Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-01
RUSH FOR STAMPS
TO MEET NEW TAX
Business Men Throng the Of
flee of Deputy Collector of
Internal Revenue.
WAR REVENUE MEASURE
IS NOW IN OPERATION
Railways Are Large Investors-Mer-
chants and Brokers Also Assess
ed-Other Glasses in List.

i CU"VtuV4 O1dOoVo III 4A4ots
| A lively scene was presented today
at the office of the reputy collector of
internal revenue, 624 F street north
west, as well as for some distance
around the office. A great crowd is
gathered in and about this branch OF
"Uncle Sans" business. buying stamps
| and paying special taxes, under the
revenue act of October %. which went
| into effect last night. This is the meas
ure popularity known as the war tax,
| made necessary to raise money Tor the
I conduct of the government because the
| foreign war so reduced the amount OF
goods imported by the United States
that the custom revenues fell Off mil
lions of dollars.
All sorts and conditions of citizens OF
| Washington have been crowding to the
| Office for the past week or ten days pre-
pairing themselves for the operation OF
thes law by buying stamps in advance ana
paying special taxes in advance. Ihe
crush has been SO great that the deputy
collectors were obliged to work all day
Thanksgiving day and all day Sunday,
some of them without stopping for din
ner. Today there was such pressure
around the wickets Of the windows where
that one of the glass partitions was
, broken.
ALI Glasses Represented.
Cigar store dealers, bank clerks,
moving picture show owners, proprie-
tors of bowling alleys and billiard
rooms, commission merchants, brokers
and others are affected by the war
taxes" All those who could not be ac-
commodated with special tax licenses
by last midnight, when the law went
today, dated yesterday. There are five
deputy collectors in all at work in
the office.
1t was said today at the Office that
at any other branch internal revenue
office in the United States to date. This
is chiefly because Washington can get
stamps required by the law directly
that other cities have not received these
new stamps SO rapidly and readily. An
automobile from the Treasury is kept
busy bringing fresh supplies of the
stamps, it was said today, and the
crush in one instance around the office
was SO great that the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company received a delivery
OF 100000 stamps on the sidewalk.
check for $4,000. because 1t was impos-
sible to get inside of the Office to do
business.
Stamps for Bills Of Lading.
These stamps were bought by the
railroad company for distribution to
it's various freight offices. Under the
law it will be necessary to affix a
one-cent stamp to each bill of lading.
The Southern Railway Company got
from the street office 100000 stamps
for distribution. The Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad obtained the stamps it
needs from the Baltimore internal rev.
enue collectors Office.
The Washington Office is included in
the internal revenue district formed by
Maryland. Delaware and the District
of Columbia. with headquarters at Bal
timore. A. Marshall Marbury is in
charge of the F street branch as chief
deputy collector, and 4. E. Perkins
has been sent over from the Baltimore
office to assist him. In addition, Col
Lee Crandall and A. b. Aud. who have
charge of the distillery work of the
and the Treasury Department has sent
to the F street branch Deputy c. Feath
erstone to help out during the rush.
Rush on Recorder of Deeds.
The rush to escape the war tax yes
terday at the Office of the recorder of
deeds succeeded in smashing all pre-
vious records In the history of the Of
flee for one days business. Acting Re
corder Dutton kept the Office open an
additional hour in order to accommo-
date the applicants. When the office
closed il was found that 226 papers had
been recorded. The highest record for
a days business before yesterday was
$50. which number was filed June 26.
1913.
the stamp tax law Of the Spanish war
went into effect.
Bureaus Meet the Emergency.
With the public demand for war rev.
enue stamps greater than the clerical
facilities of the offices of internal rev.
enue collection can supply. and short
ages of stamps at many places through
out the United States. u complicated
situa ton arises that Commissioner Os-
born of the internal revenue bureau is
preparing to meet
1.-The public is not to be made victims
Of its inability to obtain stamps in
this emergency" stated Chief Kinds of
the stamp-distrbuting division OF the
bureau The commissioner of inter-
nal revenue is himself successful
| business man and knows what the pub
lie is up against.
Stamps are being forwarded to col
| lectors of internal revenue all over the
| United States, and to Alaska and Ha-
wall, at the rate of 20,000,000 a day.
| This will soon supply the public demand
In the meanwhile many articles that
should bear stamps to comply with the
| law must necessarily go without.
| To meet this situation and relieve those
! charged with the duty of affixing stamps
| of Il responsibility they cannot meet,
Commissioner Osborn has directed col
lectors of internal revenue when unable
to supply proprietary stamps to dealers
! to allow articles enumerated under sched-
ule B, in the war emergency tax law, to
be sold unstamped, provided record is
kept and sworn statement delivered
to the collector. AS soon as stamps are
| available, stamps may be purchased and
cancelled to cover such sales
Another Expedient Adopted.
| Meeting another situation. Commits
sioner Osborn has directed collectors
to date all special tax returns as of
November 80 until able to handle appli-
cations promptly; unless they have in
formation that no effort has been made
| a ,,-io