The Washburn leader., 1895-04-13

lon of the United States court for the
Southern district of New York. The
action in these two cases was brought
to enjoin voluntary compliance with
the law In the payment Of tax, and
when the circuit court sustained the
law Pollock and Hyde appealed to
the supreme court of the United
States. The cases were then advanced
on the docket, and were argued on
March 5, 8, II, 12 and 13. Attorney
General Olney, james G. Carter of
New York, and Assistant Attorney
General Whitney appeared for the
government and Messrs. Choate,
Seward, Guthrie and ex-senator Ed
munds for the trust companies and
Moore. The argument attracted more
attention than has been given to any
case in the supreme court for years,
and the interest manifested appears
not to have diminished since. The
lawyers for Moore and the trust COM
panies attacked the constitutionality
of the law on broad grounds, while
Messrs. Olney, Whitney and Carter
defended 1t.
Dissenting Opinions.
Justice Field read dissenting opin-
ion, in which he said: II am of the
opinion that the whole law of 1894 is
null and void" He was followed
by Justice White in second dissent
ing opinion. Justice Field laid stress
upon the fact that the law does not
exempt judges of the United States
courts from the payment of the tax.
1t was not right, he said, that the su
preme court should sustain and make
no protest when many United States
judges drawing small salaries would
he affected, because of the law, and
he called attention to the letter once
written by Chief Justice Chase to the
treasury officials protesting against
the deduction of an income tax from
the salaries of United States judges.
Justice Fields opinion was largely
devoted to a review of the provisions
regarding rents, and was a vigorous
denunciation Of the principle sought
to be established by the income tax
law, his conclusions being in con-
formity with those announced by the
chief justice. He also attacked the
law on account of the lack of uni
formity, and dwelt upon its exemp-
tlons and discrimination, which was.
he said, class legislation. He devoted
especial attention to the exemption of
savings banks, mutual insurance COM
panies and building and loan associa-
tlons. He quoted census figures to
show the extent of the operations of
these companies, and said that If
these facts were not convincing, con-
gress could rot Re &C nvencd Through
one rise from the dead" He took is
sue with those who contended that
there could be no legitimate limita-
tion upon the power of congress to
impose taxes.
Justice Whites dissent was largely ex-
temporaneous, and was very long. Ap-
parently, he favored the upholding Of
the whole law.
Justice Harlan followed Justice
White in a dissenting opinion, and the
case was closed. Nothing was said
to show how any of the judges stood,
save those who read dissents.
The treasury officials are greatly dis
turbed over the decision, and while
admitting that they have no reliable
data upon which to form an accurate
estimate, they express the belief that
the net result of the decision will lie
a loss of at least SO per cent in the
receipts from income. President
Cleveland said to-day that unless
there was an unexpected change in
conditions there would be no extra
session of congress.