The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-21
CRIME OF ,95.
HARLAN VIGOROUSLY ATTACKS
THE MAJORITY.
If Fuller, ct al, are Correct in Their
Views, Then 1T is Time that the
Constitution Should BE Amended
Means Favors to the Rich.

The chief justice concluded the read
delivery having consumed fifty min
utes.
He was Immediately followed by
Justice Harlan in a dissenting opinion.
Justice Harlan said that at the form
er hearing it had been adjudged that
tax on rents was a direct tax and
must be apportioned among the states.
He had dissented from that view, con-
curing in the able opinion of Justice
White, to which he thought nothing
could be added. He wanted, however,
to add one additional authority, the
opinion of Justice Strong. in the case
of Clark VS.. Sickle. which he quoted
at some length. He said this decision
was significant, and meant that
virtually all incomes could be taxed.
Mr.. Harlan said he would later file an
opinion giving his views in detail, and
his views as now printed would be of
a general character. Capitalization
taxes and taxes on land, he contended,
should be considered as direct, and
they had been uniformly held to be.
He quoted from the views of Justices
Iredell, Patterson and others on the
operation of the constitutional pro-
vision as to apportionment, holding
that the rules had been consulted only
when it could be reasonably applied.
Saps the Foundations.
The changes contemplated from the
former practice in this matter, Justice
Harlan said, was little less than
revelation. Everyone comedies the
decisions in former cases would have
been the same as they were if there
had been no reference in the constitu-
ion 70 to- IL 1,aI1 -,
on rents to be a duty or something
entirely different from tax on land
from which rent was collected. He
combatted the idea that rents were
devise of lands in view Of the fact the
present law was to continue in opera
ton for only five years. A tax on land
is generally a lien on land while that
on rents is not. In it's essence a tax
on rents is a tax on money where the
tax is payable in money. He said the
present decision was a step in advance
of its former decision and said Incl
dentally that the present conclusion
had been reached by bare majority.
In his judgment, to say nothing of
former holdings of the court, the de-
cision might well excite very grave
apprehension. Continuing he said:
In my judgment, this decision
strikes at the very foundations of ma
the general government power which |
is, or may at some time in a great |
such as that of war, be- |
come vital to the existence and preser-
walton of the union. 1t tends to re-
establish that condition of helplessness
in which Congress found itself during
the period of the articles of confedera-
ton when it was without powers by
laws operating directly upon indi-
viduals to lay and collect through it's
OWN agents. taxes sufficient to pay
The debts and defray the expenses of
government, and was dependent in all
such matters upon the good will of the
states, and promptness in making the
-equisitions made upon them by Con-
gress.
Practical Operation.
I'm its practical operations this de-
,ision wfthdrawS from national taxa
ion not only all incomes derived from
cal estate, but the personal property
Il the whole country, bonds stocks.
Investments OF ALL kinds, and the in
ome that may be derived from such
property. This result is from the fact