Mexico weekly ledger., 1910-04-21
EDITORS ENJOY DELIGHTFUL
BANQUET IN EVENING

principles OF the science Of ecouom-
les, declares in that work that the
imposition Of high duties upon the
importation Of foreign goods, that is,
high protective duties. sis to en-
ploy taxation as an istrument, not of
revenue, but of monopoly"
Economists since the time Of Smith
and of this day, are almost unanim-
Gus In agreement with this declare
ton.
Early in the life Of the Government
The Democratic party errayed H.
SCR on the side Of sound principles
OF taxation and with the great mass
of the people.
In his first inaugural address, Pres
hent Jefferson declared as a creed
of political faith for equal and ex-
act justice to all men Of whatever
state or persuasion religious or Do
htical. At another time he said:
1T Is really AN extraordinary propo-
sition that the agricultural, mercan
tile and navigating classes shall be
taxed to maintain the manufacturer
From the days Of Jefferson down
through Madison. Jackson and Cleve-
land to the present time, the Demo
eratci party has constantly been the
party of low taxation and opposed to
the use of the Government for the
enactment of laws that will create
a privileged class, or enable one man
to accumulate wealth at the ex-
pense of another.
Webster defines a tax as, "a rate
or sum of money assessed on the per-
son or property of a citizen by Gov
eminent for the use of the nation or
State"
The high protectionists make use
of the taxing power, not for the ben
eft of the Government, but for the
benefit of those engaged in manufac-
turing certain goods, and in order
that they may be enabled to charge
for their commodities more than
they would otherwise sell for in the
market and to aid them In establish
ing a monopoly in their particular pr,
duction = all done at the cost and
unnatural expense of the consumer.
In the case of Loan Association VS.
Topeka, 81 U. S. Supreme Court
eDcisions, Mr.. Justice Miller, speak
ing for the majority of that court
In discussing the power of taxa
ton in Governments, said: "of all
the powers conferred upon Govern
ment that of taxation is most liable
to abuse. .........To lay, with one
hand, the power of the Government
On the property of the citizen, and
with the other. to bestow It upon
favored individuals to aid private
enterprises and built up private for
tunes, Is non the less robbery be-
cause 1t is done under the forms of
law and is called taxation. This Is
not legislation. 1t is decree under
Legislative FORMS"
The late Judge Thomas M. Cooley,
Republican, many years Professor OF
Law at AnnArbor, a long time Judge
of the Supreme Court of Michigan.
later in life a member of the Inter
State Commerce Commission, the
greatest writer on Constitutional Law
of modern days, i'm discussing the
powers of Congress to lay and col
lect duties and imposts, said: Con
stitutionaIly, a tax can have no other
basis than raising revenue for pub
lie purposes, and whatever govern
mental exaction has not this basis is
%tyranical and unlawful. A tax on
imports, the purpose Of which is
not to raise revenue but to discour-
age and indirectly prohibit some
particular import for the benefit Of
some home manufacture may well be
questioned as being merely colorado,
and, therefore. not warranted by con
stitutional principles"
He further tells us that a tax avow-
eddy laid for private purposes is H.
legal and void.
Then, how do our protectionist
friends escape the ~inhibitions Of the
Constitution?
Take for example, the Mckinley bill
of 1890, the Dingley bill. the recent
Payne-Aldrich bill. Each of these
enactments bears the title Of an
act for revenue purposes. 1t is a
revenue measure to a certain ex'
tent, but has sandwiched into and
all through it these high protective
measures, until protection is the
salient feature of the law, and SO cor
fessedly by its authors. The courts
are powerless to assail it for uncon
s~titutionality, for the reason tina
its Illegal purpose does not appear
on the face of the enactment, and
because of another principle that al
doubt must be solved in favor o.
the validity of the legislative act
for the question resolves itself int
a legislative question, and can be
come a judicial question only whel
tho legislative authority is plainly ex
ceeded.
In a case before the Supreme Cour
of the United States a few years age
involving the construction of a claus
of the Mckinley bill, and though thi
bill bore on the face Of 1t the title
of a revenue measure. the late Jus
, tice Brewer, looking beyond the It'll
and defining the real meaning o
| the act, exposed the fraud and de