St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-02-04
PRESS COMMENT



ers carefully and scientifically for
himself so that the problems of the
others farmers in the State were not
new problems for him. Necessarily
his work must be slow for conditions
cannot be changed at once and it is
the wise man who attempts changes
slowly enough so that confusion and
! distrust is prevented. While not
questioning Mr.. Brigham's right to
consider his own interests as well as
those of the State, yet we hope that
| Vermont is not to lose the efficient
service of the present commissioner.
One trouble with the Vermont of to-
day is that she has let her ablest sons
and daughters go to enrich other
States. Vermont must make it an OBJ
ject to her sons to stay at home and
make Vermont even stronger State
than she already is. Anything worth
having ought to be worth paying for
in one coin or another.-Bradford
Opinion.
Those State Expenses.
f'The Republican newspapers GER
tainly have a difficult problem to
show why the state expenses should
jump from $1,3S4,2 92 in 1904 to So
996,56S in 1912. "-Burlingto Clip
per.
The Clipper is having a perfectly
lovely time over the mares nest 1T
has discovered and it is perhaps lit
tie unkind to burst its little bubble.
The facts of the case are, however,
that in 1904 the expenses were not
1,3S4,0OO and they were not 49,
$4,000 in 1912. The present ex-
penses of the state of Vermont are
4 II Q
and going up. The increase in eight
years has been around 100000. The
fearful and wonderful figure of al
most four millions which the Clipper
has f1ourished come apparently from
jumping at the conclusion that the
printed total of all the financial trans
actions of the state was expense.
The Clipper also apparently figures
in the total of the state school and
highway taxes which the state col
lects but turns back to the towns and
the towns spend the money. This
can be called a town or state expense
according to the fancy of the person
making the argument. 1t is a town
expense all right in Bennington and
the other large towns which pay out
much more than they get back, but 1t
is a town profit in most of the small
er towns which get back more than
they contribute. Not including this
state school and highway matter the
expenses of the state of Vermont for
the year ending June 80, 1913 were
a trif1e under $1,4GO,00O. This bill
is large enough and growing larger
but at the same time the Vermont
expense per capita is considerably be-
low the average of the other states
of the union.-Bennington Banner.
The Income Tax MIDDLE.
The breakdown of the machinery
for the collection of the income tax
for 1914 could not be better illus
trated than by two incidents which
occurred yesterday at the Office of the !
collector of internal revenue at the |
custom house in this city. Appli- |
cants for exemption from No. 1888, |
which must be filed before Thursday /
next. were told that no copies of that /
form were on hand. They were told /
moreover, that few such blanks would /
be needed for filing, since only those
whose entire income consisted OF sal
airy, wages or compensation taxable
at the source would have to reply be-
fore Thursday to secure the $4,000 l.
DR. $4,000 exemption.
That statement constituting the
phrase, Sin all cases where the in
come tax of a person is withheld and
deducted and paid at the source to
mean Gin all cases where the entire
income tax of a person is withheld,
etc, is plainly contradicted by an
other provision of the paragraph re-
ating to the Withholding of taxes on
salaries and wages, which says: Nor
shall any person under the foregoing
conditions be allowed the beneht OF
my deduction provided for in sub
section B (the $4,000 or $4,000 ex-
smption) unless he shall, not less
han thirty days prior to the day on
which the return of his income is
lue, either file with the person who
S REQUIRED to withhold and pay
ak for him true and correct return
# his annual gains, profits and in
.ome from all other sources"
Later in the day the collector him.
jelf issued a statement admitting the
of the construction adj
Tanced by his subordinates. He says
hat the claim of exemption must be
made not later than Wednesday.
But no treasury blanks on which to
make it are in sight.
If he is right-and we feel con-
ident that he is-the treasury is
about to penalize, because of its own
neglect, tens of thousands of honest
citizens. Congress should step in at
,nce to halt the oppressive applica-
ion of a muddled law.--New York
Vocational Training.
The Educational report in the sec
ion published Tuesday throws a
1ood of light on the question of Vo-
Education.
The report in substance says that
he system is wholly impracticable
n Vermont.
One reason given is that expert
nents in this direction are too enor-
nously expensive to be embarked in b
without full preparation and under
standing.
The second reason is that we of
he United States don't know any
hing about vocational schools which
ire an entirely European product;
hat their adoption to the United