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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES R. GRAY’,
President and Editor.
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Atlanta, Ga.
More Mischief Likely
From the California Bill.
The report that China is preparing to follow Japan
in protesting against the California anti-alien land
bill Is another hint of the many problems that may
spring from this mischievous and uncalled for piece
of legislation. Chinese ownership of California lands
has steadily dwindled within the past few years, just
as the Japanese population in that State is steadily
decreasing, but a number of Chinese property own
ers are still there and it is to protect them against
possible loss that the Chinese government Is said to
be contemplating a protest.
The United States would thus be Involved in luck
less differences with two nations whose good will it
has hitherto enjoyed and whose trade it hopes to at
tract more and more in years to come. Why should
such issues be provoked merely in order that the po
litical partisanship of one State may carry its point?
The anti-alien bill, if permitted to stand, is likely
to bring on all manner of international entanglements
and, as President Wilson has said, “what might be
long and delicate litigation." Neither the Japanese
nor Chinese have heretofore been disposed to question
our naturalization law or to seek the right of citizen
ship under its terms. That act limits citizenship to
“free white persons, natives of Africa and persons
of African descent" The Supreme Court has not yet
been called upon to Interpret tbe phrase "free white
- persons." The Japanese contend that in an ethno
logical sense they are “white” and that it is their
race lineage, rather their color, which really counts.
If they are forbidden to own land, according to
the California bill, on the ground that they are
ineligible to citizenship, they will not be slow to as
sert their claims to the right of naturalization; and
the Supreme Court would thus be required to settle
an issue which hitherto has been fortunately quies
cent. The New York World pertinently asks: “What
will it profit the Hiram Johnston demagogues, if in
• their blithe attempt to put the Democrats into a
hole they set in motion forces that may extend our
naturalization law to Mongolians. No matter what
the result of such a suit might he, the controversy
■would hardly end with the courts’ judgment. After
that we should have agitation and legislation and ex
ceedingly troublesome diplomacy. Instead of a little
Jananese question, we should have a big one.”
The California legislature has approached this
issue from an entirely illogical and a very dangerous
' angle. It has sought to deal with a matter of na-
: tional diplomacy from a purely provincial standpoint.
In an effort to carry a petty point, it has opened the
way to farreaching and embarrassing problems. It is
' to be hoped that the thoughtful people of California
• will invoke the referendum and will put an end to
; this ill-considered and unnecessary measure.
i %
The Law Must Be Enforced.
The firmness and fairness with which he has in
variably enforced the law have earned State Game
Warden Mercer the public’s hearty approval. All
thoughtful citizens realize that the new g^me and
fish statute was enacted in behalf of the people’s com
mon interests, and that upon its due observance de
pends the preservation of a very important part of
Georgia’s resources. It is gratifying to note that all
true sportsmen have stood consistently and loyally
behind the State warden and his deputies and that as
a result the wise purpose of the law is being ma
terialized.
It seems, however, that in the vicinity of what is
known as the B^tks estate in Berrien coiysty there
has been a persJStent disregard of fishing eights and
that this has now waxed into an open, defiance of
the State law. There are persons who .refuse to
recognize the boundaries of private property and
who, despite repeated warnings, continue to fish in a
pond where they have no rights. Conditions have
reached such a stage that the State warden has de
cided to go in person to the scene of the trouble and
endeavor to adjust the present difficulties by moral
suasion, if he can, but by a resort to the law’s full
f power, if he must.
We are sure that in this timely and rightful mis-
' sion he will have the support of the rank and file of
: all good citizens in Berrien county. There are indi
viduals in every community who fail to see where
their personal liberty ends and their neighbor’s or
the public’s rights begin. Their point of view is
due sometimes to ignorance and sometimes to a
wilful disregard of the law. In any event, they can
not be permitted to set up their own wishes against
the common Interests.
The law which Mr. Mercer is charged with en
forcing was enacted to protect the State’s game and
fish and also to protect the owners of property. Un
der the duties of his office, he cannot make excep
tions or extend special favors to any one. He goes
to Berrien county as the representative of the State,
as the executor of an important law, as the protector
of Important Interests. He goes as the agent of all
the people. He should receive and, we belive, will
| receive the co-operation of every good citizen in see-
j lng that the law is respected.
