slavery.
So I am in favor or personal liberty to the largest extent. Whenever
the Government grants privileges to the few, these privileges should
be for the benefit of the many, and when they cease to be for the
benefit of the many, they should be taken from the few and used by
the government itself for the benefit of the whole people. And I
want to see in this country the Government so administered that
justice will be done to all as nearly as human institutions can
produce such a result. Now, I understand that in any state of
society there will be failures. We have failures among the working
people. We have had some failures in Congress. I will not mention
the names, because your space is limited. There have been failures
in the pulpit, at the bar; in fact, in every pursuit of life you
will presume we shall have failures with us for a great while; at
least until the establishment of the religion of the body, when we
shall cease to produce failures; and I have faith enough in the
human race to believe that that time will come, but I do not expect
it during my life.

_Question_. What do you think of the income tax as a step toward
the accomplishment of what you desire?

_Answer_. There are some objections to an income tax. First, the
espionage that it produces on the part of the Government. Second,
the amount of perjury that it annually produces. Men hate to have
their business inquired into if they are not doing well. They
often pay a very large tax to make their creditors think they are
prosperous. Others by covering up, avoid the tax. But I will say
this with regard to taxation: The great desideratum is stability.
If we tax only the land, and that were the only tax, in a little
while every other thing, and the value of every other thing, would
adjust itself in relation to that tax, and perfect justice would
be the result. That is to say, if it were stable long enough the
burden would finally fall upon the right backs in every department.
The trouble with taxation is that it is continually changing--not
waiting for the adjustment that will naturally follow provided it
is stable. I think the end, so far as land is concerned, could be
reached by cumulative taxation--that is to say, a man with a certain
amount of land paying a very small per cent., with more land, and
increased per cent., and let that per cent. increase rapidly enough
so that no man could afford to hold land that he did not have a