The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-21
HARLAN'S LANGUAGE HEATED.
HE IMPUTEs IMPROPER MOTIVES
TO THE COURT.

says Nations Have RevOIfcd ON Less
ProVOcation Than That Given BY
the Overthrow of the Income Tax
Lnw-The Justices Incorporate
Language Attributed 10 n Desire to
Pnnder 10 the PopuIfstic Element
Money Paid To he Returned-Secre-
cy of the Returns.
Washington, May 20-The decision rem
dered by the United States supreme court
this afternoon. removing every vestige
OF the income tax law from the statute
books, although Il had been very gener-
ally discounted. is nevertheless the one
topic of conversation in Washington to-
night. Particularly is Justice Harlan's
dissenting opinion a matter OF comment
II was actually sensational in the Bit
terness of its almost personal attack upon
the members of the court, who rendered
the majority decision, and in the pessi-
mistic view which II took Of the effect Of
the nullincation Of the law. 10 was dellv-
cred with evident passion and feeling.
and "a times Justice Harlan, apparent
ly Ignoring the immense crowd IN the his
toric chamber, turned deliberately and
addressed his remarks to the faces OF
Y ulel justice fAltf ana justice flell.
His assertion that, for less than the over
turning OF this law frenzled people had
risen to overthrow "A government. ere.
ated a profound sensation. and when he
insisted that If the majority Of the court
had taken a correct view Of the consti-
tuition, the latter ought to be amended by
the American people as quickly as possl-
BILE, there was another perceptible stir in
the court room. He intimated that the
court had been Influenced by motives
which had no place i'm court OF justice,
and i'm every sentence OF his caustic. sar-
castle and bitter address, made II very
plain that he believed a dark page had
been written upon the history. of the
country.
The other dissenting opinions were more
conservative and dignihed. The general
impression tonight is that the majority
of the court took the proper view and
Justice Harlan is accused of pandering to
the populistc element, which secured the
enactment of the tax.
Many interesting questions viii arise out
Of the notification Of the law. one Of
these is the custody of the returns. Com
missioner Miller will have all these re-
turns sent to the treasury and he insists
that they can be kept inviolate. When II
was suggested 10 him that some unprin-
cipled deputy might sell the returns to a
newspaper for high price, he said that
missal. AS the deputy will be out of Office
any way. this does not seem TO be a very
severe punishment. but Assistant Secre-
tary Hamlin has found two statutes which
impose a very heavy penalty for disposing
of any public record of the government
and, he says that under this law, any
deputy parting with returns can be very
vigorously dealt with He says that the
returns are without doubt public records,
and thus come within the statutes. IL is
a fact. however, that the action of the
court in wiping out all of the income tax
sections, even those imposing penalties
for making public the returns, has given
the treasury officials considerable anxiety.
They are sure, they say, that no returns
W ! be made public, and with this assur-
ance those who have made returns will
have to be content.
The experiment of revving the income
tax has been rather costly one to the
United States treasury. Up to date the
cost of preparing for the enforcement of
the law now declared unconstitutional by
the supreme court aggregates about $780,
900. All the printing done in preparing
blank forms of returns Is of course a dead
loss There were appointed 2i0 deputy col
lectors of internal revenue for the especial
purpose of handling this tax, all of whom
will now be gradually dismissed At some
Of the large Offices a few special deputies
may be kept for short time to assist in
closing up the work of refundng the mon
ey already paid in. Up to May /, the
amount paid in was: By corporations, &c. |
642; by persons, $56,52l. Since that date
about $1,000 has been received, making the |
total in round figures, $50 600. This money
will be refunded under sec. 3.220, revised
statutes, upon application being made to
the commissioner of internal revenue |
through the collector to whom the last re- |
turns was originally made. one applica- |
tion has already been filed for a return Of |
the tax paid in. 1t was made by ex-senator |
Camden of West Virginia, who filed it five |
minutes after Chief Justice Fuller an
nounced the decision of the court.
Commissioner Miller says that under |
the income tax law as it passed congress |
$40 000,O 900 would have been received, and |
i'm the shape in which the first decision |
left it about sl6,0OO,OOO would have been |
realized. To have collected this would |
have cost about $4,000. or less than l |
per cent. of the amount collected
Internal Revenue Commissioner Miller |
this afternoon sent the following tee-
gram to all collectors OF internal revenue: |
Income tax law declared unconsttu-
tional by supreme court. Stop all work |
in connection herewith, and send to this
office at once under seal all books, as
sessment lists, returns and records in your
office or the hands of deputies relating to
the income tax"