Deworraic atc
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
cms
Ink Slings.
—Poor Mr. PowbERLY is clear out
of a job now and as time rolls on he
will find that things are not *‘as they
used to was.”
—The Chinese high-binders are to be
run out of Sacramento, Cal. The tariff
high-handers will be ready to go about
the same time.
--Queen LILIOURALANI will have
real real reason to get mad at Mr. WiL-
son for so completely eclipsing her as
a subject of newspaper comment.
—There is one thing certain and that
is LILIOUKALANI is no darker now
than she was before Mr. WILSON’S tar-
iff bill put the light of her notoriety
out.
—The WiLson bill does not seem to
suit the Republican newspapers. But
as its author did not design it for that
especial purpose he will hardly be much
worried.
—From the vast amount of rottenness
being disclosed in our pension system
Uncle SAM seems to have been the ideal
of the proverb ‘a fool and his money
are soon parted.”
~The strike of the employees of the
Lehigh Valley railroad is still on. It
has been moving about as slow as trains
on that system have been doing since it
was inaugurated.
—Just what Mr. PowpErLY’s future
will be is a much mooted question. If
fairness is to be considered he should
experience some fine days after having
had so many stormy Knights.
—Train your tongue to say kind
words, or none at all, about your neigh-
boys and you will be surprised some day
to find out what a good fellow popular
expression makes you out to be.
—There will be a grand economic
prize fight soon. The WiLsoxN bill will
knock out the McKINLEY bill and the
prize will be good times to the citizens
of the United States. One round ought
to do it.
— Bellefonte was full of long haired
specimens of manhood yesterday. The
barbers looked on at the foot ball game
with an air of patience, knowing full
well that they will soon fall heir to the
covering of many of those heads.
—The man who lacks ginger rarely
ever cuts much of a figure in this life,
though a careful study of the church ros-
ters of your community will convince
you that there will be a large percentage
of that kind high up;in the synagogue of
the life to come.
~~The fact that all the Republican pa-
pers in the land are jumping down on
the proposed WiLsoN tariff bill leads
Democrats to conclude that there must
be something decidedly good in it, else
the opposition organs would not be so
fearful of its becoming a law.
—The Washington Economist, a
Populist organ published at Montesano,
‘Washington, is out with a tripple head-
ed article in which it cries “kill politi-
cal bosses,” but as it doesn’t say of what
particular stripe, we take for granted it
is slapping at its own Gov. PENNNOYER.
—Mr. HARRAH'S opinion of the WIL-
SON bill, which appears elsewhere in
this issue, seems to be rather a boom-
erang to the average Republican calam-
ity howler. If all men had his sense
here would indeed be less distress today
for there would be less talk of hard
times.
—-1If “procrastination is the thief of
time’ we trust that the postponement of
PRENDERGAST’S trial, for the murder of
Mayor HarRIsON of Chicago, for anoth-
er week, will result in its stealing all of
the murderer’s time on this earth except
just as much as i3 necessary to prepare
himself for the next.
—After all, it wasnt a thunder-in
endorsement that Pennsylvania gave
the tariff at the last election, 78.000
Republicans whose political stomachs
were strong enough to gulp down HAR:
RISON withall his short comings one
year ago, refused point blank to endorse
“the tariff when presented without trim-
~mings.
—.It really does one good to see such
patriotism (?) as the Republican press
-of the land is just now displaying over
“the proposed WiLsoN tariff bill. They
-never thought of concerning themselves
about the ‘‘welfare of the country”
when the SHERMAN act and that iniqui-
tous McKINLEY bill were laid. But
now when Democrats purpose undoing
some of the wrongs which those meas-
ures have brought about there is a gen-
eral uproar in the Republican camp and
the people are told that the country will
go to the dogs. There is one thing cer-
tain and that is thatit has gone to the
devil within the past three years be
cause of Republican misgovernment
and if Democrats want to change the
course and run her to ‘the dogs’’ instead,
‘who can gaineay them ?
Teac
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
“VOL. 38.
BELLEFONTE, PA., DEC. 1, 1893,
Pe
NO. 47.
The “Taxation of Incomes.
