The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-05-02
PRINCETON THE VICTOR
THE REPRESENTATIVES OF TWO
 COLLEGES MEET IN DEBATE.

JuuRa HoWland's kemnrkS-Hrhucbtou. First Debate in New Haven-Yale Chiv- airy.
 For the first time in the history of in- tercollegiate debates Yale and Prince ton representatives met in this city at
 the Hyperion last evening in a forensic contest, arguing the pros and cons of the question:, Resolved, That the in- come tax of 1894 was under the cir
 cumstances a justifiable one, Yale talk ing the negative and Princeton the af- Armative Hon. Henry E. Rowland of New York presided, and when he step sped to the front of the stage to make \ 1.-the opening remarks and to introduce the speakers he was greeted with tu-
 multuous applause.
 Judge Rowland in his Introductory remarks spoke of the pleasing evidence of the advance of civilization evidenced 4 by the meeting of young men in con tests of this sort. "TRliSing," he said, "has been called fine art. and it has done as much toward advancing the
 
 .anything else The talk of English re-
 formers overthrow Charles I. The pat riotic fervor of Patrick Henry had much to do with our own civilization and national glory. The great debates l of Douglass and Lincoln made one of | them president We are a nation of orators, with all styles of the art,
 Here fervor yields to style and imagin- |ation to facts. When the German prince said that deeds not words must 'decide national questions, he forgot that the greatest questions in history have been settled by the words of dip lomats. It is fitting that the qualities |of talking well be developed early and enter into the educational system. Even lawyers sometimes say good things because they talk so much that |they can't help stumbling upon some |thing good once in while"
 MT. Rowland then introduced the first speaker, w. F. Burns of Illionis, |who opened the debate by setting forth the lines of debate to be followed by Princeton in the affirmative. After some preliminary remarks Mir. Burns said that no bill has ever been in its first drafts exactly perfect. England's Income tax law has been modified year ly since its passage. In our own coun- try the people have demanded that they be taxed as little as possible on and on the necessities of life. The distressed condition of our financial condition has shown that the tariff revenue system is failure as a policy. The people perceiving the bur dens arising from the old system and called for a stable source of revenue, which would at the same time relieve them and a solution was found in the income tax. The tax reports for 1892 bear abundant evidence of the tariff taxation system under which the aver age cost of government expenses was $S on each individual, and of this the rich paid no more than the poor, who paid for the protection of the prop erty of others. Nine-tenths of the per sonal property in the United States escaped taxation. In short, waMS was being taxed, not wealth.
 Harold B. Buttrick of Brooklyn, N. l Y, first speaker for Yale. He said: l
 'The income tax law Of 1894 was an | revenue measure. We do | not oppose an ideal tax, but the income | tax law was passed to meet a deficit | which should have been met by econ omy. It was sectional, too, an attack | 0n the east by the west and south. It Is not within our province to undertake to oppose the theoretical general tax upon incomes. Neither do we deny that certain practical forms of income taxation have much to recommend them IS methods of raising revenue. But he income tax law of 1894 was vicious as a practical measure and violates every principle upon which a genuine ncome tax Is based. The law was an attack of not only socialists and popu- ists upon capital, but also of the south, aided by part of the west, upon north- ,rn prosperity. Of the 1S2 votes cast n favor of this measure 177 were from
 he south and west Of the AS against t S6 were from the north and east. It S the old story of debt confscation and lebt erasure.
 Under the war income tax New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut | md Massachusetts paid nine-tenths of he whole tax. At the present time l with higher exemptions the figures will lot be diminished Yet in the house 1 hese states have less than a quarter f the total vote-87 out of 356. Thus ve see 39 states confscating the wealth f five.
 R. M. McElroy of Kentucky then con- inued the arguments for Princeton and alled attention to the fact that the l uestion under discussion was an his- ( orical one, not current one. Defects [ n the details of the bill cannot be con- t idered vitally detrimental, as all these e an be remedied. The bf1l surely is not o ocialistic. It was passed by congress, I ot wholly that it might have money e 3 spend, but that the poor might be q reed from the unjust burdens laid upon c lon, The details 1t is true, differ in V lem. Economists have agreed that the P lcome tax is the ideal method of taxa V on. The details, it is true, differ in c arious countries where the law is in t peration, yet the principle of all is the anne, and in each country the law has o its object. If the general s ripciples of the income tax are a step a advance, as it evidently is few bills D est on a firmer foundation. The in- e )me tax is the cheapest and easiest of
 i taxes to collect, because it is col fl cted by the internal revenue collec- E