The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-09
of that instrument in using the words

they did.
 At that time the words direct tax
 wer understood to mean what Il ey
 mean in England, whence they came rc
 this country
 That is. tax upon land or incomes
 bearing directly upon the person. Tho words 'income tax" do not occur in the
 debates of the Philadelphia convention
 Therefore the only light that could be thrown upon the meaning of the words
 "direct taxes" must come from the
 tsages, habits and customs of the peo-
 of that time. And this meaning was the
 same that obtained in England, whence
 the words found their way to this coun-
 try Justice Gray asked counsel if in
 any of the controversies prior to the
 establishment of the nation, regarding stamp tax, etc., the words direct taxes" had been used
 'I think" replied MT, Seward, that
 ther never was a time in the history of
 the country that state taxes were desig- mated as other than direct taxes This portion of the argument was most exhaustive as respects both legal and historical features. The history of the income taxes assessed by the several states was given by MT. Seward, and he said they were known and described as direct taxes.
 "The only difference between the in- come tax of Massachusetts, which has been imposed for 200 years, and the pres ent law" he added, was that one was collected by state officials and the other by federal officials"
 In response to a question by Justice Gray Mir Seward said he was con- tending for the position that all taxes other than excises, imports and duties should be apportioned among the states according to the census.
 MT. Seward insisted that the words direct taxes" included an income tax, because the people were then paying an income tax and for the purpose for which the present tax was asked. He said.
 Tt starts on it's way and lands in the treasury at Washington; it starts at the same time and lands in the state treasury at Boston. Because of the journey to Washington does it thereby become an indirect tax and re- main direct tax with respect to the Boston end"
 The chief justice here interposed a question implying q dissent from this view to which Mir Seward made reply,
 MT. Seward closed at 2:5O and the other side of the case, in support of the law had its first presentation by F. B. Whitney. assistant general. He out lined the difference between the cases coming from New York and that aris- ing in the District of Columbia and said one of the New York cases. Pol lock versus the Farmers Loan & Trust Co.,, might present questions aside from those involving the full construction of the income tax law
 MT. Whitney said the justices were assessed by the treasury under an opinion of Attorney General Hoar.
 "Oh mo-" interposed Justice Field, they made returns under direct orders of the department"
 MT. Whitney, continuing, said that the government opposed the plea of the plaintiffs because they did not want a precedent established that stockhold- | CTS might enjoin corporation officials from paying the tax when other reme- dies were open to them.
 The case of Moore versus Miller was a | more direct assault upon the traditions | and practices of the treasury depart | ment. His suit was in violation of a | section of revised statutes which ex- pressly stated that no suit to prevent | the collection of any GederaD tax shall | be maintained by any court. No case could be found in the books where an in | junction had been issued in such case | and but one injunction against fed eral official had ever been sustained by | the supreme court. MT. Whitney was to cite authorities, but was interrupted by Justice Field, who ask ed with some apparent impatience:
 How could congress pass a law for bidding an officer to perform an act re- 1uired by the constitution?"
 Chief Justice Fuller intimated that the counsel need not spend time on that branch
 MT. Whitney was further interrupted oy Justice Brown, with the remark that f the tax in question was an excise .ax than it must be uniform.
 MT. Whitney assented.
 Justice White asked Mir Whitney what he understood by the word uni 'orm."
 Mir. Whitney replied that the tax must De uniform among the states, that is without discrimination against one state or in favor of smoother. The pro- vision was suggested by the Maryland delegates to the constitutional conven- ion, who feared that some privilege would be given to the port of Norfolk ya,, not accorded to the port of Balti- nore. That construction had been given to it by Justice Storye by Justice Miller in his lectures and by decisions n this court and it had never been Without concluding his Lddress MT. Whitney suspended and he court adjourned until Monday loon.
 At that time, after MT Whitney con- ludes, Attorney General Olney, ex- senator Edmunds Hon, J. c. Carter nd Hon. J. H, Choate will follow in rder named.