Now, some of these Republican hayseeds are talkin' about makin' the liquor tax $1500, or even $2000 a year.

That would mean the suicide of half of the liquor dealers in the city.
Just see how these poor fellows are oppressed all around! First, liquor is taxed in the hands of the manufacturer by the United States Government; second, the wholesale dealer pays a special tax to the government; third, the retail dealer is specially taxed by the United States Government; fourth, the retail dealer has to pay a big tax to the State government.
Now, liquor dealing is criminal or it ain't.

If it's criminal, the men engaged in it ought to be sent to prison.

If it ain't criminal, they ought to be protected and encouraged to make all the profit they honestly can.

If it's right to tax a saloonkeeper $1000, it's right to put a heavy tax on dealers in other beverages--in milk, for instance--and make the dairymen pay up.