Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-05

erty in the District or Columbia Para-
graph of section Of this act provides as
| follows:
"On all tangible personal property, as
sessed at fair cash value lover and above
| the exemptions provided in this section) in
Guiding vessels, ships, boats, TOOLS imple-
| ments, horses and other animals, carriages,
wagons and other vehicles, there shall be
| paid to the collector of taxes of the District
| of Columbia IA per cent Of the assessed
| value thereof"
The Exemptions Claimed.
1.-The contention Of the railroad COM
pany isl says Assistant Counsel O'Connor,
| that all articles Of tangible personal prop
| erty other than those expressly mentioned
| in said paragraph are exempt from tax
| alton, and the doctrine 'expressio unius est
| exclusio alterius' is invoked as the rule
which should be followed in the interpreta-
| ton Of this statute. This rule of statutory
| construction has been recognized by the
| courts of the country, including the Su-
preme Court of the United States. This
| rule, however, Is not Of universal applica-
| ton; and, as is stated by a text writer on
| statutory construction, If there Is such q
| rule, it Is confessedly liable to so many re-
stretl ba and exceptions in Its application
| author, Endlich, Interpretation of stat
| utes, says further: Whether the express
| sion of one thing is to operate as the ex-
| clusion of another is clearly a mere uues-
| ton of intention, to be gathered from the
| statute by the usual means and rules Of in
| terpretation.'
"The law upon our statute books for the
| taxation OF personal property at the time
| of the passage Of the law now in force was
] the act entitled An act for the support of
the government Of the District of Columbia
for other purposes approved March g.
| 1877. Section 10 of that act provides for
! the preparation of printed blank schedules
OF personal property to be delivered to any
| NJ
| said assessors, and part Of that section
| reads as follows:
| That the Commissioners of said Dis
| trict, or their successors in office. shall
cause to be prepared a printed blank sched-
J ule or personal property, including bonds,
| deeds or trust, mortgages, credits, and
other chooses in action or possession owned
| or held in trust or otherwise subject to
| taxation under the provisions Of this act to-
gether with deductions claimed for ex-
| emptions or debts, to which shall be an
pended an affidavit in blank, setting forth
| that the foregoing presents a full and true
| statement OF all the personal property, etc.
The Law in Operation.
1.-The language Of this section is some
what similar to the language of paragraph
| z OF the law now In force, above quoted;
and while this act of 1877 has been en-
forced from time to time to some extent
| from the time of it's passage until the law
made, or at least sustained, that the sched-
| ule required in section 10 Of that act would
| be limited to the kind of personal property
| speciied by the words following the word
| including in said section.
1t Is commended on behalf Of this rail-
| road company that the power to tax per-
| sonal property under the act of 1902 does
| not emanate from the words all tangible
| property employed In the first sentence Of
| paragraph 2, because these words are gen.
| eral and are Immediately followed by a
| specific designation of certain kinds of
personal property. There would be some
tangible personal property had not been
| Immediately followed in this act by the
| qualifying clause in parenthesis, over and
| above the exemptions provided in this Sec
tion and if the word including had not
| connected the general term with the spe-
| cif1c subjects of taxation following. The
| construction here contended for would ap-
| peal with greater force as a reasonable
| construction If instead of the word in
| Guiding there had been substituted the
| term such as or any words Of equivalent
| import
Intention of Congress.
| 1.-The true Interpretation. however, look
ing to the intention Of the legislators as
| expressed by the entire section of the law,
and having in view the principle that the
! proper construction Is to be reached by
| constituting the whole law together seems
to me to be obvious when the suggestion
contained In the words Of paragraph is
observed. The section reads as follows:
On all tangible personal property. as
sessed at a fair cash value lover and above
| the exemptions provided in this section)'.
! 1t clearly appears from these words that
the only limitation upon the general words
is contained In the parenthesis above
| quoted.
Referring to the exemptions therein men
| toned, we find that paragraph 10 Of the
same section provides as follows: The fol-
| lowing personal property shall be exempt
from taxation: First. the personal property
| Of all Libraries. benevolent, charitable and
scientific institutions Incorporated under the
| laws Of the United States or of the District
| Of Columbia and not conducted for private
| gain. Second, libraries, school books wear
ing apparel, articles of personal adornment.
all family portraits and heirlooms Third.
| household and other belongings, not held
for sale, to the value Of $780, owned by
the occupant Of any dwelling house or other
| place OF abode. in which such household
and other belongings may be located
] All Tangible Property Included.
"If the construction commended for by the
railroad company should be given to para
n -.