It is difficult to see why an income
tax should not be considered a tair and
equitable means of raising reveoue. The
objectors to it say that itis unequal,
unjust, inquisitorial, and generally
objectionable in principle and in
method ; but it certainly has the merit
of being laid upon those who are most
capable of bearing the burden of taxa-
tion. &
We observe that those who aré
most opposed to the taxing of incomes,
giving as their reason the inequality of
a burden that is imposed upon a par-
ticular class, have no objection-what
ever to taxation through the medium
of a tariff ; yet a tariff is open to the
charge of inequality in the effect of its
exactions, and, moreover, the burden
of tariff taxation usually falls most
heavily upon those who are least able
to bear it. A workingman, whose
tamily ie large, and therefore requires
and uses a large amouat of the things
that are usually tariffed is likely to
pay a larger share of tariff taxes than
his wealthy neighbor. This is the case
particularly under the Republican tariff
which imposes heavy duties on neces-
saries needed by the generality of peo.
ple, while those oa the luxuries of
the rich are comparatively light; for
example, plush and silk velvets ; the
former, used by women in humbler
circumstances, being more highly
tariffed than the more expensive fabric
which the wealthy can alone afford to
wear.
An examination of the tariffsched-
ules will show thai the working people
with their usually large families, com-
pared with those who are wealthy,
pay a larger proportion of tariff tax,
yet in the face of the fact that the
heavier amount of this kind of taxation
is imposed upon a class whose means
of paying it is the most limited, the
opponents of an income tax object to
that method of raising revenue because
of its inequality in that its imposition
is confined to a class, althcugh that
class is abundantly prepared for the
burden.
It is objected, with some plausibility,
that there is injustice in the dividing
line that would tax an income of $4000
while one of $3999 would be exempted.
Bat such apparent hardships are un
avoidable when for a public purpose it
is necessary to draw a line, The tariff
system of taxation can show worse |
cases of inequality than this. Take |
for example, the case of a wealthy man |
who, in compliance with a parsimo. |
nious disposition, limits his personal
expenses to the very lowest sum. He
may be the owner of stocks, and bonds,
and general property to the amount of
millions, and yet on account of his
limited consumption of tariffed articles
he scarcely pays any tax to the govern-
ment. On the other hand, an individ
ual with far less means but more
liberal disposition, in his generous
provision for his family uses largely
of the things that are tariffed, and
thereby contributes largely tothe pub-
lic revenue. In such a case, under the
approved tariff method of taxation, is
presented, if not as obvious inequality
in the discrimination, certainly a great-
er inequality in the burden imposed
than appears in the line drawn between
$4000 and $3999 in the imposition of
an income tax.
The objection that the taxation of
incomes is inquisitorial is not worthy
of consideration if the public necessity
requires revenue obtained in that way.
All taxes that are directly laid are
more or less inquisitorial. The whisky
tax requires a host of officials to keep a
watch on the distilleries,and it would be
unavailable as a source of revenue but
for this close scrutinizing into the per-
sonal business of the distillers. Should
the whisky tax be abandoned because
it requires the liquor producers to be
subjected to such inquisition ? An ord-
inary county or municipal tax cannot
be laid without a closer investigation
of the belongings of the taxpayer than
is agreeable to most men. There could
not be anything more inquisitorial than
the sanitary regulations of a commu.
nity ; but would it be better that un-
cleanly premises be allowed to breed
disease than that their privacy should
be invaded and they be overhauled by
inquisitive health officers ? With about
as much force it may’ be said that
into the private affairs of the citizen in
the imposition of a tax he should be
permitted to escape contributing his
ghare to the support of the government.
The only objection to an income tax
worth considering does not involve the
question of fairness and equity, but
rather that of feasibility. A tax im-
posed upon those who are best able to
bear taxation, and who have the
largest material interest in the main-
tenance 8f the government, is surely
the fairest and most equitable of taxes.
But experience has proven that a too
prevalent disposition to avoid taxation
on incomes, and the facility of conceal.
ment, make it difficult to effect a just
and equal assessment and collection of
such a tax. Those who are conscien-
tious in returning their incomes pay
the tax, while exemption from such an
exaction rewards those who are dis-
honest enough to evade it. It is on
this account that the amount realized
from this method of taxation has turn-
ed out to be inadequate to the magni-
tude of such a source of revenue, and
altogether disproportionate to the ex-
pense and trouble of collection. In a
moral point of view it is defective in
that it offers a premium to dishonesty.
