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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA.,
FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEEY JOURNAL
4
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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The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday
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mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R- BRAD
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•A Cheering Crop Outlook.
..
As viewed in the May report for food crops the
country ovei—is distinctly cheering. The wheat har
vest promises to be even more abundant than it was
last year. TJhe outlook for a great corn yield is also
assuring and in so far as present conditions permit
a prophecy a plenteous summer and autumnal for all
food products may be expected.
The year 1912 established a new record for staple
crops in the United States and we still feel the im
petus of prosperity which they gave. There were
sections of /the South and of Georgia, however,
where untoward weather conditions resulted unfor
tunately; and, though times were exceptionally good
in ue country at lr— these particular districts felt
the pinch of circumstance-
There is reason to hope that, such will not he
the case this year. Certain it is, according to trust
worthy reports, that the agricultural outlook is more
encouraging in Georgia today than it was a twelve-
month ago.
The State College of Agriculture is advised by
its farm demonstration agents that wheat and corn
crops are very promising in most of the counties and
that'extraordinary interest is manifesteu in t"he cul
tivation of food products and the application of ad
vanced agricultural methods. Of particular note is
the growth and enthusiasm of the Boys’ Corn clubs.
These productive institutions have been organized
in a majority of the counties and their influence
upon farming in genera] is widely felt.
Perhaps the most significant fact of the year, ag
riculturally speaking, is the reduction of Georgia’s
cotton acreage and the devotion of more soil and en
ergy to food supplies.
The Franco-Spanish Alliance.
King Alfonso’s visit' to Paris is being used as a peg
on which to hang all manner of gossip concerning a
Franco-Spanish alliance. The young monarch, we
are told, has been in conference with President
Poincare; farreaching designs are afoot whereby
France, actively supported by her Iberian neighbor,
will play a bolder hand in European affairs and
whereby Spain, in return, will receive assistance in
bettering her finances and in developing her natural
resources.
Spain’s military strength counts for comparative
ly little, if considered within itself alone, but as an
adjunct to that of France it woula become important.
In commenting on this aspect of the rumored alli
ance, the Washington Post points out that “Spain s
not confronted by menacing neighbors, like her new
ally; and in the event of trouble, her contribution to
the mutual activities would be employed within
French territory. No concealment of that feature of
the arrangement is attempted, the French press
favorably commenting on the prospect that two hun
dred thousand fine soldiers would thus Income avail-
. able for the defense of the country.”
Never within recent years has the equilibrium of
the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente been so
unsteady as withl the past few 'seasons. Germany
and Austria are suspiciously watching every shadow
of France and England and Russia. Especially
marked just now is the distruct between Germany
and France. The mere hint of a Franco-Spanish
alliance is, thereore, enough to set Europe tiptoe with
expectancy.
Let the Courts Decide.
Japan’s present attitude toward the California
anti-alien land bill appeans to be one of prudence and
restraint. Its ambassador a*t Washington, dispatches
say, will make no further protest until Governor
Johnson acts upon the measure; if he signs it, as is
likely, Japan will not then proceed on its own ac
count to test the constitutionality of the law, but
“will wait a reasonable length of time to see what
the federal administration intends to do,” and will
look to our own government to determine through an
appeal to the courts whether or not the California bill
involves a treaty violation.
That seems to be the most satisfactory course this
vexed issue could take, unless California herself,
yielding to a sober second thought, should withdraw
or suspend the measure that has brought the discus
sion to pass. It would have been far better had the
settlement of these questions been left to diplomacy,
instead of being seized upon pellmell by the Legis
lature of a single State. Since a national treaty was
involved, the matter of alien land ownership should
have dealt with directly between Washington and
Tokyo.
But if the bill is to become a law, it must stand
or fall by the decision of the courts. If it is ad
judged to be in violation of the treaty between the
United States and Japan, it will be void, for intcr-
- national treaties are supreme law which no single
State can contravehe. If, on the contrary, it involves
no such violation, Japan has no ground for protest in
t so far as this particular bill is concerned.