The Failure of Huerta.
That was a somber but seemingly faithful picture
of Mexican conditions which Mr. Charles Hines paint
ed when he appeared last Saturday before the foreign
relations committee of the Senate. Mr. Hines, former
ly a Virginian and now president of the West Shore
railroad, of Mexico, spoke from direct observation and
gave a number of intimate touches which foreign dis
patches have lacked but which, in the main, are con
firmed by the State department’s advices. His testi
mony, as summarized by The Journal’s Washington
correspondent, indicates that at no time since the
exile of Porfirio Diaz were conditions so unsettled in
Mexico as they are today.
In all the republic, we are told, there are but three
States which are even partly free from the fire
of rebellion or from the harryings of desperate ad
venturers. Provisional President Huerta is popularly
regarded as a red-handed conspirator rather than as
an official commanuing the people’s confidence and re
spect; and, to quote directly, “it has become apparent
even to his supporters that he can never pacify the
country.” Most noteworthy of all is the fact that the
temporary alliance between Huerta and Felix Diaz
has broken and the latter is now plotting for the
overthrow of the dictator whom he induced to betray
President Madero.
The most aggressive figure now in the Mexican
field seems to be Venustiana Carranza, a leader of
the so-called "Constitutionalists,” who declare that
orderly processes ot government are their aim. Hu
erta, they insist, is a usurper and must yield the
office he has seized. They demand a speedy election
through which a new president can be legally chosen.
Carranza’s distinctive quality is his genius for or
ganization. Unlike many of revolutionary leaders
who are continually preying upon Mexico for the
moment’s advantage or the handful of booty they
may win, he cover, each step of his advance with
carefully systematized plans. “As fast as he seizes a
section of territory,” rays The Journal’s Washington
story, “he forms a military government, restorer or-
dir and makes the inhabitants pay for it by a heavy
tax levy; his progress is slow hut it is methodical.”
Whether Carranza or the "Constitutionalist”
movement will succeed in re-establishing efficient
government in Mexico remains to be seen. Certain
it is, however, that the Huerta regime is toppling.
The provisional president is compelled to keep large
detachments of the ‘federal army in Mexico City to
guard the approaches to his personal safety. The
army, at no time strong or particularly loyal, is to
day more demoralized than ever. A spirit of mutiny
is astir. A general is ordered hurriedly to the north
to quell the rebels there, but no tidings of his move
ments are received at the capital; presumably he
goes over to the revolutionists. An expedition sent
forth in behalf of the provisional government is as
likely as not to become, on the way, a new arm of
the rebellion.
On every hand and almost every day the armed
opposition to the Huerta government grows more
serious and more 1. sourceful. All developments con
firm the wisdom ox the United States in not recog
nizing the Huerta regime; and they also give rise
to the question, what will happen when the present
would-be dictator falls?
Will the “Constitutionalists,” profiting by the
tragically witnessed failure of murderous politics,
seek to restore government through civilized means
or will they repeat the barbarous story of the past few
months? Will there emerge a man strong enough to
unite and hold behind him the thoughtful element of
the Mexican people, and Is that element itself num
erous and vigorous .enough-'to' carry out its will?
Only time can answer.
Instead of being driven to drink some men are
led.
The Magic of Montenegro.
No circumstance of the Balkan war has appealed
so widely or so keenly to the world’s imagination
and sympathies as the hardihood of little Montene
gro In defying the commands of the great Powers.
We of America read the foreign dispatches, with
their allusions to strange places and people, as
though they were intimate letters on events in which
we were personally concerned. King Nicholas be
came a familiar character to be talked of at the
breakfast table and his sturdy soldiers, though they
camped almost at the other end of the world, were
clothed with a vividness like that of the home team.
Such is the magic of bravery matched against over
whelming odds.
