Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-05-09
THE REHEARIRG CLOSED
Arguments on the Income Tax
 Cases Are All Tn.
A DECISION IS EXPECTED MAY 20.
MT. Choate Closed the Discussion With Brilliant and Eloquent Attack on the Law From Many Points-It An Hinges On Justice Jackson.

~'a'" ~uS@e0 NAoseu the Discussion with a
 Brilliant and Eloquent Attack on the
 Law From Many Points-It An Hinges
 On Justice Jackson.
 WASHINGTON, May q.-The hearing of the income tax case in the supreme court was concluded, and tho nine justices took the question of the acts, constitutionality in whole or in part, under consideration On the goth of this month the court will meet probably for tho last time this term to render its decisions in pending cases and 1t Is expected that its conclusions upon the income tax will bo announced at that time.
 Mir. Joseph H. Choate of Now York fin ished the closing argument, receiving the closest attention from tho justices and a crowd of spectators. It has been generals ' remarked that tho interest in the rehear- ing has been much less intense than at the first argument.
 Justice Jackson was one of the most attentive of the nine men on the bench throughOut the hearing and seems to have horne the strain well considering the con- aaition of his health.
 MT. ChOate Closes the Argument.
 AIr. Choate then began the second in- sediment of his argument with a brief re- f. tOrney general.
 He said that he had intended to restate the claims of the appellants on the uues- tion of real estate and ditect taxes, but his time was too brief for that. and he would refer the court to the briefs on these points.
 He first took up for examination the argument Of the attorney general that if the decision in regard to rentals was to stand there could be no limit of the timo the exemption should run. Tho attorney general had pleaded that with such a rui- ing in force it might be impossible to ever tax the proceeds derived from rents, how ever they might be invested
 Mir. Choate said in reply that 1t was sui. tioicnt that the law left no such question open. Tho provision was for taxing rents at tho moment of their receipt and he for one should not bc so foolhardy as to claim that when the rent money should be rein- vested 1t would not be subject to the orig inal ruling of the court in this case He combated tho suggestion of tho attorney general that tho provision of tho law is for the taxation of rents derived in a former S7ear, saying that tho constitution provides that no direct tax shall be levied except by npportionment. You can't" he said. by showing it back a year, reach 1t any better than at tho moment"
 Mir. Choate declared that ho did not sec tho difficulties which appeared to fall with in the line of the attorney generals vision in levying tax by apportionmcnt but even If these difficulties did exist as claim ed, it still remained that tho constitutional compromise had pointed out this as the only method of levying direct taxes
 Referring to the exemptions of incomes of less than $L000. Mir. Choate said that provision of law would exclude tho vast majority of the incomes of the entire country. It would exempt ninety nine One-hundredths of tho tradesmen of tho country and n majority of tho professional men. Was such a policy as this adopted in pursuance of legitimate public policy, or was it arbitrary Ho contendod that 1t fell within the latter category, and said that the avowed purpose of tho author of the law had been to concentrate tho taxes upon the people of a few states and to ex- empt those of the other states mainly in- strumental in passing the law. Moreover, 1t was m arbitrary blow aimed at cor porations, in hitting which tho framers of the law well knew they wero striking at the main source of income of thousands of widows and orphans, whose incomes, individually small, were derived from cor porate investments
 \ Mntilated Law.
 With this Mir. Choate closed the part of his discourse directed to tho question of lack of uniformity and took up the last question under rcnnsideration-viz., wheth- CT the entire law was rendered invalid by tho do'ision declaring parts of it to be so.
 Does it follow, he asked. that be- cause the law has been left mutilated it should be buricd:" And he answered that it did. The instrument had been left NaNN l.NVNrW -S.,s. dition it shocks the sensibilitieS. He said the rulo was that when parts of n law upon which ether parts or the wholo of it wero dependent are declared invalid the dependent parts must also share the same fate, and he Contended that by the former decision of the court the income tax law had been robbed of its body and substance.
 Tho returns received at the treasury de- partmcnt indicated that since the decision of the court the revenues would not amount to more than half of tho sum es- timated by tho department This was tho result of knocking cut incomes from rents and bonds.
 Was it to De supposed that congress would have passed the law at all if it had bcen known that those principal sources of wealth were to escapeY The law has been directed At the wealth of the sea board states most of which would now be exempt. Indeed only tho bone and sinew and nerves of tho country were left to be taxed. The law directed at capital was to fall alone on labor.
 The attorney general had said that the law was intended to operate against a few picked mon. and yet, '" said Mir Choate, "the biggest fish intended to be caught in the net have escaped through the rent your honors have made in its meshes. How ever, it is regarded" he concluded. "the law now stands mangled and disfGured by the pruning knife of the constitution in tho hands of those authorized to wield 1t. and it cannot be preserved in its pres ent shape unless the court shuts its eyes blindly to glaring inconsistencies and ob- vious irregularities |"
 Mir. Choato stopped abruptly hero, and the court announced an immediate ad- journment until Monday, May 20.
 Injured Husband Awarded 5000.
 PROVIDENCE, May 9.-A suit of Alva A. Warren versus Arthur K. Hume for the alienation of Warren's wife's affections, which has been tried four times, was com