Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1912 — PLEAD “RIGHT” TO TAX [ARTICLE]

PLEAD “RIGHT” TO TAX

REPUBLICAN PARTY STILL STRONG FOR PRIVILEGE. I ‘ ' ' '' Chairman Hilles, in His First Official Document Pleads for the Trusts Against the interests of All the People. Charles D. Hilles, the newly chosen chairman of the Republican National committee, as his first official act sounds a defiance to the enemy. The Democratic platform begins with recognition of the notorious fact tha£ : the Constitution does not’ authorize the laying of tariff taxes for the protection of manufactures. Says Chairman Hilles: j “It I the Democratic platform) de- ' dares as false the vital issue of the ! constitutional liberties of the individual • • • it would leave the in- ; dividual defenseless in the protection !of those rights declared inalienable • under the Constitution.” It might be just a.g well for us to get clearly In mind exactly what "right of the individual” Chairman Hilles is defending. Jt is the right of one man to tax another for his own benefit. That is what: protection mea.ns. Under the Payne-Aldrich tariff there is a heavy tax on gloves Mr. Hilles, •like all good Republicans, stands for the “right" of ex-Congressman Llt-

tauer of Gloversville, N. Y„ to tax the working women of St. Louis by exacting a higher price for Inferior gloves than good ones would bring if sold in competition with the open market. I nder the Payne-Aldrich law articles manufactured of rubber are protected by a heavy tax. Chairman Hilles stands for the ‘ right” of the Aldrich rubber interests thus to tax American consumers of rubber for their own profit. Under the Payne-Aldrich law there Is a heavy tariff on steel rails. This enables the Steel trust of Mr. Gary, Mr. Perkins and Mr. Morgan, which makes steel so cheaply as to sell tens of thousands of tons each year in the foreign market in competition with the world, to lay a heavy burden on the purchaser of steel at home —a burden which forms part of every railroad rate and is one factor of the high cost of living in every home And Mr. Chairman Hilles stands fo’ the "constitutional liberty” of Mr. Morgan and the steel magnates thus to tax the rest of us in order to mak«more Pittsburgh millionaires and pi".® up more cash and securities in tbe vaults of the Steel trust banks' The Democratic party asks nothing better than the opportunity to join battle with the Republicans on the "right" to tax everybody for the profit of somebody.—St. Louis Republic.