And when the tidings finally came that Montene
gro had yielded, most of us felt a twinge of disap
pointment and regret. It seemed contrary to ail
our conceptions of the square deal that the little
nation, after fighting gallantly for six months and
and after remaining calm and immovable under the
threats of combined Europe, snould renounce the
prize she had so splendidly won. Men on street cor
ners and trolley cars debated as to what would have
happened had Montenegro persisted to the end; pop
ular opinion was that she would certainly have come
forth with colors flying, and that in any event, the
sorry upshot of it all was a shame. *
Yet, for the sake of European peace, Montene
gro’s agreement to evacuate Scutari is perhaps the
best thing that could have happened. Had Austrian
troops moved into Albania, far-reaching entangle
ments among the great nations might have followed.
Certain it Is that the eleventh-hour concession from
King Nicholas has served to relieve the high tension
of European politics and has restored confidence to
financial circles. The gravest crisis to which the
entire course of the Balkan gave riser- has been
passed.
Another meeting of the ambassadorial conference
at London will he held Thursday, at which time fur
ther plans for the future of Scutari and Albania
will be discussed. It has frequently been suggested
that Montenegro would be compensated for her sur
render of the city. The declaration by King Nich
olas, however, held no such conditions. His simple
statement was: “My dignity and that of my people
do not allow me to submit to isolated orders. I,
therefore, place the destiny of Scutari in the hands
of the great Powers.” By “isolated orders” he
alluded, of course, to the policy of Austria; and he
seems to have calculated with true discernment that
it was more graceful to how to the will of all the
Powers than to yield to a single nation.
Whatever boundaries may finally be established
for Albania, whatever disposition may be made of
Scutari, whether or not a portion of that territory
is allotted to Montenegro, the little mountain king
dom has earned a high and enduring place in the
world’s admiration.
A woman will jump to a conclusion while a man
is crawling toward it.
When it comes to work, in the spring almost any
body is willing to pose as a total abstainer.
Democracy and Organization
BY DR. FRANK CRANE
(Copyright, 1013, by Frank Crane.)
Ther e can be no democracy without organization.
A democracy whos e units do not work together,
where there is no co-ordination, will fall to pieces.
A monarchy, a tyranny, can get along without or
ganizing the people. In fact, where the people have no
team-play, there is where the despot is needed. Hav
ing no intelligent unity they must have an artificial
unity, the unity of a superimposed brute force.
We fear standing armies. But such armies, in the
days of Rome, were perfect machines composed of only
a small number of people, and they ruled only because
the rest of the populace was not drilled to keep step.
In a tri^ democracy the whole population—men, women
and children—should be a standing army, not necessa
rily to march and shoot, but, under equal discipline, to
sow, reap and sell.
All despotisms have been due to a lack of organ
ization among the common people. So nowadays, in the
loose individualism of the city, any compact band of
drilled^frnen can control them. Hence We have the polit
ical party and the boss system. A dozen ignorant, self
ish, unscrupulous men, if well organized, can govern
a thousand intelligent and honest people who will not
get together.
The reason wh;- democracy is impossible without
organized unity is this: Democracy means a govern
ment in the interest of all the people, even the weak
est, and the only power great enough to scure the weak
est man his rights is the organized power of the whole
state.
Where everything is left in a condition of free com
petition, human society is like the jungle of wild beasts,
and the strong devour the feeble. In the United States
a few powerful men, powerful by natural shrewdness
or by having certain privileges, have exploited the pop
ulace for their own personal gain. They did this by
co-operation, by forming trusts.
The only way to remedy this is for the people to
form a better and stronger trust, to make of the state
a trust able to swallow up the beef, milk or railway
trusts. You cannot go backward and make the trusts
become competitive; a social consolidation once formed
cannot be turned back to individualism; the only thing
to do is to go on—-is to organize the whole people into
a trust.
There is no freedom worth the name except in per
fect organization.
A state of pure individualism or anarchy always
invites the Man on Horseback and the Robber Baron.
Freedom in a state keeps pace with organization;
and in degree as each man does as he pleases tyrants
prosper, whether feudal duke or Chicago ward boss.
The political party, the business trust, the ecclesi
astical hierarchy, and all partial gettings-together of
men are but drills and preliminary “setting up' 1 exer
cises, wherein mankind is practicing for the coming or
ganized world militia and world business house, in
which every living person has a responsible part.
