The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-09-21
HERALD MONDAY. SEPTEMBER ai 1895,

at some future time, should return to
the old theory of the constitution, con-
gress cannot subject to taxation-how-
ever great the needs or pressing the
necessities of the government-eitne
the invested personal property of the
country bonds stocks and investments
OF all kinds, or the income arising from
the renting of real estate, or from the
yield OF personal property, except by
the grossly unequal and unjust rule of
aIlportionment among the states.
Il cannot assent 10 an Interpretation
of the constitution that impairs and
crippleS the just powers of the national
government in the essential marter of
taxation and at the same time discrim-
mates against the greater part of the
people Of our country.
The practical effect of this decision
today is to give to certain kinds of
property a position of favoritism and
advantage inconsistent with the fun
damental principles of our social or
ganiZafion and to invest them with
power and influence that may be peril
Gus to that portion of the American
people upon whom rests the larger part
OF the burdens of the government, and
who ought not to be subjected to the
domination of aggregated wealth any
more than the property of the country
should be at the mercy of the lawless. :"
The above is the language of Justice
Harlan, who ranks among the highest
authorities on constitutional law in the
land
Now, then, what did Justice Brown
say? Here is what Justice Brown said,
and it is in language both clear and
forcible:
Il cannot reconcile myself to the idea
that adjudications thus solemnly made,
usually by a unanimous court, should
now be set aside by reason of a doubt
as to the correctness of those adjudica-
tons, or because we may suspect that
possibly the cases would have been
otherwise decided, if the court had had
before it the wealth OH learning which
has been brought TO bear upon the
consideration of this case.
while have no doubt that congress
will find some means of surmounting
the present crisis, my fear is that in
some moment OF national peril this de-
cision viii rise up to Illustrate its viii
and paralyZe its arm. | hope it may
not prove the first step toward the sub
mergence of the liberties of the people
in a sordid despotiSm of wealth.
'As 1 cannot escape the conviction
that the decision of the court in this
great case is fraught with immeasur
able danger to the future of the cOun-
try, and that it approaches the pro-
portions of a national calamity, l feel
it a duty to enter my protest against
it,
Justice Jackson employed equally as
forcible language. He said:
The decision disregards the we'll
established canon of construction to
which [ have referred, that an act
passed by a coordinate branch of the
government, has every presumption
in its favor and never should be de-
clared invalid by the courts unless its
repugnancy to the constitution is clear
beyond all reasonable doubt. 1t is not
matter of conjecture; it is the estab-
lished principle that it must be clear
beyond a reasonable doubt 1 cannot
see, in view of the past, how this case
can be said to be free of doubt.
Again, the decision not only takes
from congress its rightful power of
fixing the rate of taxation, but substi-
tutes a rule incapable CT application
without the most monstrouS inequality
and injustice between citizens resid
ing in different sections of their COM
mon country, such as the trainers of
the constitution never could have con-
templated such as no free and en-
lightened people can ever possibly
sanction or approve.
considered in all its bearings. this
decision is in my opinion the most dis
astrous blow ever struck at the con-
stitutional power of congress-
Justice White employed no subtle
terms to express his opinion. He said:
"The previous opinion of the court
held that the inclusion of rentals from
real estate in income subject to tax
alton laid a direct tax on the real es-
tate itself, and was therefore unconsti-
tutional and void, unless apportioned.
From this position 1 dissented, on the
ground that it overthrow the settled
construction of The constitution, as
applied in one hundred years of prac-
tice, sanctioned by the repeated and
unanimous decisions of this court, and
taught by every theoretical writer on
the constitution who has expressed an
opinion upon the subject. Everything
said in the dissent from the previous
decision applies to the ruling now an
nounced, which, I think, aggregates
and accentuates the courts departure
from the settled construction Of the
1t is, therefore.
greatly TO be uepiOfed tnal, dlleT more
than one hundred years of our national
existence, after the government has
withstood the strain of foreign wars
and the dread ordeal of civil strife,
and its people have become united and
powerful, this court should consider it
self compelled to go back to a long re-
pudiated and rejected theory of the
by which the government |
is deprived of an inherent attribute
of its being, a necessary power of tax
ation.'
Now, what does the Democratic plat
form say? 1t simply says that the /
supreme court in this decision "over-
ruled what had been previously con-
frmed by the ablest judges that have
sat on that bench" In language far
more forcible. as shown above, four of
the nine judges of the court say the |
same thing. In the face of this evil /
denoe let US hear no more about the
supreme court being assaulted"
OF a UTAH M'NINLEYITE
At the Mckinley county convention /
Mr. Dennis EichnOr as chairman in /