In either event, a judicial test of the 1 *.w is the
direct and logical way out of the present difficulty.
Colquitt County’s Great
Good Roads Campaign.
One of the most interesting good roads enter
prises in Georgia today is that of Colquitt county
whose commissioners have undertaken to improve
within the current year three hundred miles of pub
lic highways. This ambitious task has been appor
tioned among six crews of laborers, each under
competent supervision and all working in accord
ance with a general plan toward a common end. As
a result, Colquitt county will have not only a large
number of well built and durable roads, but it will
have also a closely linked system of highways, so
that trade and communciation between any point
within its boundaries will be direct and easy.
That is the great value of constructing voads
according to a comprehens-, j design rather than
piecemeal or independently. Each stretch of high
way should be considered in its relationship to the
roads as a whole and to the people’s common inter
ests. Roads which are thus developed are perman-
nent and diffusive in their usefulness. They quicken
the progress of the entire community and tend to
the upbuilding of both commerce and agriculture,
of the town as well as the farm. They create a
wider and keener sense of county pride and open
the way for ail manner of constructivj and co
operative endeavors.
A particularly notable feature of the Colquitt coun
ty work is its provision of means for maintaining the
roads after they are improved. Much labor and
money are often wasted by the neglect of this im
portant need. The constant upkeep of roads is as
important as their construction; and a compar
atively small fund used in prompt repairs will save
thousands of dollars to taxpayers.
It is said that the farmers of Colquitt county
have been instrumental in the enterprise that is now
under way. They realize the vital need of good
roads and, as The Journal’s corre^.-Men/ writes,
“are demanding them at almost any price.” Cer
tain it is that nothing is so costly to agricultural
interests as poor roads. It is estimated that the
cost of hauling, which amounts to millions of dol
lars in the United States each year and to great
sums of money in each State and county, could be
cut in half, if the country were provided with an
adequate number of well kept and closely linked
highways. It is the part of economy as well as
progress for every county to develop its roads. The
liberal and far-reaching campaign of Colquitt should
he a stimulating example to every community in
Georgia.
The Balkan Peace Treaty.
Though the Balkan war virtually ended when Ad-
rianople surrendered to the Bulgars, there has been
subsequent fighting along the frontiers ‘ and several
incidents which threatened to entangle the plans for
peace have occurred. It is therefore doubly reas
suring to learn that Bulgaria, Servia, Greece and
Montenegro have all formally accepted the proposal
of the Powers, and that hostilities will cease entirely
pending the consideration of a peace treaty. Envoys
from each of these States will proceed immediately
to London, there to join with representatives of Tur
nkey and of the larger nations in working out a satis
factory settlement of boundaries, compensations and
related issues.
In these proceedings, Turkey will, play compar
atively a minor and passive part. Utterly defeated
by the little States whom she has heretofore so often
thwarted in diplomacy, she must now accept rather
than dictate or suggest terms; and, in fact, she has
thrown herself on the mercy of the Powers, trusting
to their own sense of self-interest to vouchsafe her
whatever protection or privilege she may secure-
The vital factors in the peace negotiations will
he the Balkan allies and the great European Powers.
Whatever agreement these may reach as to the di
vision of territory and the adjustment of political
problems must be accepted by the Ottoman govern
ment. Turkey’s European realm will be reduced to a
scant fragment of its former extent and Turkish in
fluence will become but a shadow.
One of the most difficult and delicate tasks of the
peace conference will be the settlement of questions
that have arisen or may arise among the Balkan
States themselves. Having defeated the Turks, the
Allies are now beginning to look more jealously to
their individual interests. Each of them Is pressing
its own claims as to boundaries and spht.„_ of influ
ence. The determination with which Montenegro
stood out for the possession of Scutari is but typical
of a general, though less demonstrative, demand for
all that can possibly he won anu neul in the tem.o.y
to be partitioned.
