The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-07

upon an impossible theory of the ap- poruOnment.*
 It is certainly a strange commen- tarX upon the Constitution of the United States and upon a Democratic government that Congress has no power to Iay a tax which is one of the main sources of revenue of near " every civilized state. It is a con- fession of feebleness in which l find myself wholly unable to join.
 While l have no doubt that Con- gress will find some means of sur tr1c uniting the present crisis. my fear IS that in some moment of national peril this decision will rise up to frustrate its will and paralyze its arm. I hope it may not prove the first step toward the submergence of the nber- ties of the people in sordid despot- ism of wealth.
 As l can not escape the conviction that the decision of the court in this great case is fraught with immeasur- able danger to the future fthe coun- try and that it approaches the propor- tons of a national calamity, l feel 1t a duty to enter my protest against It.
 In his dissenting opinion, Justice Harlan referred to the decision in the following termss
 In my judgment, to say nothing of the disregard of the former adjudica7 tions of this court and of the set tied practice of the Government, this decision may we'll leXcite the gravest apprehensions. It strikes at the very foundations of national author lty in that it denies to the General Government a power which is, or may become, vital to the very existence and preservation of the Union in a national emergency, such as that of war With great commercial nation, during which the collection of all du- ties upon imports will cease or be ma IcIo o6
 But this is not all. The decision now made may provoke contest in this country from which the American people would have been spared if the court had not overturned it's former adJud1cations- and had adhered to the our Government, following the repeat ed adjudications of this court, has al- ways been administered.
 But the serious aspect of the pres ent decision is that by a new inter pretation of the Constitution it so ties the Government that without an amendment of that instrument, or un- less this court at some future time should return to the old theory of the Constitution. Congress can not sub- ject to taXation-however great the the Government-either the invested personal property of the country bonds, stocks, and investments of all kinds, or the income arising from the renting of real estate, or from the yield of personal property-except by the grossly unequal and unjust rule or apportionment among the States
 The practical effect of the decision to-day is to give to certain kinds of property position of favoritism and advntage inconsistent with the fnnda- mental principles of our social organ- ization, and to invest them with pow CT and influence that may be perilous to that portion of the American peo- pie upon whom rests the larger part of the burden of government
 These statements should have weight. and influence Same state ments expressed by Washington, Jeff ferson, Madison and Lincoln, Garfield and Roosevelt and President Taft Have given Reasons for minority re- port.
 T. believe in this tax. Places the burden of meeting the expenses of Government on those best able to bear it. Men received large salaries and incomes do not put the burden on the poor man.
 As to the Plan. I would like to have government collect same and give states, cities and towns some of it.
 But we can leave this to our Rep | LOSCAIoAlAN III Soli51 eSS. lIllS 6llI is defeated the people will know their friends.
 Cannot long blind the eyes of the American People.
 Cannot always make them think it is a war on the rich.
 MT. President: The people will win. yes we shall win. For still truth proclaims this motto, in letters of living light.
 No question is ever settled until it is settled right.