textfiles-politics/politicalTextFiles/crockett.txt

                PUBLIC MONIES AND PRIVATE SUPPLICATIONS
                            by Davy Crockett
        
        [ShareDebate International editor's note: the
        copyright for the below has expired eons ago and is in
        the public domain.  It was reprinted in The Washington
        Times National Weekly Edition, February 6-12, 1995,
        page 33.]
        
        [Washington Times Editor's note: This argument by Davy
        Crockett against the principle of wealth distribution
        first was published in "The Life of Colonel David
        Crockett,"compiled by Edward S. Ellis and published
        in 1884. It appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch]
        
        "Several years ago, I was one evening standing on the
        steps of the Capitol with some other members of
        Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great
        light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large
        fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as
        we could.
        
        "In spite of all that could be done, many houses were
        burned and many families made homeless, and, besides,
        some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on.
        The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many
        women and children suffering, I felt that something
        ought to be done for them.
        
        "The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating
        $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other
        business and rushed it through as soon as it could be
        done.
        
        "The next summer, when it began to be a time to think
        about the election, I concluded that I would take a
        scout around among the boys of my district. I had no
        opposition there, but, as the election was some time
        off, I did not know what might turn up."
        
        
                       A stranger's curt greeting
        
        "When riding one day in a part of my district in which
        I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man
        in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I
        gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to
        the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He
        replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.
        
        "I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate
        beings called candidates, and . . . '
        
        "'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett, I have
        seen you once before, and voted for you the last time
        you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering
        now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I
        shall not vote for you again.'
        
        "This was a sockdolager. . . I begged him to tell me
        what was the matter."
        
        "'Well, Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste
        time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be
        mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows
        that either you have no capacity to understand the
        Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty
        and firmness to be guided by it.
        
        "'In either case you are not the man to represent me.
        But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I
        did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the
        constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the
        purpose of insulting or wounding you.
        
        "I intend by it only to say that your understanding
        of the Constitution is different from mine; and I will
        say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not
        have said, that I believe you to be honest . . . but
        an understanding of the Constitution different from
        mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to
        be worth having, must be held sacred, and rigidly
        observed in all its provisions. The man who wields
        power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the
        more honest he is.' "
        
        "I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be
        some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I
        gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional
        question."
        
        
                    Crockett's vote on bill recalled
        
        "'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here
        in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the
        papers from Washington and read very carefully all the
        proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last
        winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to
        some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true? "
        
        "Well, my friend, I may as well own up. You have got
        me there. But certainly no one will complain that a
        great and rich country should not give the
        insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering
        women, particularly with a full and overflowing
        treasury, and am sure, if you had been there you would
        have done just as I did."
        
        "'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of
        it is the principle. In the first place, the
        government ought to have in the treasury no more than
        enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has
        nothing to do with the question. The power of
        collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the
        most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man,
        particularly under our system of collecting revenue by
        tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no
        matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is, the
        more he pays in proportion to his means.
        
        "'What is worse, it presses upon him without his
        knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a
        man in the United States who can ever guess how much
        he pays to the government. So you see that while you
        are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it
        from thousands who are even worse off than he.
        
        "'If you had the right to give him anything, the
        amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and
        you had as much right to give $20 million as $20,000.
        If you have the right to give to one, you have the
        right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither
        defines nor stipulates the amount, you are at-liberty
        to give to any and everything which you may believe,
        or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount
        you may think proper.' "
        
        
                      Wide door to robbing people
        
        "'You will very easily perceive what a wide door this
        would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on
        the one hand, and for robbing the people, on the
        other. No, Colonel. Congress has no right to give
        charity. Individual members may give as much of their
        own money as they please, but they have no right to
        touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose.
        
        "'If twice as many houses had been burned in this
        district as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other
        member of Congress would have thought of appropriating
        a dollar for our relief. There are about 240 members
        of Congress.
        
