Show 1 GENTEEL ROBBERY A Story From EveryDay Life in Fair Utah SOME ILLUSIONS ILLUSTRATED y How We are Pillaged From Cradle to Grav Until we are Poor and Discouraged Discour-aged With Life H HE WAS LIVING on the North Bench in Salt Lake and Pi he was a prosperous farmer in the coun t try tryThey i They were lovers in the flush and pride of 14t youth ti That was twenty t a years ago t l One day they were married settling down on their homestead for a life of unadulterated bliss But the bliss failed to stttle down with them Do what they may money was tight and they both had to toil day and night to make both ends meet When at last sickness sick-ness too set in they were almost ready to despair f 1 f u V I I 111 j I s 1 y P 1 Ic v N ft I qit 11 L rl rl 0 1 0 Ij t J > 1 t c = u j trwlr r rr AI 2 X f t l rrt J k li 0 f r = S ii l F k f 1 01 y V What was the trouble The farm yielded yield-ed well and they were sensible and economical econ-omical folks So one morning they put their heads together to-gether and thought the situation over He figured up his church charity doctors and tax expenses but for tho life of him he could not account for the hard times in this way ctizi ta rr r Why all the wheat and corn and pork and wool and beans and pardon stuff and other things I have raised said he Didnt we eat it J asked his wife Why bless you child we could not have eaten ono thousandth part of it Did anybody steal iU I rr r r J t < r Jl f I = I U0iiI I 9J ir I r I III I l pI = 0 + I ism 1 Ii I y I iII iI-I 7 u Xow child you ought to be ashamed of yourself You know all our neighbors are honest No one ever stole a cent from meRight hero the old farmer was wrong 11 The old man worried about what became of his crops The more he thought about it the more he felt sure he had not consumed con-sumed them One day he was reading THE i I r SAIT of tl i 1 r I 4 a 1 It 1 1 I HERALD as usual when a suggestion came to him He would see what share of his revenue went to Uncle Sam disguised under un-der the name of protection to home industries indus-tries He figured it out carefully Why dear he said to his wife I have found the cause of our poverty It is the big government in Washington that is 1 robbing us systematically and heartlessly from the cradle to the grave As soon as a farmers child is born the government begins be-gins to tax him 0 = J r I 7J ° 12a r II l 5V r If the baby has the colic and Vie mother gives him a dose of paregoric the government govern-ment taxes it40 per cent and it nevor lets up on the taxing afterwards while there is a cent in his pocket Most farmers and working men wear flannel shirts for a large part of the year At 5 oclock he gets out of bed I and puts on a flannel 9 t shirt that is taxed 100 percent per-cent This costly garment gar-ment for which he paid 7ll twice what it could have i 11 been sold for at a fair pJ profit having been out I i JJ1 = toned up with buttons J p taxed 150 per cent he 1 gI w proceeds to put on a pair r Y of trousers They are I m m I1 I I of h I made coarse heavy cloth and the taxis made correspondingly heavy so they cost him 100 per cent more than they otherwise would He straps them over his shoulders with suspenders taxed Go per cent and proceeds to put his feet into a pair of socks taxed 120 per cent He wears coarsebeavy socks and be must pay about four times tho tax the rich man does for elegant thin light t ones He then thrusts his feet into a pair cowhide shoes which have 1 of coarse been 11 1 taxed 25 per cent after which be puts on a j f s coat taxed 95 per cent He wakes up his wife and goes out into in-to tho kitcben and starts a fire with 4 coal taxed 75 cents on a ton and the smoke goes up a Y rlmlJ brick chimney taxed 45 per cent Then he goes out and pitches hay to the cattle with a fork taxed 45 per cent In a rack taxed 40 per cent and feeds them salt taxed 44 per cent out of a barrel taxed 40 per cent J I I I f S65 fi i 2 After giving slop to his pigs out of a barrel bound with iron hoops taxed 35 percent per-cent ho goes into the stable taxed 40 percent per-cent to iced hill horses out of troughs taxed 40 per cent Meanwhile his good wife has arisen and cooked his bacon which he had cured with salt taxed 44 per cent no Ro rebate on a stove taxed E 45 per cent A neighbor I came to the house and mei taking a pail taxed 20 percent per-cent went to fetch some water water not taxed