Weekly journal-miner., 1918-03-20
(From Wednesday's Daily.)


 Mr. Simpkins gazed at the DOT trait on the wall till his eyes filled with tears. Ii was portrait of his father, Colonel Simpkins, who had four times been promoted for valon during the Civil war and had died bravely on the field of action. MT. Simpkins' throat ached now for two reasons: First, he reverenced and adored the memory of his father; secondly, his age and his eyes and his game leg wouldn'tlet him go to war himself. And asi he observed the martial bearing and uncompro- missing gaze of Colonel Simpkins he saw, in imagination, the khaki-clad lads of the new generation marching finely forth and crossing three thous- and miles of sea to fight, and maybe die, for liberty.
 Mir. Simpkins peered around to make sure that neither Bess nor John (who were at the teasing ages of twenty and seventeen) were where they could see him, then he straight ened and threw his right arm up for salute. But his igouty shoulder twinged sharply, and he groaned. He couldn't even salute.
 Damn" said Mir. Simpkins, and with his other hand fercely twirled his white mustachios.
 He turned and linped into the li- brary and sat down creakily before the mahogany desk on which were lying the blanks for his income tax statement, blanks which he had rather grumpily got from the Inter- nal Revenue officer only that day after luncheon on his way home in his limousine from the club.
 Mir. Simpkins' income for 1917 had amounted to just about Sl5,000, and he had been rather snappy on the subject of taxes ever since he had discovered that the more income a man has, the grester the percentage of it he pays in taxes. He could think of several men who, like him self, were married and had two chil- dren, and yet, although their in comes were nearly half of his, they would pay only a small fraction of the amount he paid. He gloomily drew the blank nearer and began fill ing in the information that it asked for.
 As Mir. Simpkins' income was Sl5.- he had to figure out the amounts payable on each of the successive smaller classes of incomes in order to arrive at the total due from him. self. He passed over the first class who must pay taxes. that is. single men making over Sl,OO0. His accur- ate calculation for married men then showed up as follows:
 First, they pay ? per cent (under the 1916 law) on all income over S4.- 900, deducting $20O for each of their children. In Mir. Simpkins' case this tax figured S2l2, which he put down in the payable" column.
 He saw next that, under the 1917
 
 per cent on all over S2,000-with the same allowance for children. This added S252 more to his payable" column.
 He then observed that for every 2,500 jump in his income over S5,-. 900 he had to pay surtax, the per- centage growing larger with each jump. This was S250 more added to his burden. And on top of all this came an Excess Profits" Tax of Sl per cent on all occupation" income over S6,000, making S720 more.
 The total, then, of what he must pay was fourteen hundred and thirty four dollars.
 "Wheww exclaimed Mir. Simpkins angrily There's young Henry Will kins, who married Jake Johnson's girl, he makes 5000 and he doesn't pay cent of taxes. I guess this is his war as we'll as mine!"
 Thinking of young Henry Wilkins, he remembered that Mrs. Wilkins i went every afternoon to make ban dages for the Red Cross and that Henry, who was lawyer, was aiding the local draft board with its ques- tionnaires.
 We'll he admitted to himself, that makes difference"
 He thought next of Judge Will loughby, whose income was about S3,OOO
 He only pays SEQ" commented . Mir. Simpkins. not quite so angrily this time; and then a thought struck him, and he sat mp rigidly in his chair.
 Judge Willoughby's son had been drowned on the Tuscania when it was submarined with the loss of two hundred soldiers. {!