The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1896-08-22
HON. w. j. BRYAN.

----
After receiving the nomination
of the Democratic party for presi-
dent, in his address delivered in the
city Of New York, among other
things that gentleman said:
THE INCOME TAX.
The Chicago platform has been
condemned by some because it dis
sents from an opinion rendered by
the Supreme Court declaring the in
come tax law unconstitutional. Our
critics even 60 SO far as to apply the
name anarchist to those who stand
upon that plank of the platform. 1t
must be remembered that we x
pressly recognize the binding force
of that decision SO long as it stands
as a part of the law of the land.
There is in the platform no sugges-
ton of an attempt to dispute the
authority of the Supreme Court. The
party is simply pledged to use ''all
the constitutional power which re-
mains after that decision, or which
may come from its reversal by the
court, as it may hereafter be con-
stituted."
Is there any disloyalty in that
pledge? For a hundred years the
Supreme Courtsof the United States
has sustained the principle which
underlies the income tax. Some
twenty years ago this same court
sustained, without a dissenting voice,
an income tax law almost identical
with the one recently o%verthrown.
Has not a future court as much right
to return to the judicial precedents
of a century as the present court has
to depart from them? When courts
allow rehearings they admit that
error is possible the late decision
against the income tax was rendered
by a majority of one after a, rehear-
ing.
While the money question over
shadows all other Questions in inn
p~ortance, | desire it distinctly under-
stood that l shall offer no apology
for the income tax plank of the Chica-
go platform. The last income tax
law sought to apportion the burdens
of government more equally among
those who enjoy the protection of
the government. At present the ex-
penses of the. Federal Government.
collected through internI revenue
taxes and import duties, are especi-
ally burdensome upon the poorer
classes Of society. A law which col
lects from some citizens more than
their share of the taxes, and collects
from other citizens less than their
share, is simply an indirect means of
the transferring one mans property
to another mans pocket, and while
the proceeds may be quite satisfacto-
ry to the men who escape just taxa
ton, 1t can never be satisfactory to
those who are overburdened. The
last income tax law, with its exemp-
ton provisions, when considered in
connection with other methods of
taxation in force. was not unjust to
the possessors Of large incomes, be-
cause they were not compelled to
pay a total Federal tax greater than
their share. Income tax is not new,
nor is it based on hostility TO the
rich. The system is employed in
several of the most important nations
in Europe, and every income tax law
now upon the statue books in any
land, so far as / have been able to
ascertain, contains an exemption
clause. While the collection of an
income tax in other countries does
not make it necessary for this nation
to adopt the system, yet it ought to
moderate the language of those who
denounce the income tax as an as
sault upon the w~ell-to-ao.
THE wAGE-EARNERs
have been injured by a gold stand
ard, and have expressed themselves
upon the subject with great empha-
sis. In February, 1895, a petition
asking for the immediate restoration
Of the free and unlimited coinage Of
gold and silver at 16 to l was signed
by the representatives of all. or
nearly all, the leading labor organi-
cations, and presented to Congress.
Wage-earners knew that while q gold
standard raises the purchasing power
of the dollar, it also makes it more
difficult to obtain possession of the
dollar they know that employment
= J,on o--~a.o,A l~oo 20 -o.