The Washington herald., 1908-02-05

pie of great wealth who instead Of own
ing lands and buildings and cattle ana
hogs, own money, and notes. ana hohuS.
is it fair that the owners of money ana
securities shall be exempt from ta$auon
The man who loans usually requires
Sccurity-not only security but . margin
To cover possible Shriukage IN thc value
oI the property upon which the fSecutity
rests that is the man who owes MIN
must suffer a considerable loss before
the creditor suffers any. Is u TAR that
the man who thus must take his chances
upon the seasons ard run tine flsks or
business. should also pay the taxes -
the one who Is able to protect himself
from ordinary risks and chances II the
law is made by those who escape TAXA
ton, are they not taking the properly or
others in violation of morals, even when
they act iu accordance with the laws
which they have securely
Government Mighty Power,
The government is a mighty power FOR
good or for evil for justice, or for injus-
tice and when the government itself can
be manipulated FOR the enforcement of a
law which rests upon injustice, great
harm can be done. Is it stretching the
definition of larceny to make il cover
the wrongful taking OF q mans property
through unjust legislatiOut / might hesi-
tate TO Use SUCh strong language were
it not for the fact that the Supreme
Court of the United States has used just
such language i'm what is known as the
Topeka tKansasl case Justice Miller, IN
delivering the opinion of the court said
ITO lay with one hand the power of the
government on the property Of the cltl-
zen and with the other 20 beStoW II upon
favored individuals 70 aid private enter
pTIScS and build up private fortunes. is
none the less a robbery because II is
done under the forms Of law and Is called
taxation
Robbery is even "a stronger word
than larceny, but / ann so conservative
i'm my language that / prefer 10 use the
more polite phrase and leave the harsher
term 20 our court Of last resort.
In national taxation we have not made
as near an approach TO justice as We have
in State and municipal taxation. In ma
tlOual taxation we collect almost all or
our revenues for the support 3f the Fed
eral government from internal revenue
taxes and from import duties. These
taxes rest upon consumption ana are col
leCted ian proportion 20 consumption. We
tax people according 10 their needs rather
than according 10 their possessions, and
mems needs are more uniform than their
possessions. Men do not use tobacco
consume liquor buy food, or wear cloth
ing in proportion TO their wealth or In
proportion To their income, and taxes
upon consumption always overburdeu the
poor and UnderbuTdeu the rich. When
the income tax was under discussion u
was insisted that il collected tribute
from thrift and industry, but are not all
taxes income taEes2 They must be paid
out OF the income. even though they are
not pTopOrtIOned 10 the income.
should Pay According tO Beuefits.
Taxes upon consumption are therefore
income taxes; they are more Than that
they are graduated taxes upon income,
and the heaviest per cent falls upon the
-r-rrr- laf d
IL down as ii rule that people ought 10
pay taxes in proportion 20 the benefits
which they receive fT0m their govern
meut, and those who look 60 tie gov
eminent for the protection OF large pos
sessions ought to be willing 20 pay IN
proportion 20 the protection which they
receive. Our police officers, our fire de
paTtmeDtE. our courts. our ar.-eS. and
our uayies are supported more for the
TL8tectIuu Of property than FOR the pro-
lection of life, and 1t is only fair that
taxation should, as far as possible. take
into consideration the BENEFITS giFen in
return.
I am aware that it is not possible TO
devise any system Of taxation which VIE
be perfectly fair and absolutely equt-
able, but ] am afraid that We have not
always -a9de justice and fairness the
1rst consideration. The income lax has
been opposed by men who would nave
their taxes increased and bE men whose
taxes ought 90 DE Increased, and have
had a suspicion that 9ur import duties
have IN some cases been levied Tor the
purpose Of giving some industries an az
vantage over other iadustrIes-tO give o.
few OF the people "a pront al the expense
of the rest of the people Ihs reason
why unjust taxation continues j. tA (
those who receive iu large quantities eX-
ert an undue Influence upon legislators
while those who pay each "a small
amount are too often Indifferent to- the
eNactlous.
Contest Always Unequal.
The contest between the tax payer on
the one side and the tax Gator on The
other is always an unequal contest. be-
cause the tax eater is yisiluuJ and ever
present, while the tax payer is at home
trying 10 make enough To- meet tie next
assessment For this reason IppTupTIH-
tons gr0w apPCe and unjust systems uf
taxation find eloquent defense from ora
tors and newspapers II / were 10 at
tempt 10 enter into detail 7 might rIu
counter to the precunCeFel notions Of
many iu this audience bus / venture 10
call your attention 10 the subject u jEe
hope that rs conscientious men and Wom-
en you viii study the question of taxa
tlou with the determination 90 eliminate
the element OF larceny wherever it ap-
pears and put taxation UDuU a. just iOUl-
dalton, SO that each citizen viii Contri-
''tff' HHIH frlHl F..t'fI ~ lil. Da ii llIt
government under whose protection we
an live
And now, if You viii bear with me n
moment, ! win take UP another subject
which illustrates how larceny can be
pTaCticed by Law \ change iu the none
JaTy standard Of a country affords an on
portunIty for Jhe wrongful taking OF
property 4 few years ago the debtor
class in this country was complaining
because Of q rising dollar: during the last
rev years the creditor class has been
complaining Of q falling dollar. That iE.
from 1919 10 1897 the general level OF
prices fell, and, roughly speaking, a dol
lar would buy more and more each wear.
From 1897 up To a few months ago prices
have been rising and dollar would buy
less and less each year. Now, there can
De 40 doubt that falling prices help the
man who owns the dollars. while rising
prices help the man who owes dollars
do not know that IL is necessary to
elaborate upon this, because the guam
uuNe theory or money now generally 8c-
ceptpd. and the quantitive theory of
money is stated i'm the proposition that
other factors remaining the same the
purchasing power of Il dollar decTea SEES as
the number OF dollars Increases. OF. 20
state # in different way. prices rise
when The volume of money Increases.
Things Slow ia Adjust.
When the general level Of prices rises
or falls. all business is adjusted to it, but
some things more slowly than others
There are certain fixed charges. such as
the expenses of government which do
not respond quickly to "a change in the
level of prices Take for instance debts.
railroad rates. and official salaries When
prices were falling the dollars called for
by q note or bond increased in purchas-
ing power, and the one Who collected the
dollars collected this Increase his prin-
cipal rising in fact, though not i'm fig
ures. The interest itself increased. for,
while the rate remained the same. the
puTchaeiE power of the annual interest
grew. And SO also with railroad rates
a fixed rate per ton or "a passenger rate
of 8 cents per mile became more and
more 60 the railroad and cost more and
more To the shipper or traveller
Ia like manner official salaries, though
not increased iu amount became heavier
upon those who, through taxation. paid