We now have government “of the people”; it can be
come government “for the people and by the people”
only by complete organization.
I do not advocate Socialism; it connotes too much.
But, unless we secure an Organized Democracy, we shall
have by and by no Democracy at all.
END OF A FIASCO
(From The Atlanta Constitution of May 6.)
News dispatches report today that the supreme
court of the United States yesterday dismissed the
case of the government against The Atlanta Journal,
involving alleged violation of the postal regulations.
The verdict oi the court was unanimous.
This is an end to the miserable effort of Hitch
cock aryl his bureaucratic spies to inolve The Journal
in a manner which was overwhelmingly resented by
the public, not only because the people knew that the
management of The Journal was not involved in any
petty swindle to save a few dollars in mail payments,
but more particularly for the reason that the Hitch
cock procedure against legitimate business was a
departure entirely new in federal administrative meth
ods in this country.
It will be recalled that when The Journal was first
apprised of the fact that it was to be the victim
of Hitchcock’s animus the information came in the
nature of an indictment for trial without having been
given opportunity to make even a showing as to the
accuracy of its figures, or of the fact that it was, at
least in its own opinion, making an honest effort to
comply with the law. That was considered an un
important detail to Hitchcock and his spies.
Of course, the government lost in the lower United
States court, and now the supreme court has put the
stamp of its disapproval upon the whole proceeding by
dismissing the case.
It is the end of the cheapest fiasco in which this
government has ever been involved, and it is to be
hoped that never, as long as this is a goernment, will
there be a repetition of such a disgraceful and tyranni
cal proceeding from any of its departments.
Jealousy always has a target.
Old Senator Works seems to think that it isn’t
at all blessed to receive from Rockefeller or Car
negie.
Greetings to New China.
In formally recognizing the Chinese republic, the
United States has simply consummated a purpose
which became manifest in the outset of the Wilson
administration and which had already produced
its moral effect. Our State department has evidently
been only awaiting the complete organization of Chi
na’s new government. That having been accom
plished through the national legislature at Pekin,
there remained no occasion for further delay in offi
cially welcoming the young republic into the family
of nations.
There is reason to believe that this seasonable
example on the part of the United States will influ
ence other world Powers to follow our lead. Certain
it is that the republic is the only established gov
ernment in China. It is through the officials of the
republic that all diplomatic business must be trans
acted. The Manchu regime is dead and done for and
the new political order stands ^unchallenged. Plence,
matter of pratical necessity, if for no other consid-
as a matter of practical necessity, if for no other con
siderations, the republic must soon be recognized by
all the Powers.
It is gratifying, and we believe will prove for
tunate, that the United States has graciously led the
way in according the new China -its due acknowl
edgement and courtesy. Our government has always
been the stanch friend of this great Oriental people.
It was our high-minded and plain-spoken diplomacy
that saved the Chinese empire from being dismem
bered by European greed. It is from our constitu
tion and our ideals that the Chinese statesmen of
this new era have drawn their model and inspiration.
It is, therefore, very appropriate that the United
States should he the first among nations to recognize
the republic and to hid its patriots godspeed in their
brave and splendid endeavor.
Love laughs at locksmiths and ignores chaperones.
The game warden is putting a quietus on the old-
fashioned type that quit work to re-visit the old
fishing hole.
Latest reports are that the European war clouds
have been scattered. But then those reports have
been heard before.
^OU/MTRY
rioME TDPuS
CcMWCTED _ BLTIHS. -tf
RACIAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE UNITED STATES.
The action of th e California legislators In regard
to the Japanese is norated as a new sensatltfn In raee
troubles, but it must not be forgotten that California
had an experience with Chinese emigrants quite sim
ilar two or more decades ago. It is indeed the old
old story that has been told in every country where
the Anglo-Saxon has lived or where he has gone forth
to conquer. It is the old, old story of white suprem
acy, as England has dealt with her East Indian pos
sessions and with China during the “opium war” It
is the old story as illustrated in the dealings of the
white man with the red Indian in these United States
of America. It would have been the same old story
in dealing with the African race in America, if the
south had been wise enough to have remained in the
union In 1861, and demanded the colonization of for
mer slaves before the Civil" war intervened and
wrought havoc in the bloody settlement of the vexed
question of slavery, it will be the same story to the
end unless there shall be enough statesmanship to
meet this race question properly by declaring these
United States to be a white man’s country with citi
zenship for any other alien race on the globe.'
