Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-12-05

was shown in the investigation u the
Standard Oil company and as has been
shown since by the Investigation of the
alive of big railroads. Often railroads
would like to combine for the purpose of
preventing q big shipper from maintain
of small shippers and of the general pub
lie. Such combination. instead of being
forbidden by law, should be favored In
other words. it should be permitted to
railroads to make agreements, provided
these agreements were sanctioned by the
were published. With these two condi-
tons complied with it is impossible to
see what harm such combination could
do to the public at large. 1t is a public
evil to have the statute books law
incapable of full enforcement because
fun enforcement would destroy the bust
ness of the country; for the result is to
make decent railroad men yiolators OF
premium the behavior of the wilfu
wrongdoers. Such a result in turn tends
to throw the decent man and the wilful
wrongdoer into close association, and in
the end to drag down the former to the
latter's level. for the man who becomes
~l All re ea for aw ppa tie eh S
willing to break it in many ways. No
more scathing condemnation could be
visited upon law than is contained in
the words of the interstate commerce
commission when, in commenting upon
the fact that the numerous joint traffic
associations do technically violate the
law they say: 1.-The decision of the
United States supreme court in the
Transmississippi case and the Joint
practical effect upon the railway opera
lions of the country. Such associations,
these e decisions, and With the same I gen
eral effect. In justice to all parties, we
ought probably to add that it is difficult
to see how our interstate railways could
be operated with due regard to the inter
est of the shipper and the railway
without concerted action OF the kind af-
This means that the law as construed
by the supreme court is such that the
business of the country cannot be con-
Quoted without breaking 1T. recommend
that you give careful and early consider
alton to this subject, and if you find the
opinion of the interstate commerce COM
mission justified, that you amend the
law SO as to obviate the evil disclosed.
inheritance and Income Tax.
1t was expected that the president
in the necessity for the curbing of enor-
NOUS fortunes, and he has done SO by
recommending legislation for both in
come and inheritance tax. He be-
lieveS the government should impose a
graduated, inheritance tax. and, If posi-
BILE, a graduated income tax. He says:
Il am we'll aware that such a subject
as this needs long and careful study in
order that the people may become famil-
| lar WIN Wndt Is proposed De zone,
may clearly see the necessity of proceed
| ing with wisdom and self-restraint, and
may make up. their minds just how far
| they are willing to go in the matter;
| while only trained legislators can work
| out the project in necessary detail But
l feel that in the near future our nation
| ing for a graduated inheritance tax by
| which a steadily increasing rate of duty
| should be put upon. all moneys or other
| valuables coming by gift, bequest, or
| devise to any individual corporation.
! 1t may be we'll to make the tax heavy
| in proportion as the individual benefited
| is remote of kin. In any event, in my
| Judgment the pro rata of the tax should
| increase very heavily with the increase
| after certain point has been reached
| 1t is most desirable to encourage thrift
| and ambition, and a potent source of
thrift and ambition is the desire on the
| part of the breadwinner to leave his chill
| dren well off. This object can be attained
| by making the tax very small on moder-
| ate amounts of property left; because
the prime object should be to put q con-
stantly increasing burden on the inner
| itance of those swollen fortunes which
| it is certainly of no benefit to this coun-
| try to perpetuate.
There can be no question of the eth
| ical propriety of the government thus de-
| termining the conditions upon which any
gift or inheritance should be received
Exactly how far the Inheritance tag x
| limiting the transmission by devise or
| gift of the enormous fortunes in question
it is not necessary at present to DISCUSS.
should be gradual. At first a permanent
| national inheritance tax, while 1t might
| be more substantial than any such tax
| has hitherto been, need not approximate,
either in amount or in the extent of tife
! increase by graduation. to what such a
| tax should ultimately be.
inheritance Tax Constitutional.
This species of tax has again and again
| been imposed, altho only temporarily, by
the national government. 1t was first
imposed by the act of July s. 1871, when
! the makers of the Constitution were
| alive and at the head of affairs. 1t was
| a graduated tax; tho small in amount,
| the rate was increased with the amount
| left to any individual, exceptions being
made in the case of certain close kin. A
| act of July l, 1862; minimum sum OF
| s. 600 in personal property being excepted
| from taxation, the tax then becoming
progressive according to the remoteness
| 1885, provided for an Inheritance tax or
| any sum exceeding the value of $4,000
| the rate of tax increasing both in accord
ance with the amounts left and in ac-
| cordance with the legatee's remoteness
| of kin. The supreme court has held that
| the succession tax imposed at the tiEle
| of the civil war was not a direct tax but
| an impose of excise which was both CON
stitudonal and valid. More recently the
| court, in an opinion delivered by Mr.
| Justice White, which contained eX-
ceedingiy able and elaborate discussion
OF the powers OF the congress TO impose
| death duties, sustained the constitution
| atty OF the inheritance tax feature of the
4 war-revenue act of 1898.
Is Income Tax Constitutional?
In its incidents, and apart from tht
| main purpose of raising revenue, al
| income tax stands on an entirely differ
ent footing from an inheritance tax, be-
| cause 1t involves no question of the per.
] retuation of fortunes swollen to an un.
| healthy size. The question is in its
essence question of the proper adjust
| ment of burdens to benefits. As the
| law now stands it is undoubtedly diff
| cult to devise a national income tar
| which shall be constitutional. But
| whether it is absolutely impossible is an.
other question; and if possible it is mos
certainly desirable. The first purely in.
come tax law was past by the congress
in 1851. but the most important law deal
ing with the subject was that of 1884
| This the court held to be unconstitu-
| tional.
The question is undoubtedly very in.
/ tricate delicate. and troublesome The
/ decision of the court was only reached
| by one majority. 1t is the law of the
land, and. of course, is excepted as such