These are the only considerations
that can properly be taken into account
in determining the question of taxing
incomes. The principle of euch a tax
is a correct one, but it is likely that
Congress, it it shall pass such a eas.
ure, will modify its application by
confining it to those sources of income
which being clearly evident, cannot be
successfully concealed. Corporations
not of an industrial character, such as
banks, trust and insurance companies,
and other forms of investment not
connected with productive industry?
would afford a prolific and legitimate
field for taxation on incomes and
profits. In such cases there would be
but little chance of evasion, and the
expense of collection would be reduced
to a minimum, conditions entirely
different from those which attend the
general taxing of incomes in which the
difficulties are numerous, the practice
of deception easy, and, for these rea-
sons, the amount of tax collected com-
paratively small,
As it is the Dewocratic policy to
benefit the industries by giving them
untaxed raw materials, it would be
inconsistent with this policy to tax the
profits of industrial investments, as
such an imposition on incomes derived
from manufactures would, to a consid-
erable extent, neutralize the advantage
that is intended to be conferred upon
the industries by a Democratic tariff.
It would be too much like the Repub.
lican pretense of benefiting the people
by giving them free sugar, and then
exacting millions of dollars from them
to subsidize the sugar prodacers.
There is a probability that Congress
will pass an income tax law, bat it is
likely to be applied only to such in.
comes as are not the product of indus-
trial operations, and, not being suacep-
tible of concealment, can be easily
reached by the processes of assessment
aud collection.
McKinley Still Howls Calamity.
Governor McKINLEY is riding a very
high tariff horse these days, and is
going around the country astride of
his monopoly steed apparently uncon-
scious of the humiliation that awaits
him in the near future when he will be
made to ignominiously dismount. He
is feeling so good over the recent state
elections that he sees himself ensconc-
ed, in the White House, as the success
ful tariff candidate for the next presi-
dency. In the midst of this election
he turned up in Boston some nights
ago with a speech delivered before a
tariff organization of that city, and
from the expressions it contained it
way be jjudged what kind of stuff he
gave his hearers on the tariff question
in the recent Ohio campaign. It was
a rehash of all the Republicans have
said since 1888 about Democratic free
trade, and a re-echo of the calamity
howl that resounded through the
country before the election.
It having been a Boston audience it
should be supposed that they were too
intelligent for McKrLey to have
ventured to tell them that free trade
was the object of the Democrats, when
by referring to the daily papers they
rather than there should be inquiry
could see that the provisions of the
Democratic tariff bill refuted his
charge that it was a free trade meas
ure; and it must have sounded to
them like self-stultification on McKiN-
LEY'S part to hear him dilate upon the
business distress prevailing during a
Democratic administration, when the
distress, about which he howled, existed
under his own tariff, and from causes,
such as overstimulation of production,
directly attributable to that measure.
The Governor reached the climax of
his tariff folly when, assuming an air
of Imprecsive earnestness, he exclaim-
ed: “I wish it might reach every
corner of the country, that every re-
duction of the tariff will be followed
by a reduction of wages; that every
cut in the tariff rates will be followed
by a cut in the wage rates.” This
would certainly be an alarming an-
nouncement if it were not a well known
fact that after McKINLEY raised the
tariff rates there were repeated cuts in
wages in the most highly protected
industries, and that strikes against
such reductions occurred in all parts of
the country. Some of the textile
workers suffered three successive cuts
after McCKwLEY had heaped protection
on the woolen manufacture. Can the
Democratic tariff do worse than that
in the way of wage reduction? The
Governor will scon see that it will do
much better for the wage earner, and
then he will dismount from the high
tariff horse on which he now thinks
that he is riding to the White House.
A Foolish Remark.
The Philadelphia Inquirer often says
weak and foolishing things, but it
surpassed itself in that respect when it
said that after President CLEVELAND
and Secretary GresHax shall have
restored the queen of the Sandwich
Islands to her throne they might try
their hand at reseating the deposed
queen Isabella of Spain, the suggestion
being accompanied by the silly
verbiage that usually attends such
flippancy.