China made a treaty with the United States direct
ly after the Civil war, called the Burlingame treaty
in which concessions were made by these United
States and which concessions allowed the yellow man
to come in and which guaranteed he would be as well
treated as citizens of this country expected to be
treated in the treaty ports of China. Hon. Anson Bur
lingame, a former senator of the United States, be
came the agent for the government of China in getting
that treaty (which bears his name) ratified by the au
thorities of the United States, and there could not be
a more solemnly ratified document ever enrolled on
the records of this country.
As the Orientals crowded into California the na
tives begun to protest, and after a few years of rough
and Steady friction California not only legislated to’
shut off the yellow man but congress abrogated this
Burlingame treaty and wiped it from the statute
books. California is doing the same thing over again,
except this latter day legislation is directed against
the brown Jap rather than the yellow Chink.
My sympathies are with California. They are
taking this matter by the forelock, and although we
may have a scrimmage, this difficulty must be set
tled in favor of white supremacy or this republic will
become a hybrid government and subject to the same
fate as Mexico and South American republics.
I am old enough to remember the furore that pre
vailed during the excitement of Know Nothingism.
The principle of Know Nothingism, as applied to alien
races is eminently right. Its former weakness lay in
the opposition to the white races, Anglo-Saxon and
Anglo-Celts who desired to come over as emigrants to
the New World.
The antagonisms of color are insuperable; they are
born into the bone and bred in the skin of the white
race. I am no prophetess, have nothing but the slow
wisdom that goes with age and experience, but I do
see the danger, and I do dare to say that our ideals of
civilization will not bear a mixture with alien races
that are marked by color. It is a universal rule.
Th© privileges of citizenship that were given to
the black man are fraught with danger to both black
and white. It was a kind of spite program after Ap
pomattox, and I am tempted to say to California:
The shoe is on the other foot” for you now, but two
wrongs never could make a right by any known sys
tem of calculation.
Every sane and sensible student of history does
now fully understand that a well defined line of citi
zenship should be made in these United States and
that line of demarcation must he a color line and a
separation from alien, races.
• • •
THE MUBDEB MYSTERY IN ATLANTA.
It is simply astonishing how difficult it becomes
to trace a murderer among the throngs that crowd
the streets of a large city. With a horde of policemen
and scores of active, earnest probers, yet some trag
edies like that th e disappearing of young Mr. Crowley
some years back and murder of poor little Mary Pha-
gan a few uays ago seem to baffle vigorous and deter
mined searchers who are on the job continuous day
and night for weeks at a time.
And circumstantial evidence is , so dangerous! Bet
ter a thousand times allow the real murderer to escape
than to lynch, tourture or electrocute an innocent per
son! "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; I will re
pay.” In the first white heat of public indignation
the near friends of the victim always feel as if the
murderer should receive the extremest penalties of the
law; but I am~ satisfied in my mind that mistakes
have been made, and the wrong man punished time
and again. I have heard numbers of people say with
in the last week, “ ought to be burnt alive!”
“Hanging is too good for him!” “He should be torn
to pieces limb by limb,” etc. Indeed, public indigna
tion lias been fatigued, the crime was so atrocious,
and the poor little girl so brutally maltreated, but it
may happen to be exposed during some future time
that the much talked about basement door permitted
the real offender to emerge from the scene of mur
der and escape without detection.
Coming at a time when the city was full of socio
logical delegates who wer e exploiting civic righteous
ness and humane treatment to criminals, it was pain
ful to know and understand that a tender, delicate lit
tle white girl had no better chance for safety and less
protection from bestiality than the nude savages in
African jungles.
I'll wager that the story will finally circle about
the deadly virus of lust and liquor, the twin disturb
ers of public peace, and the cancer germs of degrada
tion and death But one must be certain before the
fagot or the gibbet is evoked to settle such cases.