It Is evident, however, that the Powers are acting
in effective concert so that their decision on the va
rious issues that may arise will be conclusive. In
any event, the big Balkan war is over and all Eu
rope takes a breath of relief.
True Conservation.
In discussing the more liberal and constructive
spirit that is now Infusing the conservation move
ment, the Norfolk, Va., Pilot aptly remarks; “It isn’t
enough to prevent our water courses from passing
into the hands of private and special interests, to be
exploited for their particular and immediate advan
tage without thought or concern for the public’s
rights and needs- Some means must he found for
rendering this source of natural wealth available for
the promotion of enterprise and for the development
of fresh opportunities, without incurring the risk of
wanton waste or the danger of monopolistic control.”
What is true in this respect of water powers is
equally true of all the stores of natural treasure.
Conservation, when rightly interpreted and applied,
means vastly mor- than mere preservation. It was
to he expected that the first aim of this important
movement would be the protection of streams and
forests and mines against private greed and waste.
Its first note was logically one of protest, for a time
had come when resources that belonged to all the
people and should tr held unimpaired for the needs
of future generations were being sacrificed for the
fortunes of a few men and were being monopolized
by special interests.
But conservation cannot end at this point, if its
true mission is to he fulfilled. America’s natural
treasure must be utilized for the public’s practical
good, not indefinitely locke# up like a : User's hoard.
It must be saved from selfish or unscientific exploita
tion, but at the same time, in so far as is consistent
with the laws of science and economy, it must be
turned to fruitful account for the good oi uitj people
of today.
■A
THE TAX OF IGNORANCE
BY DR. .FRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913, by Frank Crane.)’
The human race since time began has been preyed
upon by parasites, bloodsuckers and thieves. History
is but a record of the systematic, institutional plunder
of the people by the shrewd and selfish few. It has
been a lamb populace managed by wolf exploiters.
Mankind has been taxed incalculably, taxed of money,
blood, life. ' ,
But of all known taxes that of IGNORANCE has
been the greatest, includes perhaps all other taxes.
All the tyrannies of rulers, kings, upper castes and
caoals v have not equalled in their pillage the amount
robbed of humanity by Ignorance. All the pirates of
the Spanish Main, all the buccaneers, freebooters,
highway robbers, burglars and thugs have not taken
from us so vast a pile of goods as has this same Ig
norance. Not all the swindling schemes of mining
shares,' watered railway stocks, wildcat investments,
predatory trusts, stock exchanges, and money powers
have so depleted us as Ignorance. All our loss by
waste and profligacy cannot equal our loss by Ignor
ance.
Ignorance claims its cent per cent in all trades.
Ninetenths of the failures are due to Ignorance. Boys
enter into business untrained, uninformed; they go
down in the struggle. The slums and prisons are full
of men who stumbled into crime because they entered
the battle for success without skill or weapons.
Civilization systematically keeps its girls in ignor
ance of the laws of their bodies, of the significance
and functions of sex. The hordes of women wrecks
that swarm in our cities is the resulting tax of Ignor
ance. How much domestic tragedy is due to the same
cause! Our entire literature teems with sex-sugges
tion; we do everything to arouse passion, nothing to
instruct it.
In the way of hygiene what a measureless tribute
the race has paid, to Ignorance. The pests of former
ages, cholera, the black death and the red death, the
multitude of corpses heaped up, simply because people
did not know enough to keep clean!
The myriad lives that have been darkened, and
bodies tortured, by sincere but narrow men playing
upon the common Ignorance of the unknown! This
tax which the hierarchy has levied on tire light and
joy of souls is perhaps most horrible of all. A tax
due to pure Ignorance.
War, it is impossible to pile up superlatives of
execration, curses cannot be screamed too loud, to do
justice to its abysmal infamy; and there never was
a war that was not due to Ignorance. The spectre of
every war shell arise on Judgment Day to point a de
nouncing fing°r at the rulers of men; for it is only to
cover their stupidity that the commons are led forth
to slaughter. ‘‘There never was a war that could not
have been better settled in some other way.” Add,
then, to your tax of Ignorance all them that sleep in
mounds by the Rappahannock, that perished at Lady
smith, San Juan, or Sadowa, and all other of those
orgies of blood and hate that fill the pages of history
as the stars fill the sky.