The Philadelphia organ should
know that the administration is not
engaged in any foolish knight-errantry
in the interest of deposed queens, but
that in the Hawaiian case it found the |
power of this government abused, and |
its reputation for honor and justice in |
its dealings with other governments
injured, by a collusion of its diplomat-
ic representative with parties who |
had conspired to overthrow the ruling
authority, and that 1ts purpose is to re-
store the confidence heretofore enter-
tained everywhere in the honorable
and equitable disposition of this gov-
ernment in its international relations,
by disavowing the irregular conduct of
its agent in the Hawaiian aftair, and
by such action as may remedy the
wrong that has been done. :
Tn the case of ex-queen Isabella of
Spain, if it had occurred at the time of
Ler deposition that the American min-
ister at the Spanish court had gone so
far beyond the line of his diplomatic
duty, and so contrary to the unmeddle-
some policy of our government, as to
have taken part in the revolutionary
movement that unseated her, and
assisted it with such American force as
he may have had at hand, who would
question that a prompt disavowal of
his conduct, and such restoration as
could be made, would be the proper
thing for our government to have done
in such a contingency ? 3
Iv is not the business of this govern,
went to judge what kind of govern-
ment in other countries should be held
up or pulled down, or to determine
whether a king or queen is of such
character as would justify its taking a
part in his or her removal. The ex-
queen of Spain and the queen o.
Hawaii may be unsavory personages,
but that concerns their own people
more than it concerns the United States.
Nor can justification for interposing in
the aftairs of other nations be found in
the advantage that may be expected to
accrue, commercially or politically,
from such a pragmatic line of policy, &
motive which seems to have prompted
the Harrison administration to collude
with the conspirators who unseated the
queen of Hawaii. Such a policy may
cater to that sentiment of exaggerated
and mischievous patriotism known as
“Jingoism,” but it does not suit an ad-
ministration that is determined that
| the United States shall be just wn its
| treatment of other governments and
shall maintain an honorable position
| danghters ? for they all like
among the nations of the world.
Where Does the Laborer Get His Pro-
tection,
From the Mauch Chunk Democrat.
The protective tariff on iron ore is 75
cents per ton. About a ton and a half
is an average day’s work of an ore min-
er, and therefore his wages, according
to the McKinley doctrine, are protected
to the amount of $1.12} per day. And
if it were true that protection protects
labor and makes wages, then surely the
hard working iron ore miners of Lehigh
aiid old Berks should be good for at
least $2,50 yer ay. But, what do they
get? Let this simple annountement
from the Lehigh region answer.
“The ore miners at Minesite, Lehigh
county, get 70 cents per day ; a reduc.
tion of 10 cents & day has just been
made.” .
It seems very difficult to believe that
any considerable number of miners and
laborers can be deluded by the played
out ‘protection’ fraud much longer.
Let congress hurry up the tariff reform
bill with iron ore and all other raw ma-
terials on the free list.
Look-out Mr. Wheeler.
From the Williamsport Republican.
Down in Delaware a party of Seventh
Day Adventists have been arrested and
fined under a law similar to that of our
1794 act, for working on Sunday.
Their defense was that they jobserved
Saturday as the Sabbath day and two
of them have gone to jail, having re.
fused to pay the fine. We take an in-
terest in this particular case because of
the efforts made here recently by Mr.
Anderson of Newberry to enforce the
old blue laws. The Delaware people
expect to appeal their case to the United
States supreme court and will claim that
the enforcement of thelaw is an attempt
to interfere with the religious freedom
guaranteed them by the constitution,
inasmuch as it compels them to give up
their observance of Saturday as their
day of rest or take two days each week
for rest while others are only required
to take one.
They All Like to be Told That They
are Pretty.
From the Brookville Democrat.
A new danger is threatening woman
—especially society women. The news
comes from St. Louis that a lady there,
who wasa leader in society, has been
placed iu an asylum as insane, the evi-
dence of her insanity being an intense
desire on her part to be admired. If
a desire to be admired is to be taken
as proof that women are insane, what
woman is safe ? What protection have
we for our wives, mothers, sisters or
to be ad-
mired, and we like to have them ad-
mired.
