The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-12-11
BRYAN COMMENTS ON THE MESSAGE
FROM THE COMMONER.

ought - give some encouragement
.o TIL. establishment Of fast msIl line
- the south American ports. II 8
evident hat ne Il not hostile to a gem
eral subsidy plan. and /. j. also cer-
tain that the south American SuDS.ds
is 10 be only an entering wedge.
he calls attention u The JapaneS
question raised bv the Discriminate
against japanese citizens in san Fran
cisco. He pays a deserved tribute -
the progress Of the japanese nation
and aSks for legislation which viii eE-
able Congress 70 protect the treat
rights Of foreigners. That there shout
De such Legislation can not b. genfI-
ally disputed. but a great deal depends
pom the character of the legislation
ii any bills are presented i'm reSpouss
10 this suggestion. they must be care
fully ~scrutinized - be sure that they
do not deny 70 the various states the
right TO protect themselves ana
their people in matters purely Local
il not fair t. throw upon ans
locality a special burden - BE- borne
for the benefit Of the rest Of the coun-
try The Commoner will discuss
these measures when they are pre-
scented in Congress.
He recommends free trade with the
Philippines, which is a just PROPOSE
ton, although it ought To be accom-
panied by q promise of ultimate indie
DtIlQtlltt 50 tIISJl JIlt ODDoiaGIIlS Bl
coloniaIism will not be driven from
the support Of the proposition by the
fear that it is intended 10 link the
islands more closely to the United
states. His recommendation Of citi-
zenship forrthe Porto Ricans is also
on the right line, for we can not haE"
two kinds Of people under the Ameri-
can flag. The constitution should
follow the flag. and those who "
allegiance to our country should en-
joy the blessings Of citizenship.
The two most important sugges-
tons in the message concern tax
alton and preparation for a on
the subject Of taxation the president
comes out in the advocacy Of an in
heritance tax and an income tax. The
inheritance tax is Intended to prevent
swollen fortunes from descending to
future generations, and his recon-
mendatiOn upOn this subject IS not
likely to excite so much opposition
as the proposition to establish q graded
income tax. He is right in both cases.
but in recommending q graded income
tax he not only endorses the Demo-
cratic doctrine of an income tax. but
he goes farther than the Democratic
party went in the law Of 1894. The
Wilson law contained an income tax.
not 4 graded one, but 2 flat tax upon
all who had incomes above the four
thousand dollar exemption. 1t will
be gratifying to Democrats to nave q
Republican president endorse the in
come tax principle which was 50 vio-
lcntly assaiIed by the Republican
party at that time. The Chicago con
vention of 1896 endorsed the income
tax, but the language was distorted by
political opponents into a threat tc
pack the court in favor Of q reversal
Of the income tax decision. The
language could not honestly be so con
S+r,,n1 HIT - carSrnI tho n1pJnncn Of
political opponents and enabled them
to turn the fight away from the prin-
ciple involved. Since that time the
advocates of an income tax have in
sisted upon an amendment to the con
Stitution specifically authorizing the
tax. The president, while recon-
mending q constitutional amendment
as a last resort, expresses the hope
that the principles laid down in the
income tax decision may be avoided
by a new law drawn upon different
lines. The Democrats-and they con
Stltute q large majority of the party
who believe in an equitable distribu-
ton of the burdens of government has
given to the income tax idea: they viii
encourage him and support him with
all their strength. If he does not
succeed in bringing his party up TO
the position which he has taken, he
may at least educate a large number
of Republicans to the point where
they will assist the Democrats to Sc
cure a constitutional amendment au-
thOrizing an income tax. Upon no
other question have the u]tterances Of
the president SO clearly indicated that
his SVmpathies are on the side Of the
masses. for the opposition to the in
come tax is a purely selfish opposi-
tion-nOt only selfish, but blindly
selfish. Every intelligent student Of
political economy knows that our
present Federal taxes place the burden
/ upon consumption, n taxes upon
consumption are in effect income
graded taxes With the heaviest rate
upon the smallest incomes. The in
heritance tax and the income tax will