The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-08
SCOTS WORD DOES NOT GO.
EMPRESS COMPANY WANTS THE
COURT TO PASS ON TAX LAW.

- III kO 0OAAGCA AhN
cent for Stamp on n Receipt Until
the Courts Rule That 1t Is in the
WronE-TeSt Case Expected in New
YOrIz-President Purse Asks for a
Ruling rs to Who Pays the Tax on
kilograms.
Nlessrs. G. W. Tiedeman & Bro. sent
| package to the office of the Southern Elk
press Company yesterday to be forwarded
by 1t. There being no stamp provided for
the bill of lading or receipt, and the firm
refusing to pay for one, the representative
of the express company refused to receive
! the package The matter was then refer
red to the Board of Trade, and unless
there is a speedy decision in some similar
case elsewhere this will be made a test
case
Commissioner Of Internal Revenue Scott,
in reply to inquiries from business men
in Illinois, has ruled that the express
companies must afix stamps to bills of
ladlng issued by them This was in re-
! plv to a direct question as to whether
the shipper or the express company should
| pay the tax In question. The express COM
panies do not propose to recognize Com
missioner SCOTS right to rule on such
a matter, though. and viii continue to
| collect the tax from the shippers.
"A test case is being made in New
| York" said supt. Myers of the Southern
Express Company yesterday. THE Mer-
| chants Association of that city has taken
up the matter and has engaged Joseph II.
Choate. Esq, to cooperate with its regu-
lar attorneys in having the question set
tied: If it is decided by these attorneys,
| after careful consideration of the law,
that the express company should pay the
tax, then IA case will be brought in the
United States Court and a speedy hearing
asked for. Until such a court decides that
the express company is liable we shall,
in common with other companies, collect
the cent from shippers for the stamp
on every receipt issued. The amount in
volved, SO far as the express company Is
concerned, is very large and we cannot
| accept the opinion of any board of trade
in the matter or the ruling of any collec-
tor of revenue. There are coo offices do
ing business for the Southern Express
| Company, and each is issuing receipts
| daily, some aggregating hundreds. You
can see from this that the question is one
| of great interest 10 us. We believe that
| IL was meant IIat tne tax SnOulu ran on
the general public and until the courts
! rule otherwise will believe that our con-
| structiOn of the law is right. If we are
| declared to be in the wrong, then we can
| refund the monies received for stamps.
| We have been threatened with damage
suits for not accepting packages without
| the stamp money, and in some instances
! we have received the money under writ
| ten protest. We desire to obey the law in
| every respect and are convinced that it
will be found that we are now doing So"
Cranfo4d Henderson & Co., and other
| factors sending off money yesterday TO
their customers, were surprised to find that
there was no demand for stamp money on
| the receipts issued 10 them on that ac-
| count The express company does not be-
lleve that any stamps are required for re-
cepts issued for money shipments of this
| character
Yesterday Capt. Purse. as president of
| the Board of Trade. sent a long letter to
| Commissioner Scott at Washington. direct
ing his attention TO the fact that the
| Western Union and Postal Telegraph
| Companies refused to receive kilograms at
their Offices here unless the sender paid
for the stamp to be attached Commits
| sioner Scott was asked for a ruling as to
whether It was the duty of the telegraph
company or of the sender of dispatch to
| pay for the stamp.
Capt. Purse held that the arbitrary
| course of the telegraph companies was
| contrary to the spirit of the law, and that
it was the intention and purpose Of Con-
| g'reSs TO relieve the mass of the people as
| much as possible from such special impo-
| sltions. The defeat of the proposition to re-
qulre a stamp on receipts for monies re-
ceived he regards as a striking Illustration
| of the intent running throughout the law
| While the act could be more explicit 1t
does not warrant the assumption that the
| sender must stamp his message. Capt
! Purse takes the raIa IN
| Geographic messages IN its connection with
| the other parts of the law bearing upon il,
| and from this draws the conclusion that
| the telegraph company is wrong in its ac-
| ton in throwing this tax upon its patrons
1T cannot be claimed that the tolls for
| messages are too low because before the
! prospect of war with Spain suspended fur
Their effort temporarily, the business or
| CARNATIONS OF this whole country were
| asking by petition and letter that these
tolls be reduced one half, as too high COM
pared with the decline in profits in all
kinds of business since the present sched-
ule of rates We're fixed some years ago.
Then while taxing all other companies
| and corporations, Including telephone COM
| panies on all messages in excess of Is
| cents, can any sane man believe it was
| the intention of Congress to exempt tele-
| graph companies from tax or messages
that seldom, If ever, go below 20 cents?
But telegraph companies reply that they
have other taxes imposed upon them I'M
der the present law. The reply to this is
that telephone companies and other: cor
| poratiOns have the same taxes to bear
while required to stamp messages, bills of
| lading etc
There is no penalty prescribed for the
person or persons delivering message to
a telegraph company for transmission. =
Then offense does not arise. under
the law, until after the message has been
signed and delivered, and the duty of the
telegraph company commences with its
transmission. Then for the first time a
stamp is required to be affixed under pen-
| atty 10 the company, not the sender
Without saying so in exact words II wouId
be impossible for the act TO employ any
comparative form of expression that would
more clearly indicate it's intent ana pur-
pose to place the expense for STAINING
messages upon telegraph companies"