The sun., 1895-05-09

probably not an issue Of Government
bonds, on which commission is to bo
company does not como in for It's share. Through
Its arms and ORGANIZATIONS it transacts almost
MONEY sTs5y kand on ana
becomes owner of the land rn0rtgagcd can
b%s eVsS ali line
and avenue-onc block. two blocks three blocks
money thus accumulated. thus made. thus de-
rived. and thus invested, and all exempt by the
They not only own trust companies and
banks and railroads and telegraph lines, but
they control Legislatures. they control Congress.
The Attorney q encral has told you that they
law. after its authors had brought 1t In propos-
ing TO tax them as they had always been taxed
II was recognizing what is suggested by Mr..
Justice Shiras, that Congress can pass law to-
day lcvying a tax upon the earnings OF insurance
tlo earnings Of distillers. the, earnings
or the earnings OF doctors. When Congress
undertakes tn PASS general income tax law.
men and ali lie corporatons. % % It cannot exempt par-
tcular class of insurance corporations especially
when n ~ tue hsn f M on n. a .ne CORPORA ire.
snme way. only IN the one case 1t is for the ben
eft Of stock holder and in the other case for
the benefit OF the policy holders"
The exception OF incomes of $4,000 and less
from the operation OF the law, Mr.. Choate said.
was even less defe or excusabie than that IN
object was to make the law applicable only to u
sns y IN feW OF the " states the Old sesboard
States. who gave up so much in the compromise
that resulted In the adoption OF the Constitu-
ton.
In concluding Mr.. Choate said
Now have a few minutes more to speak
namely-let me state it exactly as 1t is whether
the inroads made upon the law by the DECISION
made. constitute an invaIidation OF the whole
act. think. II the court please. that there Is
be Il Follow 70
the net has been lett in its present mangled and
mutiiated condition it should be buried: sub
NIT that 1t does necessarily follow that that
argument must he answered in the ntlirmative.
This manglcd and mutilated corpse has too long
remained unburied. In its present condition II
shocks the sensibilities Of the entire people Of
Now. what is the ruler The rule has been
cases: but prefer. as I always do prefer when
can get the aid Of such jurist as chief JUS
has never been stated in any better or clearer
wav than by that great jurist in the case OF
there stated by him that, although parts of an
act are unconstitutional. other parts OF tle
jeciion. and. therefore. have the full force OF
enae.nenIs had been made BY different
this limitation. that the, parts so held respect
lively. consti ional and unconstitutional: must
they are so mutually connected with and de-
pendent each other. as considerations or
belief that the Legislature intended them as a
whole, and that. II all could not be carried into
residue and Io some parts are n e
constitutional. all the provisions which are thus
dependent conditional, or connected, must fall
:. 1t is also elsewhere stated by this court that
unless the court can see that 1t was the inten-
shorn of the part found to be unconstitutional.
the whole must fall. What has happened here!
by Congress. not part Of their general scheme
and plan. which, by the decision of your lionors
already made has fallen out: What is the
census reports show that it exceeds SiO.OOO.-
100000. The income Of that sum. whether at
mons sum. and the !. per cent. upon, that is
TO be counted by many millions. What vas
argument What was the declaration made in
Congress at the time of the passage of this law?
What was the estimate made BY the Treasury
Department AS to what the law would yield. lev
led upon all these incomes? From S3O.U00.00o
to s5o.o9o,ooo. The returns have come in, re-
What do they amount to? That is locked up in
the bosom OF my learned friend. the Attorney
venture TO say that half of it is gone; that not
one half OF what Congress intended will DE
already decided. and when your iIonors come to
crafty our PRAYER by striking out aiso the in;
S sts how % much t%ere w
left of it; This was a general scheme
OF income tax. to bear upon the whole
Congress. What was the object Of itf it was
old seaboard states. II your IIonors please. in
the debates of Congress the name of one man,
tHnnsIfuous H above all the rest WIS ;s sad to be
because he owned acres and square miles OF in
come yielding real estate because he used moth
Ing in America which WAS tho subject OF an in
direct tax. and therefore there wns no other way
of reaching him. And he slipped through their
body In the snme category ha-, done the like.
Can You see that Congress, under the circum.:
the law il It had been seen that The principal
object of the law was to escape it bv the unc0n-
sti.It,on,slty Of its chief rroyisi9,pm.i ,,
lieve your Iionors will be constrained TO hold
property. will escape. Who are lei To be
iaxedy We are lett the bone, and sincw and
great community of 7OOOO.OOO people. What
was intended to be a tax upon capital turns out
pose Congress in which the balance Of Iowrr
was held, 70 give it the most dipnih ed name by
what is called the Peoples party would have
consented TO levy tax upon the people, only
omitting all recourse to the accumulated wealth
OF the country and its income!
i" We cannot enter into the bosoms and breasts
OF Congressman for their views. but when those
views are ANNOUNCED by, the authorized repre-
executive department, we can take them into
consideration. They filed their briefs here
claiming validity lOr the law upon the RrOnnu
that IL is an income tax levied upon n small body
of picked mon. a selected class OF very wealthy
people. Now. those. the heaviest. the richest.
the biggest fish which were intended TO he
caught in the net have got out through the rent
that your honors have made in the meshes.
There is another matter-the object Of the
tax. They say the object Of the tax is not this
alone; that Congress would not have thougl,tof
making this tax by itself What is it, They
say there Is an inequality, and this IS one OF
their great argumen Is; your lionor's heard 1t
IN stentoran voices here on former argument.
II is to qualify, reduce, limit cure Inequalities
produced by the indirect taxes, because those
fall on the poor aid middle classes. The Gov
ernment's representatives divide us into classes,
and they say they want toqualfy that. That oh
ject fails them Then did those who passed
tho law. who inspired the law. have another OBJ
ject In view? Did they think To get away from
that original branch OF the compromise and the
compact that was not expressed literally in the
Conetitntion. namely. that direct tax should
he levied only in times of great emergency and
great necessity, and that in the main, for the
ordinary expenses of the Government. the
United States would rely upon indirect taxes, as
they generally have done until this new depar-
ture was made?
Did they think that here was experiment
for avoiding that condition in the future, first
and han mid nd