The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-20
Hal, aaynor and the Income Tax.

HAL, Gaynor and the Income Tax
The greatest thing on the credit side
or DAVID BENNETT HILLS public record
n his steady, consistent. and vigorous
opposition, within the Democratic lines
O. the income tax. On this question
HILL always kept his head and always
showed courage.
gaHML was in the Senate when the in
come tax provisions of 1894 were incor-
porated in the revenue bill that passed
Che Fifty-third Congress-the tax that
was afterward declared by the United
States Supreme Court to be unconsti-
ttitional He fought the income tax
from beginning to end. He showed that
It was Populistic, not Democratic
measure. He pronounced it impolitic
unnecessary and iniquitous, and warned
his fellow Democrats that it was prob
sbly unconstitutional Concluding one
Of his many speeches in the Senate
against the tax, HILL said:
q" believe that most serious mistake Is liable to
be commtted In the course which II is said. the ma
Jori,y here now contemplate; mistake which may
ptove fsts to Democratic for many years to
come; a mistake which fritters away all for which
We have struggled In the long years past: mistake
upon the very threshold Of our advent to power
Q mistake which will forfeit the confidence OF the
ps6ple; and. SO believing. should BIO false to my
country false 10 my party and false TO myself II
did not raise my warning voice and express to my
fellow DoInocratio Senator'S, with whom reluc
family differ. and 10 the country at large. my con
sdentous and matured convictions upon this ost
hnportant subject In this sIea, crisis of our coun
trys and our party's history"
That day Hill was at his best, and bis
words were prophetic. The income tax
enactment Of 1894, which he did his ut
most to prevent, was the shadow which
the triumphant Organism Of 1895 cast
before it. The income tax was enacted.
II was set aside by the ultimate judicial
tribunal. After it had been set aside,
II was again demanded by the Bryan
platform of 1895, and the Populists and
Socialists Of every description joined
in the den,mciation Of the Supreme
Courts decision.
We recall the not unfnteresting fact
that after BRYAN had been nominated,
ths Hon. WILLIAM j. GAYNoR, a Jus
tice Of the Supreme Court of New York,
wrote a letter supporting the Chicago
candidate and accepting the Chicago
platform, and declaring, among other
things, that in his opinion the income
tai should be reestablished, tho Supreme
Court of the United States to the con-
trary Notwithstanding:
:.rhs psopis of this country and Of this State arc
for az upon incomes In s1oess Of $4,000 or o. 900
by an overwhelming majority. I have no doubt
H. would be CARRIED. even In this State. by 10 l..
Itsb the feeding even Of tho fair and conservative
ch that those who have the property of the nation
should pay its Just proportionate share toward the
support Of the Government which protects II. That
b the sentiment Of every nation In Europe as well rs
Of this nation. Tho cry from certain quarters Of
AnAfchiBs and Socialist against those who favor an
income tax WIN nos change their minds The
fsshers Of nnAy Of them wero abused In the same
senseIess manner for speaking and voting against
hpnnen siavery No one rsr truthfuify say that the
snsion In Che pIssfefBa 10 the decision of tho Su-
pfene Court Of the United States declaring the
recent ncome tax statute ttutional and void
hiutemperatc. That decision Of divided court
tiseh upsets the previous solemn decision Of that
oonrt. The question Is not so much one Of law as
Of morals and Of national policy. No court decision
can permanently settle such question contrary to
the mature Judgment of the nation"
Strange. is it not, that ten years after
the enactment of the unconstitutional
income tax law OF 1894 THE Sun should
bs presenting contrast between the at
tifhde of DAVID B. HILL and that Of WILL
LIAM j. GAYNoR concerning the Populis-
tic income tax; a contrast 80 manifestly
to. the advantage of the politician and
the disadvantage Of the jurist?