* * *
SATURDAY’S HALF HOLIDAY.
Every one who has been accustomed to farm life
understands there are only five and a half working
days in the week, no matter how busy the season or
propitious the weather. The half Saturday custom is
a constantly growing one, and those who depend on
hired help to feed and water stock on Saturday after
noons generally get out of patience or go out to do
th e stunt for themselves. The day and a half of rest
out of the seven has como to stay, and people like it so
well that it is not likely to be changed. Country homes
are generally more than quiet because the noisy ones
have gone to town or a-fishing and everything looks
deserted.
In the towns there is a general stir. Neighbor
hoods are active, the children have had a bath and
fresh clothing, and the -ladies dress up, sit on veran"-
das or go calling. Those who have autos or buggies
enjoy themselves in their use, and everybody but
storekeepers and grocers get home early for the aft
ernoon rest, with leisure to sit around and pass jokes,
as neighbors stroll on the streets.
Th e hours of everyday labor being shortened by
legislation, the half Saturday holiday cuts into the
week’s work with a large slice.
The people who hire day laborers always expect to
pay at noon on Saturday nowadays when it used to be
sundown, after everything was fed and the barn locked
that the money settlement was made.
Remembering as I do the oldtime before-the-war
methods, it looks to me as if we will not be allowed
to work anybody in the farm or garden or mill or fur
nace but a scant few hours each day, and yet pay dou
ble prices for the time.
As ^ld as I am I comfort ijiyself that it does not
seriously matter to me one way or another, but I
am convinced that successful farming must be done by
those who own or rent the lands with as littL hired
help as possible.
Proposing by mail Is as unsatisfactory as kissing
a girl through a knothole In a board fence.
Many a man’s interest in a woman’s is confined to
wondering what foci thing she will do next.
THE INCOME TAX
I-—THE SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
The ratification of the sixteenth amendment to the
constitution and the determination of the Wilson ad
ministration to follow it up with an income tax law
marks one of the most impor
tant pages in the history of
American taxation. It proba
bly represents the beginning of I
a new era In the application of j
the revenue raising policies of
the Federal government. On i
the one hand it settles many
questions about which there has i
been much dispute, while on the
other hand It opens up new |
fields of argument and conten
tion which will probably figure!
in the forum of American poli
tics for many years to come. It, *
therefore, becomes of paramount
interest among the questions in!
the public mind. And, more-|
over, it giv i to the people an
Issue the- can feel, a tax thatj
they do not pay unconsciously.;
A person who buys something i
upon which a 'customs duty has been levied lyiows
nothing of what the government levies upon him in 1
the transaction—.unless he happens to be coming
through one of the ports and gets held up for duties
on what he has bought abroad. But the salaried man
who finds $60 deducted from his salary to pay his in
come tax knows it with a good deal of certainty.
* • •
The sixteenth amendment came about in a ratheri
unsual way. When the congress met to make the
Payne-Aldrich tariff law there had. developed, a wide
spread sentiment in favor of an income tax. The rev
enues of the government were not meeting the expen
ditures, and nearly everybody agreed that the tariff
was already too high. In looking about to find some'
other source of revenue most eyes fell upon the in
come tax. It is true that there was a supreme court
decision which had declared the income tax an unc*n-
situtional tax, if levied without apportionment amon"
the states, but that decision was made by only one
majority, five to four, and after a divided court had
failed to declare it unconstitutional. And so it was'
that many people felt that the supreme court was
wrong on its second thought. This feeling was the
more pronounced because every previous decision dur
ing a hundred years seemed to have been reversed by
the second decision of the court.
• • *
Ther© was a determination in some quarters to put,
the matter up to the court again, and at one time it
looked as if the proponents of th e Bailey-Cummins'
amendment to the Payne-Aldrich law, providing for
the enactment of an incoipe tax law, would be able 1
to muster enough votes in the senate and house to
pass it. At this juncture President Taft cam® upon
the scene with a message to congress expressing the
view that the supreme court had taken away from
the Federal government a power it was generally sup
posed to have had, and one that it undoubtedly ought
to have. He added that it might be necessary for the
salvation of the country in time of a great crisis.