Think of the tax of economic Ignorance! Money
piled up in extravagance here, and yonder human crea
tures starving; all because we dqn’t know how to dis
tribute the products of labor! v
Look at til© human beings crowded like cattle into
the street cars, look at the public everywhere insulted,
bullied, assaulted, and we submit, because we don’t
know how to help ourselves.
Th© most economical thing the United States could
do would be to spend a billion dollars more a year to
give ALL children an education, and thus do what
may be done to remove the taxation imposed by Ig
norance.
It is The Only Way!
But when a man’s face is broken it never by any
chance breaks into smiles.
The Fight for Direct
Primaries in New York.'
A particularly interesting campaign in behalf of
popular government as opposed to machine rule is
now afoot in New York state, where an extra ses
sion of the Legislature is soon to meet to deal with
the Direct Primary bill. The purpose of this meas
ure Is to enable the rank and file of a political party
to choose their nominee for any office Instead of be
ing compelled, * as is now the case, to accept the
candidate of a convention which is more often than
otherwise dominated by corrupt bosses. Its advo
cates contend that under the party system of gov
ernment, the people must control the parties, if
they are really to control their government and that
to this end they must he permitted to vote on nom
inees as well as on candidates in the regular elec
tion. Otherwise, particular interests can name their
representatives as candidates of both or dll parties
and leave the people to fight out a mock battle at
the polls.
This hill was defeated at the regular session of
the Legislature by an alliance between Tammany
and Republican bosses—the “Barnes-Murphy ma
chine,” as it. is popularly known. On such an issue
as this the selt-serving politicians know no party
differences. The progressive forces are determined,
however, that at the extra session the pressure of
public sentiment and public judgment shall be
brought to bear as heavily as possible upon those
legislators who hesitate between loyalty to the peo
ple and the machine.
Governor Sulzer is showing qualities of true lead
ership by using every influence at his command to
break the power of the machine leaders. “The best
of it is,” comments the New York Evening Post,
“that Murphy’s hold on his machine now really
seems to he loosening. As members of the organiza
tion.- see one federal office - after another going to
their party enemies, they must again curse the stu
pidity that marked Murphy’s course at Baltimore,
to which they are doubtless attributing Wilson’s anti-
Tammany policy; though others may justly feel that
the President’s attitude toward Tammany would
have been the same had Murphy voted for him at the
convention.”
The man whois anxious to buy usually gets the
worst of the bargain.
The Standpatters’ Old Game.
The demand of the Senate Republicans for new
hearings on the Underwood tariff hill is obviously a
bit of political strategy intended to delay and en
tangle this all-important measure.
For six weeks or more, the ways and means
committee of the House was engaged in hearing
the claims and protests of every interest that was
concerned in tariff revision. TJhe’’reports of those
proceedings would fill a volume of several thousand
pages. The committee began holding sessions be
fore the new Congress assembled and granted a full
and free hearing to all who wished to present their
views.
It would, therefore, be merely a repetition of
this work to reopen the hearings before the Senate
finance committee. There Is no desire for precipi
tate or ill-considered action on tariff revision, but
the country has waited decades for a sorely needed
reform in this field of its economic affairs. In this
eleventh hour, when a bill that is fair and that is
acceptable to the public has passed the House, re
actionary efforts should not be countenanced.
MOTHERS’ DAY,
I went; to church this morning- and witnessed a
beautiful \ religious ceremony commemorating the
Mothers’ <Xay of the year 1913.
I have no knowledge of th e starter or organizer
of Mothers’ day, but I believe it has come to stay, as
it seems to meet cordial welcome from both old and
young.
