Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-10-08
PROU7Y DISCUSSES
DILLINGHAM; AND
THE INCOME TAX
Former Interstate Commerce
Commissioner Speaks at
Enthusiastic Rally at
Rutland.


mont, discussed live issues here tonight
at rousng rally in the shrine theatre,
which was filled to capacity with a crowd
of some 1000 persons including reprcscn-
tat.vc citizens of all parties. The large
number Of hearers from nearby towns
showed that Mr.. Prouty is arouslng wide
interest, and his sta,crn ents were rece,v-
ed with frequent outbursts of applause.
Tho speaker was introduced by Joseph
c. Jones, who presided at the rally. The
Rutland band furnished music at inter
walls preceding the speaking.
Mr.. Prouty made a strong bid for the
suffrage Of men of all parties, and ex-
planned in some detail the circumstances
leading up to his acceptance Of supper,
in the nu.I-partisan movement lie
touched also upon humorous phases of
the record of Senator Dillingham;, IN par
ticular the senator's attitude upon the
income tax law
Mr.. Prouty said in part
This whole subject Of taxation is daily
becoming more and moro important.
few years ago the Fifty-hfth Congress be-
came notorious as tho billion dollar Con-
gress For the first time the appropria
mark To-day the appropriations Of every
Congress greatly exceed that sum 1t is
probable that those of the Sixty-secoud
Congress will reach nearly one billion
flve-hundred millions. In the near futuro
we shall have the billion-dollar Con-
eress. BY whom is this vast sum re-
quired for the national support contrib
uted?
Tot,
and county governments are paid by di-
rect taxes levied upon the property tax
able within their limits This system of
aXaton is in theory just, although in
practice it may prove very unjust. Theo-
retically. each man pays in proportion to
what he has,
No direct tax can he levied by the ma
tional government except in proportion To
population. Since a tax so levied woul1
rest more upon poor than upon rlca
States. no tax of that KIND has been I'M
posed for many years and none probably
ever will be again levied Until recently
the money for the support of our national
government has come partly from in
ternal revenue, partly from customs
duties upon lnportations. This OF course
means that the taxes are paid by those
|
are taxed Whoever smokes n cigar or
drinks a glass of beer pays this tax. Who
ever uses spoonful of sugar or wears
an imported article or in any way buys
or uses an article which is taxed con-
tributes to the support of the national
government. And the amount contrib
uted is exactly in proportion to the
amodnt consumed
| It may he, therefore, that the wealthy
man. # ahstemious in his habits, will pay
less to the support of our government
than does the poor man with u numerous
! family and necessarily a large cOnsump-
ton. Aunt Hetty Green with her millions
may pay less than some lahoring man who
earns only day wages. The enormous real
estate holdings of that Mr.. Aston who has
abjured his native country and become I
citizen of England, pay nothing whatever
All this means that the wealth of this
country has contributed practically moth
Ing toward the support of the national
government. This is admittedly wrong.
The rich man should pay to the malnten-
ance of the nation whose good name he
shares and of whose protection he has the
! benefit. The income tax compels him t.
make such payment and is therefore a
most salutary tax. To-day almost every
civilized country in the world imposes
tax Of this kind and 1t Is generally ad-
mitted that no tax is moro Just.
| 1t seems to me unfortunate that Mr.,
| Underw God did not adhere TO his original
determination to obtain a considerable
part of the additional re- enue which this
war Is said to make necessary by an in
crease OF the income tax. The proposition
was to reduce the limit to which the tax
should apply. imposing It on incomes in
excess Of 1900 In case Of the unmarried
man and 1900 in case of the married
man and to incrces 50 the tax Itself from
one pcr cent to ono and one-half pee
cent II was said that the plan was ahan-
dOncd for the reason that It would have
been unpopular and woul! have ali"natcd
Support from the administration. can
not believe Il. | cannot believe that any
single man possessing an income Of $500
per year would object to contributing
$i5 of that income to the nupport OF the
expenses OF this country
During the Civil War this government
imposed ard collected an income tax
and that tax ran as high as from Ave &c
10 per cent. In 1871 the TAX was repealed
no question having been made as to It's
constltutionality. In 1873! Congress again
imposed an Income tax. ana this tax was
declared unconstitutional by the suprem,
court. with majority of but one, and that
one had first voted in favor of the tax and
subsequently upon rc-argument changed
his vote.
This decision OF tho supreme court was
accepted as final. There was, however
the continual suggestion of a constitu
tional amendment, and as time Went OF
public opinion became more ana more
aroused to the injustice of the system II
force and the desrability of an ncom,
tax, Finally, In 1909, President Taft recon-
mended to Congress that this question n
amending the constitution so MS to permi
the levying of an income tax by the ma
tional government be submitted to tn,
people, In the spring or early summer
of that year a resolution submitting thi!
amendment to the various States for rat
fcation was introduced by Senator Al
drch in the Senate and passed will
scarcely a dissenting vote Mr.. billing
ham voted for It.
After Mr. Aldrich had voted for this
resolution he proceeded to the State o
Rhode Island and there persuaded tn
Legislature Of that State to refuse IT.
IA tiication. Mr.. Dillingham; in like man
ner appealed to the Legislature of Yer
mont against ratification, and under thu
lead of its senators and its governor tn
State of Vermont did refuse Its assent
At the time Governor Barstow, one of thu
great men of Vermont, wrote me In Wash
lngton stating that both the governor an,
;