The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-12-05

GREENBAd rs EXEMPT taos Tx
s s;ss'.s Il Me
Faran d Mclean u.s. NJ Greenwood
Treasurer of Hamilton County, and august
sWil9ieh. auditor.
!: The pSi1on stSsd that 1t the time
Of the lsyy-and- assessmant lor taxation
N 1866, the plaintiffs were. the, owners
1of . large amount Of the notes issued
by the, Government as United States
currency. commonly called greenbacks,
amounting nominally to s31, 500, and
that this sum was not laced on the du-
plicate for taxation. - -
yiaSThey aver. however, that on the It'll
sof June, 1867, August Which, the Audi
gtor of Hamilton county, placed this
7 amount on the duplicate. for 1866, and
charged the /, tax thereon against the
y plaintiffs in the sum of $3.50 40. I.
They. charge that this action Of the
Auditor was without authority of law;
that greenbacks, can. not be taxed, and
that the Treasurer has no right to col
! 'lect tax thereon. s:..-ef'
ynd They therefore prayed for an. injunc.
ton to prevent the collection of the tax
This was granted Professionally at, the
otime lin July 1ast). ,'.,y - -. =
's~ Tie defendants filed general demur-
eer to the petition, on the ground that
1.-the facts stated did not constitute
: cause of action. '.'..'. So
dial Argument on the demurrer was heard
. some time ago and on the ,26th Judge
Storer rendered his decision,
/, 70 bsrstfBI EF0tF s9f63G ssbaiA on
4sga sea % OPINION arnssse aYissa
-, There are two points taken to sustain
the demurrer The first is that the PEI
r. tition isinsnfficient, as it is not stated to
be brought under any particular statute
or part of any statute, or that those
notes were issued under. authority of
/, any particular section This point / do
not consider of any value for the de.
murer.9 wA& sSts&9a-soda sss94gTsdaoif
The other point is the important one,
and gives character to- the whole case.
Upon looking into the matter, 1 find
that on the 18th day of July, 1861, the
the Congress of the United States in
augurated a system by which the wants
Of the loyal States for currency were
intendedatot be supplied, and 1.-the me cans
obtained to carry on the extensive mill
tary operations in which the country
wasfengaged. szs .astdatsgsy nsfzss 5ae.'
,m >,
By that statute, bonds were authorized
to be issued and Treasury notes were
also authorized Both these forms of
indcbtednesssborei interest. In the same
year. aons the 10th OF August, another
statute was passed, which authorized
that, in addition to these two classes of
Government obligations, there should is
sue from the Treasury Department notes
which were denominated demand notes.
On the 25th of February, 1862, another
statute was passed, entitled ian act to
authorize an additional issue of United
States notes.na On the I1th day of Ju-.
ly, of the same year, and ON the Sd day
Of March, 1868, another law was passed
in relation to the same matter, to raise
means for the support of the Govern,
ment; and additional auth crity is given
to issue more notes, payable on demand.
!, In this last act we find, for the first time,
this clause Sc 1a3 ~ g7osl4zsI Q
\, "And all the bonds, Treasury notes,
\ &C., de-, shall be exempt from taxation
4 BY State or municipal authority" tnen 81
, Here is an express provision Of Con-
Z gress attaching not only to bonds but to
i Treasury notes, and demand notes. On
!, the 17th of July. 1863, a Joint Resolu-
!, ton was passed by which the Secretary
!, Of the Treasury was authorized to issue
!. notes On the Treasury of the United
y States. bsiiao s9Sr Hi9y - saaras sdI
\ On the 3Oth of June, 1854. another
!. act was passed which seems the only
one to which we need refer, entitled an
act to provide means for the support of
7 the Government. By this law an addi-
} tional amount of demand notes is au-
/ thorized to be issued. and in the 18th
3 section it is said, s'the words obligations
and other securities Of the United States
! shall be held to include all bonds, cou
} pons, Treasury notes, demand notes.
J fractional currency, checks for money
} authorized by the Treasury of the Uni.
ted State" &C., aejszoT ss27si sit esasti
The great purposes for which these
= u
ed from q omparison of all the statutes.
The object was to give credit to the
bonds and Treasury notes of the Gov
ernment. In the first place these notes
ro loool fap "A or n nj in, tho meet ,lo,o