“The City of Charches” a Misnomer.
From the West Penn Press.
Brooklyn appears to be in a bad
way, in that ‘city ot churches,” as it
used to be called, there is now only one
church to every 2,900 inhabitants. In
Gravesend, a suburb of Brooklyn,
there is a voting population of not over
2,000 at the outside, yet at the last
eelction more than 6,000 names were
registered. Gravesend is the epot
where a justice of the peace was one of
the promoters and managers of the prize
fight that did not come off between
Corbett and Mitchell. The moral re-
formation wave has evidently net
struck Brooklyn yet.
A Sure Case of Make or Break.
From the Philadelphia Record.
It appears that the gunboat Destroy
er, which 1s to depart from New Yor
for Brazil the latter part of this week,
will take up the Brazilian cause upon
what the lawyers would term a contin-
gent fee—if successful against Mello’s
fleet, she will earn a large sum for the
Ericsson estate, which owns her; if un-
successful, she will be very apt to prove
a sinking if not a sunken investment.
The enterprise is a novel combination
of speculation and warfare ; but it ap-
pears to be lawful, and the result will |
‘the post-office at Hellam, York county, blew
be awaited with a great deal of scientific
and popular interest.
Standing on the Party Platform.
From the Altoona Times.
The new tariff bill was made public
yesterday. There is nothing surprising
in the measure, as it follows out quite
closely the lines laid down in the Chi-
cago platform. Its passage by the pres-
ent Democratic congress will be a grand
trinmph for the popular cause in the
long struggle which has been waged
against the powers of monopoly.
The Country Can Get Along Without
Them.
From the Scottdale Independent.
Secret organizations whose sole pur-
pose is the preservation of this country,
are springing into life with remarkable
frequency. The country may be the
better for these ‘organizations and it
‘may not—most probably not.
From the one Extreme to the Other,
From the Philadelphia Times.
Ex-President Harrison's favorite tune
is the soldiers’ chorus from ‘Faust.”
Nobody suspected it was “Where did
You Get That Hat ?”
Not for Money.
From the Pittsburg Post.
The Yale blue again waves above
the, crimson of Harvard, but the sons of
Eli may bechawed up by the Princeton
tigers on Thanksgiving day.
Spawls from the Keystone,
—Pittsburg’s City Hall is too small.
—Pottsville public schools have abandoned
examinations,
—Domestic woes induced Cyrus A. Dietrich
of Reading, to hang himself. :
—Little Fred Grebe broke through the ice
at Hazleton and drowned.
—William C. Erb, Auditor-elect in Dauphin
County, is dying of hiccoughs.
—Governor Pattison Friday pardoned Char.
les T, Kingrear, a Warren convict.
—A horse kicked Farmer William Mitler te
death in East Hopewell, York County.
—A Pittsburg saloon sells beer for three
cents a glass and d oes a rushing trade.
—The Lake Shore Railroad has leased the
Erie Car Works, coverifig 16 acres of ground.
—After a protracted debauch, John Yokinoks
of Sandy Run, near Hazleton, cut his throat.
—Near her Mahanoy City home, Mrs. Frank
Gustard was fatally injured by a passing train.
—A huge lump of coal fell upon and crushed
the skull of Edward Miller, an Ashland min.
er,
—Caught between cars which he was trying
to couple, Brakeman Joseph Birkett was kill-
ed.
—One hundred puddlers have gone from
Pittsburg to man the Norton mill at Ashland»
Ky.
~—A Virginia negro, Robert Brown, stabbed
and tried to kill Lambert Brown, colored, at
York.
—Ex-State Senator George F. Meily, of Leb
anon, is seriously ill at his home at Jones”
town.
—When walking to his home at Branchdale:
Schuylkill county, Edward Maloney dropped
dead.
—Boys shooting at a target killed Charles
Bowers’ horse, that stood in the stable, a
Hamburg.
—The shot which John McEvoy, a burglar,
received while robbing a Meadville store, has
proved fatal.
—More than 30,000 carloads of mud have
been hauied out of the Antietam Lake reser
voir at Reading.
