People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1893 — Surprised. [ARTICLE]

Surprised.

A foreigner now in Chicago expresses great surprise at Chicago’s city government, or rather misgovernment. Among the many wrongs observed by this gentleman, he was most surprised when examining the tax duplicate of Cook county and the city of Chicago, to find that the railroad property therein, which a conservative estimate would place at three hundred and sixty millions at least, is only assessed at twelve millions. The gentleman evidently knows nothing of us as a people. A further acquaintance with us will enlighten him upon the American way of doing things. He will learn that labor produces all wealth and pays nearly all the taxes, while the corporations absorb nearly all the wealth and almost entirely escapes taxation. He will learn that we don’t look to the wealth of the nation for the means to pay the expenses of government. Oh no, we look to the necessities of the people, the wealth producers; we just whack it to them for the amount necessary and let the corporations, the wealth absorbers, go scott free. Evidently this unsophisticated foreigner has much to learn of the shrewd ways of these sharp Americans.