The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-09-22
Taft Speaks in Denver
Auditorium.
ADMITS ACT A COMPROMISE
Urges States to Adopt Amendment
to Constitution.
President Prefers Present Ineorpora'
tion TAX Law to Proposed In
come Tax Proposition-Tslks
with Secretary BaIIinger.

otHVGTt Sept SA.-naehbb6 tec ''~s
still further to the West. President
Taft arrived in Denver this afternoon
and tonight In the Denver auditorium,
where a year ago. Mr.. Bryan was
nominated as Ms opponent In the pres
idential race, ! ced q crowd of thous-
ands that in us noisy welcome ana
continuing enthusiasm recalled some
Of the scenes Of the convention week.
President Taft, switching from his
purpose to discuss the question Of the
conservation of natural resources In
his Denver speech, elected tonight to
take up the corporation tax passed as
q part of the Payne tariff and to de-
fend 1t as against the proposition to
impose a direct income tax. which he
acknowledged seemed likely to pass
the Senate when the corporation tax
was devised as a compromise.
The President strongly urged that
all the States should adopt the pro-
posed amendment to the Constitution
however, to make an income tax pos
sible in time of need.
Mr.. Taft was Joined here today by
the Secretary of the Interior, Richard
A. Ballinger, who will accompany him
on q part OF the trip through the Far
Northwest. 1t is likely that the Presi-
dent desire a further conference with
Mr.. Ballinger, whose conduct of the
Interior Department he recently up
held in a long letter called out by the
Ballinger-Pinchot controversy before
making final exposition Of the aims
and objects of this administration as
to the conservation Of the resources.
Mr.. Taft probably will not take up the
subject until he reaches Salt Lake
City where he spends Friday and Sat-
urday; or he may wait until he arrives
at Spokane, where ct the irrigation
congress the Ballinger- Pinchot con-
troversy really had its first public air.
ing.
Defends New Law.
The President tonight declared that
the corporation tax was In itself the
best form of income tax that could be
levied and points out that 1t contain
ed many of the best features OF the
income tax law of England. In urg-
ing that the states should vote for the
amendment to the constitution permit
ting the levy Of direct income tax
without apportioning the proceeds
among the states according to thetv
population. the President declared
that it would be possible to SO amend
the corporation tax as to include with
In Its scope every desired feature OF
an income tax except the levy upon
incomes derived from actual salary and
professional services.
The President said he opposed a d.
rect income tax except in cases or
emergency and he believed II to be q
prime fault In the federal constitu-
ton that no provision Ia made for a
direct levy to meet war time or other
extraordinary expenditures.
Mr.. Taft declared that II was the
Supreme Court decision declaring un-
constitutional the income tax law
passed by a Democratic congress some
years ago, that prevented the leaders
in Congress during the session recent
ly closed from including in the cor
poration tax measure a provision for
q levy on bonds and bond holders. To
tax bonds would result in the reduc-
ton OF the rate OF interest and hence,
this resulted in a direct tax upon the
Individual holders of the bonds and
came in conflict with the decision of
the court that no direct tax could be
levied by the national government
without the resulting apportionment
of the proceeds among the states.
Results I'm England.
The President based his argument
In favor OF the corporation tax. as
compared to the direct income tax. al
most entirely upon the results of the
income tax in England.
He points out that the tax there is
not a direct levy such as was recently
defeated in the Senate only through
compromise, put that II laid the tax
upon the income before 1t came into
the hands of individuals. The Eng
lish tax is levied first on the decIar
ed dividends of a corporation: sec
ondly, on rents before leaving the
hands of the tenant. and thirdly. or
the individual directly. It was found
in England that a direct Income tax
at ten per cent. did not produce as
much revenue as the present method
of taxation at five per cent. This he
declared illustrated the premium that
the direct tax places upon perjury and
concealment
1t is a question. the President de-
clared, whether incomes from earned
salaries, and from professional work
should be taken as heavily as incomes
direved from investments or not tax
ed at all. The latter he said, was
the erect Of the corporation tax.
At the auditorium tonight. after
few preliminary remarks, Mr. Taft
touched briefly on the tariff. saying
that while a revision had been deem
ed essential, there was also a deficit
in the treasury to he met. This partly
will be met by a cut of $40 600, 900 to
100000 in the appropriations to he
made by Congress and partly by the
income from the new corporation tar
law. Mr.. Taft said he had favored
at first an inheritance tax but tie
objection that the states had pre-
empted that field had sufficient
weight to defeat the proposition.
Marriage Licenses.