The Washington herald., 1908-03-15

Not for the moral uplift Of the com
munity at large. but for saving the busi-
ness Of the country. is the reason Repre-
sentative Hepburn yesterday assigned for
his recent Introduction Of bill in Con-
gress 20 tax stock transactions. Since he
introduced the measure. he has received
a tremendous number of letters on the
subject. and has been the target of all
sorts OF criticism. Some of his cOrre-
spondents have even limited that he will
suffer personal disaster as the result Of
his temerity in attacking the business Of
stock gambling.
One Of my sOlicitous friends over in
New York who wrote me-" said Col.
Hepburn, ended his letter by saying:
If you think you are going TO get any
credit out Of this, you are an ass; If you
think you are going 20 get any money,
you are fool
Now. as a matter of fact. l do not
care one iOta whether I get any credit or
not. I don't see how money could enter
into the proposition. anyway. What I do
want 10 accomplish is to relieve the busi-
ness OF the country of the terrible drain
that stock gambling exacts. All the race
track gambling in the world: all the
games Of cards in the 'tenderloins' and
the red light districts Of the cities: all
the games Of chance at Monte Carlo and
the other famous gambling resorts OF the
world are as drops in the bucket COM
with the enormous transactions Of
ock exchanges OF the United States.
Made 1900. 100000 Loans.
ing the year 1906 the banks in New
made 4,00O00O,00o separate loans on
Of stocks. ! viii venture 10 say
L . per cent OF the transactions
New York Stock Exchange are
.egitinlate transfers OF stock; no. not any
where near > per cent One Of the ex-
cellent gentlemen over there, in arguing
the case as we'll as he could for the ex-
change. inadvertently said that one share
of stock might change hands three or
four tin . in a single day
Now, isn't that a confession? Doesn't
that show that the brand of business they
do there is gambling. pure and simple?
is il at all probable that business men
would pay $4,000 or 100000 for a seat on
the New York Stock Exchange If there
was not a prospect of great returns?
Would dozens of brokers' who own these
priceless seats. maintain thousands OF
miles of private wires at a cost Of thou
sands Of dollars a month il there was not
the 'sure-thing' gamblers profit in sight2
Would they buy these seats Of gold
and wires Of unknown cost IL they were
only buying and selling stocks in a legiti-
mate manner? And would they now be
raising this howl about my bill If they
were not afraid that their gambling oper-
atiOns would stand a chance of being nip
ped in the bud. and that they may be
compelled 20 go back TO old-time, decent
trading?
Mr. CIews' Figures.
Mr.. Clews figures that II my bill, tax
ing stock transactions. becomes a law it
will bring in a revenue Of about sl5O. .000 900
a year. based on the transactions Of last
year. But. of course. il my bill does be
come law, there would not be one-hfth
or one-tenth Of the number of transfers
that are now made. The pure and lofty
gentlemen connected with the New York
Stock Exchange are always inveighing
against the bucket shops and doing their
utmost 10 drive them out Of business.
Yet when the truth is told. there isn't
anything that the bucket shop men do
that is not duplicated by the New York
Stock Exchange on an immeasurably
larger scale
"The only sure way that / could attack
the stock gambling was by means of a
taX-thrOugh the revenue. Revenue is
power n this country, as everywhere
else. and the taxing plan Is the quickest,
as we'll as the fairest, scheme 10 try.
Ny bill was, therefore, referred to the
Ways and Means Committee. and mem
bers of that committee have assured me
they are willing to begin hearings on the
matter very soon.
i have an idea that. perhaps. ! could
have reached the gamblers through the
interstate commerce law. by so amending
that statute that it would apply TO all
transactions concerning shares of stock
of corporations doing an interstate bust
ness. But If I had attempted to reach il
through that channel there might have
been questions raised about the constItu-
uonality Of the proceeding
No Question of Power.
There can be none raised as 10 the
power Of Congress to tax stock sales. We
have done il before-for instance. during
the Spanish war-and can do il again.
Just as legally. II we do il according to
the process outlined in my bill. taxing
each transaction z OF I per cent take
my word for it, the country will be bet
ter off,