The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-05-06
INCOME TAX AGAIN.
INUUME IAA HUHIN.
Rellearing Of the Great Issue
in the Supreme Court of
the United States.
BEFORE A FULL BENCH
Hyde & Pollock VS.. the Farmers
Loan & Trust Co.-Taxing
Power Of Congress.

WASf1INIlQN, May b, lSy0.--Ine re-
argument of the Income Tax cases began
in the Supreme Court of the United
States today in the presence of an as
semblage of law and laity that, as in
the occasion of the original argument,
more than exhausted the. accommodations
of the small chamber in which it was
heard For the first time since last No
vember there was a full complement Of
Justices on the bench. and all nine of
the large leather-covered arm chairs be-
hind the desk that separated the court
from the spectators were occupied.
Mr.. Justice Jackson, the youngest
member of the court save one, was at the
extreme right of the Chief Justice, and
was naturally the observed of all OBJ
servers. He took an active interest in
the proceedings, and there was appar-
emily nothing to warrant the expecta-
tation that he might not be able to un.
dergo the fatigue of the hearing.
Among those present in the court room
We're the various counsel engaged in the
case or interested in the result -Messrs.
Bristow, Clarence A. Seward, William
D. Guthrie. David Wilcox. ]. M VIII
aeai aeni Samuel 1inaN shellabeerger AttorneyzGen-
Dickinson and Conrad: Representative
11cMillin, the author of the Income Tax
4aS5 1aT senader itchell dF .vt Of Oregon Hon
who Is in the city on his way home
from a visit to New York: ex-Postmas-
ter-Generai Don M, Dickinson, Richard
have from the first manifested an un-
usual interest in the case.
=, Il /, was as well Ell on towards one O'clock
argument, for the petitioners, Messrs.
Hyde. and Pollock. who seek to enjoin
the directors of the Farmers Loan &
of New York from paying the tax on
the dividends declared on the stock of
these corporations. and in so doing at
tack the conStitutionality of the law.
The discussion of the case was limited
by the Court to two counsel on each
side. and at the suggestion OF Mr.. Choate
the time was fixed at five hours on each
side. In submitting the petition for re-
nearing, Mr. Guthrie said appellants in
vited and faced the criticism of many of
saw in the, opinion a decision in favor,
IN part, at least, Of those who denied the
legality of the act, Counsel felt that a
not to be permitted to transform itself
into a test of shrewdness. 1t was their
si}u DUTY to ,I bring about as speedily as posi-
that must ensue if the decision continues
to stand as that of a divided court
Inere mere vas vas, doubt, 2 not SO much as to
as to its method of taxation. The de-
cision in this case should settle finally
and forever the greatest constitutional
and counsel took It upon themselves to
see that the decision should not be un-
dermined He invited the most rigid
investigation, the closest scrutiny, the
fullest reasoning and the most copious
extracts from. precedents and citations.
The rule of precedents he said, and
stare decisis pre-supposed original mis-
take and closed the door on reason and
on truth. The constitution did not come
into existence as the novel and original
phia It was the product and result of
the experience of ages. The trainers were
not reckless experimnters, but practical
publicists. Thy preferred, SO far as cir
paths, to follow methods which expert
ence had tested. Yet it seemed to be now
contended that the provisions as to di-
rect taxes were inserted blindly in the
dark, without any definite notion of their
import, as an experiment, as mere COM
promise in name, equally to satisfy and
to deceive
The effort today was to have this court
hold that the members of that conyen-
ton, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton
they used. and deliberately hazarded the
deStinieS of the nation in comforting the
power of taxation, the most essential
attribute. of sovereignty, without which
exist. If that were true, the Constitu-
ton ought to have been regarded as a
curse instead of a blessing. A written
constitution son conceived should perish.
power to lay taxes for the common de-
fence and general welfare of the United
States, the trainers of the Constitution,
Mr.. Guthrie scontended, deemed it essen
= tial to impose limitations and restrictions
upon the method of the exercise of that