Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-09-02
DISCUSS NATIONAL TAXATION
Opposed 70 Inheritance aud Corpora
ton Tnxes-FnvorS Ircomc Tax
Hopes state VIII Adopt
Anne NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. In
tricncicS of Revision.


| problems and the Payne tariff bill. The
the shore Of the lake. c. r. Smith of
Morrisville, the master OF the State
Grange. was the presiding officer and
besides the able address OF Mr.. Foster
there were brief remarks by former
Governor c. j. Bell OF Walden state
Forester A. F. Halves OF Burlington and
state Superintendent of Education Ma
son S. Stone Of Montpelier Congressman
Foster said:
President Roosevelt in the closing
months of his administration appointed
a Country Life Commission" whose pur-
pose was the Improvement of farm life
II Is no reflection upon either the high
purpose or chosen method of President
Roosevelt to say that in my Judgment
the best country life commission yet or
ganizcd Is the Grange. II is certainly
true that the Vermont Grange Is doing
for our rural communities a grand work
through methods that must commend
themselves to thinking people. For after
all self Improvement is tho most gen.
uine and most lasting Improvement
Your membership is composed cf the
very men and women IN whose welfare
progress and Improvement President
Roosevelt was so profoundly Interested
And no one can appreciate more keenly
the needs Of country life or labor more
effectively to supply those needs than the
strong forceful men and women who to-
day are organized and reorga rized in the
Vermont Grange. Organization is the
quickening force of our modern life out
side the field of agriculture it has revo-
lutionzed our entire Industrial world
The steel manufacturer the railroad OPP
era tor, the oil producer-all in fact cx-
cept the farmer-have found in organiza-
ton the keynote of present day success
",,ne''"p,e 'ilis organization mas come
evils and profits by ito advantages
The great need therefore. of our coun-
try life to-day is Union of effort COON
ration for mutual ADVANTAGE oryariza-
ton offensive and defensive And | re-
peat that the Vermont Grange Is doing
for our country communities what Presi-
dent Roosevelt hoped 10 do through his
country life commission. In conjunction
with the postof1,ce department and tho
telephone II Ia driving out forever that
isolation which heretofore has been the
bane Of farm life. 1t draws together the
people of the community for social pleas
ure, for thoughtful consideration Of pub
lie questions. and for the exchange of
ideas upon those subjects whici. are vital
to their every day life Some months
ago we had In washington a conference
Of governors Let us look forward to n
farmers conference in Washington I'M
der the auspices Of the national officers
Of the Grange and particIpated n by the
representative men and women Of the
Grange in the several States. by repre-
sentatives from our Dairymen's assocta-
ton and by representatives from all sim
liar associations of farmers
r,, -
"H'r'->i 'A' iAHA iON'
Because Of your general interest in
public questions and your personal inter
est in that of taxation let me direct your
attention for a few minutes to some
phases of the present-day problem of
taxation. Public expenditure. both ma
tional and State. has increased enormous
ly during the last quarter Of a century.
Our little commonwealth presents no ex-
ception 10 this rule. Again and again
during recent years we have had our at
ten,ion called to the ever-increasing de-
mands upon the State and the CORES
ponding increase in the amount of money
raised by taxation. Heretofore. except
in time OF war there has been a clearly
defined line of demarkation between the
field Of federal taxation and that Of the
States. Ever since the foundation Of the
republic its revenues IN time of peace
have been derived from tariffs on imnorts
and from various snec,,l ,oxes known as
internal revenue taxes. All other meth
Thus the cI,v and ,oyr ro,sod ,ha,r
revenue nv direc, t,x,t,or ,nox r.o, ,,,
nersonaI nronartv. tho stota ro,sad g..
revenue nv means of taxa,ion q, ,rbor,,-
ances and of corporat,on. ana tho no
ton secured annie revenue through .us-
toms and internal revenue taxe.
But the pevne tar,rf b,u as !, nassoa
the House of REPRESENTATIVES, contoired
n nrovtsion FOR nm Inheritance tox As
the hill WINS finally enacted II nrov,ded
for q tax OF ! ner cent upon the net in
come OF cornorat,ons In conjunction
with the massage OF this act n resolution
was adonted submitting To the States an
amendment 10 the constitution authorize
ing Congress to levy an income tax with
out apnortioning il among the States In
pronortion To their nonuIation All these
things Indicate how imnortant # is that
we should keen before us the necessity
for clearly defined spheres OF taxation