CHAPTER I. 



TAXATION IN GENERAL. 



Taxation of some sort and degree is a necessity 

 of civilized life, and it should be the desire of every 

 intelligent citizen to contribute something to meet the 

 needs of organized society. Yet, on the whole, it must 

 be considered one of the social burdens, and should be 

 limited in its extent to the actual requirements of the 

 state. 



Excessive taxation is evidently a very great evil, 

 though it has been strangely enough urged, by men high 

 in legislative positions, that through it is " the only 

 gateway to prosperity." Taxation of this sort, says the 

 wise economist, is " a kind of suicide," however laid ; 

 while it is little less than criminal, when clumsily or in- 

 equitably drawn from the masses ; for its continuance 

 must finally end in the ruin of many whose incomes are 

 not sufficient to bear any added strain. 



The rapidity with which taxation has rolled up against 

 the people of America during the last forty years, or 

 since the farmers began to lose their political power, is 

 enough to startle one when he takes courage to face the 

 figures which tell the story. In 1840, the federal treas- 

 ury of the United States took from the pockets of the 

 people $1.25 per capita ; in 1888, $5.57 per capita ; or, 

 for a family of five in 1840, $6.25 ; in 1888, $27.85 ; an 



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