Show New Julian The land tax is a continual grievance griev-ance The peasant severed from his feudal lord asserts that the land is his own and he does not see why he should pay dues for it call them by what name men will An assessment of value every five years was promised which has not been made though the tax has been reduced and its proportion propor-tion to the total revenue of the country is much lower than formerly It is also pleaded that the railways now in progress will alter the value of property prop-erty in many places and that a reassessment re-assessment can not be fairly made till L the main lines are completed In Mltfords Tales of Old Japan is related the story of Sakura who met his death in the seventeenth century by his resolution In bringing before the Shogun in person the grievances of his fellowagriculturalists oppressed by their feudal lord Unable to obtain redress from any subordinate authority he concealed himself beneath a bridge over which the Shoguns procession must inevitably pass and climbing out at the crucial moment thrust his memorial me-morial at the end of a bamboo stick into the dictators litter This was a capital ofense and evenhanded justice jus-tice punished the oppressors but executed exe-cuted the complainant An Englishman traveling quite lately in the part of the country Inhabited by this Japanese tribunal found his tomb and a temple erected to his memory mem-ory which has been highly honored of late years The visitor pointed out that Sakura had been crucified for complaining of the rent Yes said the malcont farmers but the rent was decreased they dont crucify us now but they dont lower the tax Everything continues the observer was the fault of the government it rained if the dams burst if there was a blight It was all in consequence conse-quence of the land taxNineteenth Century |