, have built up a school of so-called economists who argue that tariffs are not taxes, or that, if they are, that they make t,.e people who pav them rich. It is hardly probable that the intelligent citizens of the republic will be loner misled by the sophistries of such arguments based od the seiflsh interests of a class al-' ready gorged wi h public plunder.— Chicago Herald. The “Old Reliable” is umler the management of Norm. Washer & Sons. They keep constantly on hand an extensive stock of stoves, in great variety, hardware, agricultural implements, etc. They know when, where and how to buy, and put their goods on the market at bottom prices. In addition to getting goods at lowest figures you are afforded an opportunty to procure a first-class shot gun without money and without price. *.<»»►. - Thaddeus Fowler of Seymour, Conn., who died recently, was a Yankee of the Yankees, for invention.— He ihvented machines for sticking pins in paper, for manufacturing iron pins, for sorting pins, for making pins, bead and all, at a single stroke, for making needles, for painting wire, for making horseshoe nails, for sharp ening horse-clipping machines, and for stamping metal. He also invented a reaping and binding machine, and the “sewing bird* used on ladies’ work tables. He died poor. Miss Harter, our new dressmaker has arrived and we would be glad to have you call and give her a chance to give you a perfect fit.

Mrs. J. M. Hopkins.