EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



ests with the people to say when we 

 shall have such a Congress. It is all 

 a question, as we lately pointed out, 

 of disinterestedness in the exercise 

 of the franchise. Whenever the 

 time comes that the people as a 

 whole, or a pi'eponderant majority 

 of the people, desire good and honest 

 government, and are willing to take 

 a little trouble to secure it, many 

 things will be possible of which at 

 present we can only dream. 



MR. WELLS ON METHODS OF FEDERAL 

 TAX A TION. 



It is one of the most serious evils 

 of the methods of political discussion 

 current among us that petty, local, 

 and temporary considerations are 

 given predominance, and graver, 

 broader views, looking to the gen- 

 eral public welfare and to ultimate 

 results, are very little regarded. 



We have a government, accord- 

 ing to the well-worn phrase, of the 

 people, for the people, by the people ; 

 but what " the people " do not always 

 see is, that the government which 

 they actually call into being is not a 

 government of the people as a ivhole, 

 for the people as a icliole, and by the 

 people as a whole, but a government 

 in which rival interests, class and 

 sectional, more or less check, thwart, 

 haggle with, and corrupt one another, 

 and in which the real interests of the 

 community as a whole are too often 

 lost sight of. The standing difficulty 

 under our system is how to get im- 

 portant interests duly attended to, 

 how to get great questions adequate- 

 ly discussed. Matters of minor im- 

 portance, particularly such as may 

 become the subject of a ''deal," can 

 always secure attention ; but, when 

 the wider and more lasting inter- 

 ests of the nation are concerned, 

 our legislative bodies show only too 

 plainly that these are not the mat- 

 ters they care to deal with. The 



truth is they are not, speaking broad- 

 ly, the matters they were elected to 

 deal with, each constituent body 

 having regard mainly, in choosing 

 its representative, to local and spe- 

 cial interests, not to those of the 

 country as a whole. 



The article which we publish in 

 this number from our valued con- 

 tributor, the Hon. David A. Wells, 

 entitled How can the Federal Gov- 

 ernment best raise its Revenues ? 

 furnishes an admirable example of 

 the manner in which great questions 

 of public policy should be approached 

 and treated. 



Mr. Wells indicates what might 

 be done if our statesmen would only 

 deal with the question of taxation 

 disinterestedly, casting aside the mis- 

 chievous prejudice engendered by 

 partisan rivalries and squabbles, and 

 solely with a view to the public good. 

 He points out that some of his sug- 

 gestions would involve going counter 

 to certain popular prejudices, but he 

 makes it clear that these prejudices 

 have nothing to do with the public 

 good except to thwart and obstruct it. 

 His appeal is to the reason and pa- 

 triotism of Congress and of the 

 country at large, and it will so far 

 help, we have no doubt, to raise the 

 tone of political discussion. To this 

 end we cite his article as an example 

 of earnest and thoughtful argument 

 the kind of argument that is too 

 seldom addressed to popular audi- 

 ences and too seldom heard in our 

 legislative bodies. 



The question of protection and 

 free trade is very slightly if at all 

 touched upon in Mr. Wells's article. 

 But we can not refrain from saying 

 that, in our oiDinion, this great nation 

 can never be right with itself or with 

 the world so long as the protection 

 sentiment rules the thought of the 

 people. To say that the way to make 

 ourselves prosperous is to shut out the 

 products of the rest of the world, even 



