Show THE DIRECT TAX BILL Will the politicians never cease to remind re-mind us all that there was once a civil war I in this country And will the politicians never tire of punishing the seceding states for the mistake they made in trying to get out of the union And will the politicians never let up in tho work of rewarding the loyal people for whipping the rebels into subjection Tho war was proclaimed thirty years ago and twentysix years ago peace was declared A new generation of men has been born and is passing pass-ing away since the commencement of the war and the great majority of the men who are running this country I today remember but indistinctly the declaration of peace in 1SG5 But the war goes on all tho same and one who reads only the debates in Congress would be excused ex-cused for believing that actual fighting was still indulged in a large section of tho country being in open rebellion against the government The latest powerful evidence that we have had a war of rebellion comes in the shape of the direct tax bill which has finally passed both houses of Congress and will reach tho President for his action on Monday Of course he will approve the measure and then S17000000 will be taken rpm the national treasury and distributed among the states which do not need it and do not want it It was thirty years ago that the government imposed a direct tax upon the several states based upon the population There was collected in this way i7jObopOO and the money was used to support the union That should have been the end of the matter and would have been the end of it were it not for the demagogues who persist in coming to the front It will further punish the rebellious states to tako this cash out of the general treasury and give it back to the states which contributed it hence the thing must be done and it will be deemed an evidence of disloyalty and of sympathy with the defunct confederacy to oppose the deed When a similar bill was presented to CLEVELAND he didnt hesitate to veto it but it will meet a different fate now as the President is prominent among those who delight to make it appear that we were once engaged in a civil war and who like to say to the world that their hato has not been softened by the quarter of a century of peace |