Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1888 — THE REPUBLICAN LEADERS. [ARTICLE]

THE REPUBLICAN LEADERS.

Eugene Hale; “I believe there is no one question about which the reflections of millions of people day by day is so decided as i c ie in declaring that there should be no tax on this article of salt I have been asked to amend the bid introduced by me so as to cut down •he duty 50 per cent. Ido not consent to that I believe this article should go upon the free list; that the monopoly which has obtained heretofore for the Ouondaga salt works —as great and complete as any monopoly ever granted by the Tudors in England’s most despotic times—ought to cease."

Senator Allison. In the Senate, March 24, 1870: The tariff of 1846, although confessedly and professedly a tariff for revenue, was, sc far as regards all the great interests of the country, as perfect a tariff as any that we ever had. But I may be asked how this reduction shall be made. I think it should be made upon, all leading articles, or nearly all, and for that purpose, when I can get an opportunity in the House, if no gentleman does bfore me, I shall move that the pending bill be recommended to the Committee on Wavs and Means, with instructions to report a reduction upon existing rates of duty equivalent to 20 per cent, or one-fifth reduction. [The Mills bill proposes a reduction of 7 per cent] President Arthur. Annual Message, 1882: A total abolition of excise tax would almost inevitably prove a serious, if not an insurmountable obstacle to a thorough revision of the tariff and to an y considerable reduction of import duties. The present tariff system is, in many respect >,■ unjust It makes unequal distributions, noth of its burdens and its benefits * * * I recam mend an enlargement of the free list so as to include within it the numerous articles which yield inconsiderable revenue, a simplifica tion of the complex and inconsistent schedule of. duties upon certain manufactures, particularly those of cot ton,.iron and steel and a substantirl reduction of the duties upon thosevrtides, and upon sugar, molasses, silk, wool and woolen goods. ;

President Arthur. Fourth Message, 884: The healthful enlargement of our trade with Europe, Asia and Africa should be sought by reducing tariff burdens on such of their wares as neither we nor the other American States are fitted to produce, and thus enabling ourselves to obtain in return a better market for our supplies of food, of raw materials, and of the manufactures in which w e excel. Justice Miller. Of the United States Supreme Court: To lay with one hand the power of the Government on the property us the citizen, and with the other to bestow it upon favored individuals to aid private enterprises 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 u nder legislative forms. Noi is it taxation. A “tax,” says Webster’s Dictionary, “is a rate or sum of money assessed on the person or proi/erty of a citizen by Government for the use of the nation or State.” Taxes are burdens or charges imposed by the Legislature upon persons or property to raise mmey for public purposes. We have established, we think, I eyond cavil, that there can be no lawful tax which is not laid for a public purpose. If it be said that a benefit results to the local public of a town by establishing manufactures, the same may be said of anv other business or pursuit which employs capital or labor. The merchant, the m ?chanic, the innkeeper, the steamboat owner, are equally promoters of the public good, and equally deserving the aid of the citizens by forced contributions. No line ca a be drawn in favor of the manufacturer which would not open the coffers of the public treasury to the importunities of two-thirds of the b isiness men of the city or town.