298 THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



the close of that war nearly all these taxes were gradually 

 withdrawn, those on beer, spirits, tobacco, opium, playing 

 cards, and imported wine being all that remained* of our sys- 

 tem of national internal taxation. Upon the outbreak of the 

 war with Spain some of these taxes were reimposed, and will 

 necessarily remain until the cost of that war is paid off. It 

 is not likely that the nation will ever again dispense entirely 

 with revenue from internal sources, as, even if we remain in 

 profound peace, the tendency is for the people to demand an 

 ever-increasing service from the national government. While 

 we are the richest nation in the world we have less capital in 

 proportion to our requirements than many other nations. We 

 have an immense territory whose inhabitants are clamoring 

 for rapid development. We might be called " land poor." We 

 are called to expend for pubhc buildings, rivers and harbors, the 

 conservation of forests, the control and storage of waters and 

 similar objects, within a short time, sums whose collection and 

 expenditure would, in older countries, have been distributed 

 over centuries. We are expending for these purposes the 

 money which, but for our happy situation and hitherto con- 

 servative policy, would have been required for the support of 

 a great standing army. In the event of war, or important 

 increase of national debt from other causes, national taxation 

 would be imposed on many commodities and transactions 

 which are now untaxed. 



It will be noticed that the most important national taxes 

 are what are known as "indirect taxes"— that is, taxes which 

 are collected by the government from merchants or manufac- 

 turers, with the expectation that they will repay themselves 

 when selling to tlie consumer. This is because the resources 

 of direct taxation are so fully used for state and local purposes 

 that public sentiment requires that the national government 

 shall, so far as possible, be restricted to indirect taxation as a 



*Such taxes as those upon " filled cheese " and oleomargarine are not meas- 

 ures for producing revenue, but for controlling or preventing the manufacture 

 or sale of products deemed undesirable. I, thereft)ro, do not mention them in 

 the text. 