        "'If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers
        by contributing each one week's pay, it would have
        made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in
        and around Washington who could have given $20,000
        without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.
        The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which,
        if reports be true, some of them spend not very
        creditably. And the people about Washington, no doubt,
        applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of
        giving by giving what was not yours to give.
        
        "'The people have delegated to Congress, by the
        Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do
        these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and
        for nothing else. Everything beyond this is
        usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.
        
        "'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the
        Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a
        precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when
        Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the
        limits~of the Constitution there is no limit to it,
        and no security for the people. I have no doubt you
        acted honestly, but that does not make it any better,
        except as far as you are personally concerned, and you
        see that I cannot vote for you.
        
        
                      Critic could persuade others
        
        "I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have
        opposition, and this man should go to talking, he
        would set others to talking, and in that district I
        was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the
        fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I
        did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to
        him:
        
        "'Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head
        when you said I had not sense enough to understand the
        Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and
        thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many
        speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but
        what you have said here at your plow has got more
        hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I
        ever heard.
        
        "'If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I
        would have put my head into the fire before I would
        have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and
        vote for me again, if I ever vote for another
        unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.' "
        
        "He laughingly replied: 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn
        to that once before, but I will trust you again upon
        one condition. You say that you are convinced that
        your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do
        more good than beating you for it. If, as you go
        around the district, you will tell people about this
        vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will
        not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep
        down opposition, and, perhaps, I may exert some little
        influence in that way.' "
        
        "'If I don't,' said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to
        convince you that I am in earnest in what I say, I
        will come back this way in a week or 10 days, and if
        you will get up a gathering of people, I will make a
        speech to them. Get up a barbeque and I will pay for
        it.' "
        
        "'No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this
        section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute
        for a barbeque, and some to spare for those who have
        none. The push of crops will be over in a few days,
        and we can then afford a day for a barbeque. This is
        Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday.
        Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together,
        and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and
        hear you.' "
        
        "Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I
        say goodbye. I must know your name."
        
        "'My name is Bunce.' "
        
        "Not Horatio Bunce?"
        
        "'Yes.'
        
        ""Well, Mr. Bunce. I never saw you before, though you
        say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am
        glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope
        to have you for my friend.
        
        "It is one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met
        him. He mingled but little with the public but was
        widely known for his remarkable intelligence and
        incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful and
        running over with kindness and benevolence, which
        showed themselves not only in words but in acts."
        
        
                     His fame extended far and wide
        
        "He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and
        his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his
        immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him
        before, I had heard much of him, and but for this
        meeting it is very likely I should have had
        opposition, and been beaten. One thing is very
        certain, no man could now stand up in that district
        under such a vote.
        
        "At the appointed time I was at his house, having told
        our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to
        every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it
        gave the people an interest and a confidence in me
        stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
        
        "Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his
        house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have
        gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight
        talking about the principles and affairs of
        government, and got more real, true knowledge of them
        than I had got all my life before.
        
        "I have known and seen much of him since, for I
        respect him no, that is not the word - I reverence and
        love him more than any living man, and I go to see him
        two or three times every year; and I will tell you,
        sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian lived
        and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of
        Christ would take the world by storm.
        
        "But to return to my story. The next morning we went
        to the barbeque, and, to my surprise, found about a
        thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not
        known before, and they and my friend introduced me
        around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at
        least, they all knew me.
        
        "In due time notice was given that I would speak to
        them. They gathered up around a stand that had been
        erected. I opened my speech by saying:
        
        "'Fellow citizens - I present myself before you today
        feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been
        opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or
        both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I
        can today offer you the ability to render you more
        valuable service than I have ever been able to render
        before.
        
        "'I am here today more for the purpose of
        acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I
        should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as
        well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a
        matter for your consideration only.' "
        
        "I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for
        the appropriation and then told them why I was
        satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:
        
        "'And now, fellow citizens, it remains only for me to
        tell you that most of the speech you have listened to
        with so much interest was simply a repetition of the
        arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced
        me of my error.
        
        It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he
        is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is
        satisfied with his convert and that he will get up
        here and tell you so.' "