Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-11
P LAYING GARD TAX
Tie Issue Of the Stamps in This
District.
The Large Amount Contributed I'm
The Mile Limit Restriction.

When the game Is made nowadays and
the chips are all distributed and the kitty
prepares to purr in response to regular
attention and the stability Of the banker Is
found to be beyond question the cover is
rot removed from the cards as easily as Of
ycre. At the meeting OF the flaps where
the mucilage never managed to stick at all
Urder the old conditions there is now a
mark Of Uncle Sans approval in the shape
Of a Cancelled 2-cent internal revenue
stamp. 1t makes no difference what kind
Of cards the players may be using. The
gilt-edged articles that man must spread
out in both hands in order to find out what
he has got; the thin and delicate "squeez-
ers" that cause such a riot Of anticipation
in the mind of man who slowly brings the
tiny indicators on their edges into view and
firds four diamonds in the first four cards
while a jackpot lifts It's attractive head
upon the green baize cloth and then strikes
a spade in the last exciting Squeeze; the
packs that are given away as railroad ad-
vertisements and the plain, common,
roughly finished and poorly printed steam
BEATS all stand alike In the estimation
of the internal revenue bureau. which
places a charge of two cents on every deck
in accordance with The requirements OF the
German tariff law.
Since the act went into effect something
like 25,OOO stamps for playing cards have
been sold to wholesale and retail dealers In
the District of Columbia, and there would
have been a good many more il the manu-
facturers Of the articles had succeeded in
being half as cute as they wanted to be-
Before the tariff bill became a law, these
wise commercial gentlemen dropped cent
a deck in the price they charged for their
cards, and sent out their charmingly en-
gaging representatives to prevail upon Gus
toners to give big orders on account OF the
reduction. But the local dealers were wise
in their generation. They couldn't see the
economy in buying cards at such a discount
and then being compelled to pay two cents
duty on every deck In a week or two, so
they added nothing to their stock. and con-
.sequently, not more than $1,000 packs OF
cards were in their hands when the two
cent tax went into effect. On nearly all Of
these the required stamp has been placed.
and the future payment of the tax will de-
volve upon the manufacturers, who have
not been allowed to send out any cards since
August % without bearing. the necessary
stamp. There are some people, however,
who want the stamps intended for retail
ers and others having cards on hand when
the tariff bill went into effect a good deal
more than the dealers themselves. There
will be NJ more issues of tie' stamps Of the
character alluded 70, and, therefore, the
stamp collectors are after them like a bee
marten after a Mayfiy. To secure them,
however, a purchaser must make oath that
he has cards in his possession subject to the
duty. and at this writing numerous en-
thusiastic phlatelists are suspended, like
Mahomets coffin between the glory Of COM
pleting thei collections and the moral
gloom of perjury. The chances are that
some of them them will drop.
The Mile Limit,
The card stamp tax Is not the only thing
Of interest connected with the local internal
revenue office, however. A good many peo-
pie will be surprised to learn that it's re-
ceipts amount to about $4,000 annually.
A large proportion of this comes. Of course,
from liquor licenses, wholesale dealers pay
Ing 500 per annum and retail dealers $25.
A singular thing about the District regard
ing these licenses is that the District of
Columbia Is the only state or territory
which contains territory in which the
United States cannot grant a liquor license,
and In which the District authorities them
selves are equally powerless. This Is the
territory embraced in the mile limit"
Uncle Sam can and does license the whole
sale traffic Of liquor in any local option
state or county in the Union, but when he
reaches the mile limit his authority ceases
1t is mighty good thing for the mile
limit, too. Smokers will be interested to
learn that there are eighty or ninety cigar
factories in the District, and there is no
teinnS now many HaEana ana Key West
cigars are made right under the nose of
the bronze lady on the dome. The figures
of the annual output will be found surpris-
Ing, too. as stamps were sold that repre-
sented over 315,OOO cigars made during Au-
gust, making the years local manufacture
reach the handsome total of about 4,5OO, 600
cigars.
No Instructions have yet been sent out by
the treasury officials regarding the collec-
ton of the income tax, and no eppropria-
tlOn is available for the aftapdapf
upon the extra work that will be necessary,
but the local internal revenue receipts will
probably be doubled as soon as the tax
levied can be collected.
Cards That Are Exempt.
To return to the card stamps, the Treas
ury Department recently ruled that packs
of cards known as "old maid." authors"
and similar games which are played with
cards other than the regular pasteboards
used in duplicate whist, euchre and oc-
casionally seven-up and poker. are not SUBJ
1ect to the two-cent duty. Accordingly
some wise manufacturer has issued an ''old
maid pack. 1t consists of a euchre deck,
with the addition of card bearing the
vtsage OF sour-looking elderly female, sup
posed to be the old maid. 1t merely takes
the place Of the joker and can be used in
the game or not, as the players please. This
however, is composed of small,
cheap cards that sell wholesale for cent a
pack, and no decision has yet been reached
by the commissioner of internal revenue on
the question of their liability to tax.
The new tax has sent the wholesale price
of cards up two cents a pack. Cards that
were 80 cents a dozen decks are now $1.l4;
those that brought $3.50 now command
MA. and so on up the scale. This Increased
cost, however. Is not expected to make
poker players take up dominoes or to have
the effect Of breaking up duplicate whist
clubs.