• • •
He said, however, that he thought It would be much
better to make sure of that right through the medium
of a constitutional amendment than by putting on the
statute books a law already there and never repealed.
He thought It would not add to the popular confidence
In the courts for congress to enact a law upon lines
that had been declared unconstitutional. It may he
said in passing that Mr. Taft, as well as many another
statesman, fell Into an amusing error concerning the
Income tax of 1894, when he said it was still upon the
statute books. As a matter of fact, the very second <
line of the act provided for its own expiration by lim
itation in 1900.
...
He, therefore, recommended that congress pass a
constitutional amendment to constitutionalize an In
come tax law, and that, pending the passage of sucb-.an—
amendment, a- corporation tax be levied. Many mem
bers of th e senate and house professed to see In this an
effort to prevent the Immediate passage of an income, (
tax law, and for the time being opposed It. Finally,
however, they accepted the Inevitable and joined in,
voting to send the amendment to the legislatures of
the states for ratification. Many of them thought |
that those who backed the amendment weer doing so as
a means to choke off Impending Income tax legislation
and to strengthen the supreme court’s last decision by
offering the amendment and have it fail of ratification’
by the states. Then, they contended, the court fur
ther could say that the people had rejected the in
come tax idea and that It was not for the court to
set up what the people had thrown down.
• * •
But in spite of all these conflicting ideas, the pro
posed income tax law failed of passage, while both
houses of congress promptly gave the states the right
to say whether they wanted an income tax law or
not. If any of those who voted for the amendment did
so under the assumption that it would first defeat the
proposed Income tax law and then be defeated inself
by the non-concurrence of twelve states, they reckoned
without their host, for the sixteenth amendment Is now
a part of the supreme law of the land.
But it did not become the sixteenth amendment un
til it had first revealed that question may arise con
cerning its interpretation almost as serious as those
concerning the “direct tax” clause of the constitution
which It was aimed to settle. Mr. Justice Hughes!
now of the supreme court, was governor of the State
of New York when the legislatures were asked to
ratify it. He recommended that it be rejected, one
of his grounds of objection ..eing that it would tax'
state, county, and municipal bonds, and therefore give
the federal goverpment practically complete domina-'
tion over the states. The amendment says: “The con
gress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on
incomes from whatever source, derived, without appor
tionment among the several states and without regard
to any census enumeration.” It was contended thati
the words “from whatever source derived” gives to
congress the unquestioned power to tax statfe and local I
securities to whatever point it chooses, even to the
point of destroying the credit of the divisions issuing!
them.
It would seem to the lay mind that -from what
ever source derived” would include everything, and,
so a great many people hold. They contend that in
asmuch as it is the last word it naturally repeals,
anything inconsistent with it. On the other hand, such
a lawyer as Senator Root opposes this doctrine. He,
contends that the amendment does not enlarge in the
slightest the scope of the taxing power of the federal j
government, and that its ^nly effect will be to re
lieve the exercise of that taxing power from the re- 1
quirement that the tax ghail be apportioned among
the states. So we see that if the present congress'
shall enact a law income^ derived from state and local,
securities there will probably be another great legal
fight and another income tax decision. It is generally
believed, however, that while congress will not waive'
its power to tax such securities, it will not embrace
them in the forthcoming law.
Enforcement of Law in Georgia 1
(New York Evening Post.)
It is so much easier to agitate for a new law than
to press for the enforcement of an old on© that the
Georgia communities which are waking up to the dan
gers connected with the carrying of concealed weapons,
and are proceeding to apply the legal penalty to the j
practice, are to be commended. More indictments for
this offense have been presented at the current session:
of the superior court of Colquitt county than ever be
fore. This is attributed to “the vigilance of the offi-!
cers, rigid Investigation by the grand jury, and to a
growth of public sentiment in favor of the law’s strict’
enforcement” This last is the element of real hope
in the situation. Officers and Juries will not long con
tinue to enforce a law which misrepresents public,
opinion. In these Georgia communities, indictments'
have been followed by convictions and the impositi,
of heavy penalties.
1