St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-15
AMONG THE MAGAZTNEs.

X me, two articles with which the
current Forum opens are in the ma
ture of a post-mortem. Ex-senator
Edmunds discusses the 'Salutary Re-
suits OF the Income Tax Decision"
while Assistant Attorney General
Whitney points out it's Political Dan
gers. Senator Edmunds, who was of
counsel in the case, for the confess
tants, defends the decision because if
prevents 1.-The danger of the Injustice
OF allowing the force of mere numbers
to impose taxes, which they would not
bear themselves in due proportion, by
any scheme that might be invented.
upon a minority of the people of the
states" If this is adanger and an
injustice it is one inherent in a revenue
tariff, and much more so in pro-
tective tariff, in which taxes are i'm
posed, not on the basis of wealth. but
( on consumption. The senator, who was
stanch adherent of that system of
taxation, does not seem to be aware
that it is open to the objection he
urges against the income tax. One
gathers from reading the article of
| Mr.. Whitney that he is indulging him
self in the privilege which every law
yer has with whom the court of final
resort has disagreed, of ''going out and
swearing at the court Under the
guise of Investigating the political
dangers that may lurk under the in
come tax decision, Mr.. Whitney makes
some criticisms that, undisguised,
would perhaps be considered unprofes-
sional. He notes that on the first
| hearing six out of eight judges held
the law void as to incomes derived
{o1e
whole. On the second hearing, with
a full bench of nine judges, one of the
six, with Judge Jackson, held that
the law as a whole was valid. One
judge, Shiras, who had held the tax on
rentals void and the law as to the
rest valid, changed his vote and held
the entire law void, SO that the act
was held to be an unconstitutional ex-
ercise of power by congress by a vote
of to 4. Five judges, then, decided a
tax to be unconstitutional that seven
/ judges in 1888, and eight in 1868, held
to be valid exercise of congressional
power The political dangers result
ing from this he finds in the "exemp-
ton of all wealth from effective federal
| taxation" Incomes cannot be taxed
because apportionment of the tax
| among the states is impossible. The
decision, too, might deprive the govern
ment of a source of revenue. Customs
duties may be either cut off by a war
or decreased with the increase of home
products. Another political danger he
sees rs the principal confinement of fed
era1 taxation to excuses and customs
which exempt wealth and tax men, not
on their ability to pay, but their abil-
ity to consume In the spectacle it af-
fords of the exemption Of wealth from
bearing its share of the federal burden,
Mr.. Whitney sees a, further provoca-
! ton to the political discomfort that
| finds expression in Popu1istic and So
| cialistic schemes. In the overruling of
prior decisions and the sense of in
| stability Of law thus caused he finds
another danger, to which he adds
that of a loss of confidence in the
wisdom of our highest court If courts
| can thus change the law the impulse
of people to effect changes that they
imagine will improve their condition is
| greatly accelerated.
Max Nordau discusses sSociety's
Protection Against the Degenerates,"
going over briefly the ground taken by
him in his recent book, which has
stirred up so much discussion, and ar
irving at the conclusion that society
must rely for its protection against
the degenerate forces in it upon maya
zines and newspapers. While these
have greatly sinned in giving entry to
morbid productions, they can atone for
their rernissness by supporting health
Ter views. ''They should cease occupy
ing themselves more with one fool
than with ten sensible artists, and they
should not stamp all madness with the
seal OF success. On the day when
newspapers no longer cosider it a duty
to advertise the cripples and clowns of
art and literature, the influence of de-