The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05
Making Income Tax Returns

I
 under the scope of the new income tax
 law are making their returns at the con- | sulate with cheerfulness and alacrity. The returns are numerous, but do not make a. great sum in aggregate. The incomes of the very wealthiest Americans residing here are taxed at the sources so that the returns of these are made on the other | side. The heaviest income thus far re- ported at the consulate is one of $50, 600. The citizen who paid this declared that the tax was a reasonable charge for the privilege of being an American citizen. This was the tone adopted by most of
 the makers of returns, and the staff of the consulate. anticipating unwilling and protesting citizens, were agreeably sur prised at their attitude.
 A resident who paid without grumbling stated that the few protestants against the new tax are Americans who have taken root here and who have clung to their American citizenship for sentimental
 or business reasons. Some of these have been on the point of becoming British sub Jects for sometime and the imposition of the income tax may hasten their do- cision.
 Dr. William Ralph Inge. dean of St. Paufs, whose sermons and lectures on things modern have won for him the so- briquet Of the gloomy dean' declares I for that singular product of our civillza- tion known as the modern business man. When one reflects that a man is consti- tutionally indolent, that his natural de- sires are easily satisfied, and that unre- mittng attention to money making dis qualities it's votary from enjoying the finer pleasures of life, it must be clear, he said. that nothing but a queer sort of religious standardization could induce many per- sons to choose the life which the success ful business man has to lead.
 When the money maker was an honest merchant, subduing the earth and really
 creating wealth to the public advantage,
 his work might be an instrument of val
 uable moral discipline. But now that the
 fnancier had dethroned the merchant,
 now that wealth was appropriated rather
 than created, the connection between re-
 ligious austerity and business was almost
 dissolved, and there was the modifying
 spectacle so common in America of the
 unuscrupulous speculator, who made his
 home in his office, while his wife squan-
 dered his ill-gotten millions in vulgar and
 senseless extravaganza.
 In the new submarnes the admiralty IS
 building, and about which a great deal of
 secrecy is maintained a departure has
 been made for the first time in this coun-
 try from the Holland type. The S-1 now
 building at Greenock. is of the Laurent type. Enormous precautions were taken
 to screen her from the view of unauthor-
 ized persons, but 1t is known she is built
 under license from an Italian company design, which is very favorably regarded by the admiralty. The chief feature of if Is the provision of water tight compart-
 ments which find no place in the design or previous British submarines, and of a. detachable keel weighing 12 tons, which
 can be released bV fhnSe On ,.1 ol,o all reserve buoyancy be exhausted. Two other vessels of the same design are now
 on order and will be known as S-2 and
 S-3
 Lieut.. T. D. Milling, crack flyer of the
 United States army, Is in England study
 Ing the latest aviation methods here He
 Will report to the Secretary of War on his
 return, consequently he refuses to discuss
 his visit until Its results are in the hands
 of his superior officer. Milling is spending
 every moment of his time here with the flyers He is making a clcse study of the
 latest types of machines. He is one of
 the few flyers able to fly monoplane or
 oiplane with equal ease and this ability
 mas given him an excellent chance to &C.,
 tually try all of the new models.
 Suspicion has fallen up the flea as re-
 sponsible for scarlet fever The public health department of London has tried
 since 1909 to obtain a detailed record of
 the seasonal prevalence of heas in Lon
 don. Last year additional information
 was available by the examination of ele- mentary school children. The records show
 that the "curve'' of flea prevalence is
 almost identical with that of scarlet fever
 epldemics. While no actual conclusions
 can be drawn 1t is regarded as possiblv
 possessing great significance