yet which he got from a pump taxed 35 per cent He closed the door taxed L 20 per cent which was hung on hinges 5 7e taxed 35 per cent and was held fast by a lock taxed 45 per cent Then he washed his hands in a tin basin taxed 53 per cent with soap taxed 20 per cent and wiped them on a brown linen towel taxed 35 per cent He went into the dining room covered with an oilcloth oil-cloth carpet taxed 40 per cent and sat down in a chair taxed 35 per cent His wife pulled out a table taked 20 percent f 50 F i 7r per-cent and I ml lJ spread 1J L upon it r tablecloth Ir II table-cloth O a m taxed 40 s I I per cent I t1 Sheputon A 191 it some brown earthware taxed 40 per cent and white plates taxed 50 per cent the knives and forks were also taxed 50 per cent The glass tumblers out of which they drank milk were taxed ISO per cent and the roof under which they sat was taxed 20 percent per-cent f3 f so r The good wife poured coffee out of a coffeepot taxed 55 r t percent and stirred it up with a spoon axed 45 per cent E = The bill of faro was S5Y not elaborate It consisted tJ isted of coffee taken rout iou > i-ou t of a can taxed 55 W fff per cen t b con r cured with salt axed 44 per cent bread made of flour taken from a bag taxed I 35 per cent and butter seasoned with taxed salt After breakfast the farmer put on a hat taxed 55 per cent walked overtaxed a over-taxed carpet which covered a taxed floor out of a taxed door hung on taxed hinges and fastened with taxed lock into Gods air not taxed yet He then got j Et some wire nails taxed 150 per cent and pX > taking a hammer taxed 50 ii 1 Per cent and a saw and TJJ SN axe taxed 55 per cent I tCbpi j rh Pi he repaired a pig pen with f lXUY Jj lumber taxed 20 per cent I ii iji ± rili After he had finished that f 1 Iii I job he went into the stable i A and put a bridle and harness onto his horses taxed 35 J I 1 If nor cent led them out from r the taxed stable to a taxed J trough and pumped untaxed water for them from a taxed pump He hitched them to a plough taxed 45 per cent and started to the field to put in many lonely hours preparing the ground for another crop The wife f I swept the floor with a broom f I taxed 35 per cent went into 2 the best room the taxed floor f covered with an ingrain car 1 pet taxed bU per cent She got a needletaxed 25 percent and threaded it with cotton 1 thread taxed 74 per cent At first she thought she would make herself a dress of some printed cottonvalued at over 15 cents a yardtaxed 45 per cent I t but at last concluded to make v her husband some clothes of Il common woollen goods taxed 111 per cent After sewing some hours on the c taxed material with a taxed needle and thread sitting in j4 a taxed chair on a taxed carpet which covered s taxed floor she went out to j work in the garden and she u J took a hoe and shovel taxed 45 per cent with which to dig up the weeds After the long weary day is over the farmer came home He fed the pigs chickens horses and cattle and swine and came throuzh a taxed door and sat at histaxed table once more which was lighted with a glass lamp taxed ISO percent per-cent centAfter After supper the farmer took down his Bible taxed 25 percent per-cent read a chapter from the I holy book thanked God that he I I had cast his lot in the freest country earth and then retired re-tired and covered himself with a blanket taxed 111 percent and so it goesto the end The years slowly pass away the farmer grows old the hair on his head is white as snow his good wife is wrinkled OI TSrr f TR s f7oy i i I 1P S r and bent finally he dies and he is put in a coffin taxed 110 per cent The minister comes and reads the service of the church and he is carried to his long home and over the ground his children erect a monument to his memory which is taxed 80 per cent r Then the old farmer I sat and thought again ll 1 At last he said 51U = D I understand it II T cow I can account for It all They got r 807 my beef corn wheat 0 and pork I have been T dl J robbed They have li3fi ih OMw4t been stealing the pro coeds of my labor all G t my life Of all I have raised they have only left me barely enough to feed my wife and children And that is not all 01 every dollar of taxes raised in this way one part goes to Uncle Sam and four parts to the millionaire manufacturer If the tax were collected in a direct way it wool d create a revolution inside of six months |