—Missing a bird he fired at, William Um-
stead, of Emaus, shot his friend, Oscar Aaker.
who will recover.
—A lot of rare coinsand postage stamps were
stolen by burglars from Hess’ photograph gal-
lery, Williamsport.
—With a capital of $1,000,000 the Equitable
Investment and Loan Association, of Pittsburg
has been chartered.
—A Reading dealer says all the skims h®
buys are shipped to Europe and there convert-
ed into fur clothing.
—A charter was Monday granted to th
Pennsylvania Dental Company, of Philadel-
phia; capital, $10,000.
—Having dikappeared six years ago, and sil’
this time thought dead, Emil Schelle returned
to his home at Lancaster.
—Alleged heirs-of Conrad Geyer, living in
Berks County, are trying to run downa $3,-
000,000 fortune in €uba.
—His insanity plea failed, and Alfted Clark
was convicted at Erie of shooting Thomas
Maloney with intens to kill.
—The furniture and fixtures in tHe State
World's Fair Building will be sold at auction
in Harrisburg, December 11.
—The mines underneath Scranton’s new
$200,00' school building are caving to and
threaten to ruin the big edifice.
—Convicted at Wilkesbarre of murderin the
second degree, Charles.Chamberlain was- sent
to the penitentiary for 12}4 years.
~ Counsel for Harry Johnson, convicted of
drowning his little daughter at Allentown,
Saturday filed reasons for a new trial.
—As he was returning home from his step.
daughter's funeral, in Lancaster. John BEcke
man, of Quarryville, dropped dead.
—Four children of Benjamin Tennis, whe
will be hanged on December 7, Saturday bade
him good-by in the Harrisburg jail .
—In St. Peter's Lutheraa Cemetery, Allen-
town, a heartless and unknown young mother
abandoned her colored baby, about 5 weeks
old. :
—The first Chinaman to eommit suicide by
drowning in Pennsylvania was Ko Hang, whe
jumped into the Yough River, at West New-
ton.
—Archie Ayers, a middle-aged man, at
Meshoppen, was locked up Saturday forra
criminal assault upon a.10-year-old girl named
Burch.
—The National Window &lass Workers’ As-
sociation, with headquarters in Pittsburg,
threatens to break away from the Knights of
Labor.
—A Lancaster jury acquitted Uriah and
George Eckert of being implicated in the
whol-sale horse-thieving in that and adjoin.
‘ing counties.
—Court at Harrisburg has refused tle Su-
preme Court Prothonotary’s pefition from the
Eastern district to grant a mandamus for his
elerk’s salary.
--Burglars rolled the 809-pound: safe out of
itopen in the road and robbed it ot $200: and
other valuables.
—Internal injuries, caused by rough: hand-
‘ling by his playmates at school in Lancaster,
‘have just resulted in. the death of Isaac Hos~
teter, 6 years old. :
—The Home for Orphan and Friendless
Children, at Huntingdon, has appealed to the
public for funds with which to pay fer the new
steam heating apparatus.
—Rev. George Hodges Sunday resigned th e
pastorate of the Calvary Episcopal Church«
Pittsburg, to become Dean of the Harvard
Theological Seminary.
—For killing over 100 horses by cruelly
working them within the past year Freseoln
& Rooney, contractors on the reservoir at Lan-
caster, have been arrested.
—Fatal injuries, caused by being dragged a
quarter of a mile by a runaway horse, were
sustained by Mrs. John Frost and Miss Mollie
Sedgwick, near New Salem.
—William Ayers &Son, of Philadelphia, won
their suit against Kauffman & Bros., of Pitts-
burg, and will stop the latter ‘from using an
.| important blanket trade-mark.
—The Fidelity Mutual Aid Association, of
Philadelphia, is to be sued for $2000 by Mrs,
Martha Jones, of Pittsburg, on her husband's
life policy ; but the company insists that her
husband is alive and well in Scotland.
—At Reading, J. L. Stradelman has secure
a verdict for $3579 against Chadbourne, Hazel
won & Co, Philadelphia electricians, for mon-
ey advanced to build the Neversink Mountain
Electric Railroad. The latter must reimburse
tha electricians.