The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-31

would say. however. that 7 have made
more speeches for nothing than [ have
for pay. [ do not receive pay for politi-
cal speeches. and my Sunday speeches.
except at ehautauauas. are free I do
not think that money making is the chief
end of man."
But Mr Bryan. do yon think that one
man can earn $4,000 a year?"
Yes. And In this 1 am not speaking
Of myself, but T do think that we have
many men who have earned more than
$4,000 during every year OF their work
ing lives A man can honestly earn what
his services are worth to society. al
though in many cases he does not collect
1t. Take Thomas jefferson. The service
he rendered the world was worth more
than s1oO00,ooo a year, although during his
last days he was so poor he had to sell
his library 20 Congress. and his f-i-at5
got up lottery to aid him in paying his
debts. Abraham Lincoln earned more
than $0,000o00 a year, and so did George
Washington and many others. In my lee
ture entitled The Price of a Soul, I have
discussed that subject. | think the stand
point of earning is of service rendered.
and [ believe that the average man gives
a fair service to society for all he gets.
OF course there are many exceptions, and
we have some who thrive on the earnings
of others giving nothing in return. 1t is
from some of those that ] hope we shall
alive a partial equalization through the
new income tax
But. Mr. Bryan. should not that tax
include all incomes-the small as we'll
as the large?
Il do not think so, and that for two
reasons. In the first place the tax
upon the small incomes would not he
worth the collecting. because The ma
ehinery for collecting 1t would be too
great. In the second place the poor
man is taxed upon nearly everything he
consumes. and in this respect he pays
proportionately far more than The rich.
We have men in the United States whc
are worth tens OF millions. and who
spend nevertheless only few thous-
and dollars a year. Tho exemption of
the small income is entirely sound.
There is no country in the world which
levies taxes upon incomes. as far as
know. which has not such exemptions
When I was in Congress In 1896, I took
part in drafting the income portion
of the Wilson tax bill. and at that time
/ Investigated the subject. / found that
England exempted all incomes under
$3.50, that Prussia exempted everything
under S225. and that Austria had ex-
emptions of all incomes of S113 and un-
der. Many of the European countries
have been collecting such taxes for a gem
Grafton or more, and they have them to-
day In England the tax was then a little
more than per cent, i'm Prussia 1t was
from / to per cent. and in Switzerland
from l to per cent. according to the size
of the income. Such taxes have proved
equitable and profitable in adding to the
revenues of other nations and | doubt
not they will be so with us"
"Then the income tax is not new
thing?"
NO, it is not new in Europe and it is
not new in the United States. We had an
income tax for nearly 10 years during
and after the civil war, when the rate
was from 2lh to 10 per cent, and the eN-
emptions ranged from $500 to $1,000. But
as / said awhile ago, there is practically
nothing new under the sun. The peace
plan Is not new. | presented a similar
idea in speech in Toxic seven years
ago. Niscount Chinda, the Japanese am
bassador gave ma a pamphlet the other
day which had that speech ia it. | after
ward presented the same idea in Europe
at a peace conference attended by the
representatives, OF 26 siations. The same
is true of the election Of the senators by
the people. That is an old idea. / was
working for that 2S years ago, and the
other day | signed the proclamation OF
the 18th amendment TO the constitution
which makes it law. At that time [
invited Henry St George Tucker who
was with me in the House at the time
the movement was first agitated, and
also William W Rucker the prescut
chairman of the committee of the House
through which il was passed. | got three
pens and had William engraved on one
of them, | signed NY name first and
gave that to Tucker. / had Jennings en-
graved on another pen with that [
signed the name Jennings and gave It To
Rucker. And on the third pen holder
had the name Bryan engraved. | have
kept that pen for myself as memento
of the occasion. ] had a fourth pen for
the date which was given to Senator
Borah."