Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-11-03
| RGE DEFEAT or PR0PONED
NEW CONSTITUTION.

#9A#AHA Jazz ~ incomes nom kAAIA4HE
= proven by Ire language q TIE
sections authorizing the taxation q
Ret incomes lSec. Isl and limiting
exemptions tSee. i45l in the ease 81
Nage earners and salaued workers,
N income tax ear BE- levied against
tie huge incomes q the great Ger
porauons unoer the proposed neW con
SatQuon unless tie meager earnings
- the workers - also taxed. An
arbitrary limited exemption Of s. coo
zar the head % : family, plus 500 Tor
s2ch rhild under the age Of sixteen
Assrs, IS all that Is allowed tie man
e family. In ease Of other persons
TIE exemption Il the wage Garner Is
limited o. 500. Thus no laW pro
klalng for the taxing Of huge incomes
81 great mercantile corporations
would be constitutional unless that
law also provides for a tax on the in
come Of the So = week sales girls.
thigh school attendance is 10 be dis
eouraged by reason Of the fact that
ne allowance Is made for children over
sixteen and under eighteen. Depend
ent relatives are given no consiaera-
ton. A clause alleged to have been
designed for the purpose of prevent
Ing double taxation lSec. l45l pro
vices that deductions may be made 70
compensate for other taxes paid on
ths property from which the income
10 be taxed was derived, The mean
ing Of this can best be described by
the following illustration, On a street
which has been paved during the year
a factory and a cottage Of workman
are on opposite sides of the street.
In computing its net income At the
end of the year the factory may de-
duet the money II paid for its share of
the street paving. The workingman
l. not permitted TO make any such
deduction. II the factory is damaged
BY fire the owner may charge the re-
nalr cost to expenses in computing
his net income but If the cottage sui
tefs a similar damage no deduction
i allowed In the case of the work
ingman. The tax article of the pro-
posed new constitution is snare and
4 deluslon and in some respects
borders on the ridiculous. Under the
gulse of promoting forestry and forest
culture (See. l46) provisions have
actually been made whereby land
spectators can escape taxation and
under another section tSec. SD may
even receive financial aid from the
state while doing SO.
Banks.
\ section of the proposed new con-
stitutiun which prohibits the state
from assuming any liability for any
banking business tSec. 49, is designed
To prevent the state legislature from
Eafa NJ ~ inn LOW aat hp.. l. Il
positors. Its purpose is clearly TO
prevent the passage of legislation in
Illinois already enacted in several
states which provides for guaranty
funds to be deposited with the state
authorities for the protection of bank
depositors. The extreme to which the
constitutional convention has gone in
this respect is shown in the first sec
ton of the schedule as attached TO
the proposed new constitution. On
the last day of the constitutional con-
Vention an attempt was made to rem
der imperative for a period of five
years the section of the proposed con-
stitution referred to. Upon objection
the resolution on this subject was
withdrawn and another substituted in
which it was frankly shown that the
was to save the banking act
of 1919 which would have been made
invalid by the proposed new draft.
That law provides for the deposit of
securities with the auditor of public
accounts by banks which desire to ex-
tend their operations beyond certain
limits. This would be unconstitutional
under the provisions of the proposed
new constitution. The action of the
in amending the schedule
in this respect on the last day proves
beyond all question that the purpose
the legislature from enacting laws
in the future to protect bank de-
positors.
A New Form of Government.
Under the title powers and Form
of Government" the proposed new
contains very peculiar
provision (Sec. 21) which supporters
of the proposed new draft are finding
great difficulty in explaining and re-
garding which the constitutional con-
vention members have very little to
say. The section provides that the
Republican form of government of
this state shall never be abandoned,
or impaired" In the alleged
explanatory notes issued by the con-
convention in the draft of
the proposed new constitution, it is
not even stated that it is new. We
desire to express the opinion that 1t
was placed in the proposed new con-
stitution in the hope that 1t would
prove useful to the judiciary in event
Congress should undertake to decide,
if the proposed new constitution is
ratified, that Illinois has departed
from the Republican form Of govern
ment as contemplated in the federal
by making one depart
judiciary, sovereign of the state. The
words, "the Republican form Of gov
eminent of this state have never
been made the subject of judicial in
terpretation. They relate not to the
form of Republican government pro-
vided by the federal constitution nor
to the form provided by the present
constitution of this state but to the
precise and exact form provided in
the proposed new constitution which,
as already stated, provides unlimited
authority for one department, the
judiciary.
Amending Clause.
Much stress is laid upon the claims
made by the promoters Of the new
that the amending clause
[ Sec. 1881 is much more liberal than
the corresponding clause in the pres
ent constitution. This is not correct. |
1t Is true, of course, that while the /
present constitution provides for the !
+. ~, ~, d,,,a,4 ~ only ono article at a /