W e had recitations from some children and some
excellent singing by the choir and congregation and
all the people I noticed carefully had a carnation fas
tened to their waists and coats. My flowers closely
resembled what we called sweet pinks in my chid-
hood, but they smell as sweet under their new and
fashionable name of carnations. I also read a little
poem since I returned from church which fits it rather
nicely and gives the repentant girls’ side of the mother
question.
THE KISS.
Last night I had to go. to bed
All by myself, my mother said,
’Cause I’d been naughty all day through.
She wouldn’t kiss me good-night, too.
I didn’t want to let her know
How much I cared ’bout that, and so
I dropped my clothes right on the floor—
A thing I never did before—
And put each stocking in a shoe—
She just hates that—and didn’t do
My hair, or wash my face, or brush
My teeth, and left things in a squash
All ’round the room; and then I took
Her picture and my fairy-book
She gave me on my last birthday
In June, and hid ’em both away.
THE INCOME TAX
III.—FIXING THE RATES.
BY FREDERIC J. IIASKIN.
When the ways and means committee of the house
came to adopt the pending income tax bill as a part
of the new tariff measure, there were many things it
had to consider, but none of
them of more importance or of
wider bearing than the Ques
tion of rates. Of course, the
first test of an income tax law
in this v country in particular,
and in the world in general, is
that it shall stand up under the
stress of public sentiment. The
universal experience has been
that income taxes are unpopu
lar at best when they are first
levied. In time of great war
crises, when nations realize
that their very existence de
pends upon drastic revenue
measures, the people have been
patient when income taxes have
been levied even upon the small
est incomes. But in times of
peace it has required a long
process of education to get the
people to accept income taxation as a fair plan qt
raising revenue.
• * •
In the present instance it has been hoped that
these troublesome experiences in the readjustment of
the public mind may be overcome in large measure
by making the burdens of the tax fall upon the shoul
ders of those who are able to bear it, and to make it
descend upon them so lightly that no man will have
to turn his face toward the poor house as a result.
Whether or not this aim and hope will be realized re
mains to b© seen. Certain it is, however, that the
committee has framed a bill that fixes the exemptions
very much higher and the rates very much lower
than those of any other national income tax law.
I put my father’s picture right
Up in the middle pf the light,
To show ’em just the way I feel,
’Cause he said, “Kiss the child, Lucille,
Don’t let her go to bed like this
Without your usual good-night kiss.”
But she just shook her head and turned
Her back, and then my eyes they burned
Like fire. . . . It’s been a horrid day. . . .
And then, of course, I didn’t say
My prayers at all, but went to bed
And wished and wished that I was dead.
i
Well, I don’t know just how it was,
For I’d been half-way sleeping, ’cause
I was so 'pletely* tired out—
When I heard something move about
So quiet, and the next I knew
The door moved back and she came through
And put her arm around m© so,
And said, a-whispering very low,
‘‘My poor, dear child,” and was so sad,
And kissed me twice—My! I was glad.
—Harpers’s Magazine.
• • •
TEMPTATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.
It is a well understood fact that the Spanish mata
dor uses a red flag or red shawl to make the bull in
the ring rush to attack. Why red should be the color
to inflame the mind of the beast I must leav^ to the
scientist for explanation.
I use the word “mind” for need of a better one,
but the red flag or red scarf has been in use to in
furiate the mad bulls of Spain for some centuries.
What these red things suggest to the beast is beyond
my ken, but the fact remains that he wants to fight,
and he goes after the man who exploits the red, and
will fight to the death.
Suggestive evils are also common to humankind,
when conditions are normal a man or woman may
contain themselves and preserve self respect, but
when there are morbid conditions, fevered brains, a
domestic storm, strained nerves, dissipated habits, re
verses in business, violent passion, morbid jealousy or
sudden shock, it is only necessary to run up on a sug
gestive picture or to be told something inflammatory
by an evil-minded person, to fire up the brain and the
deed is done! The red scarf is there. I am convinced
that there are tens of thousands of prisoners who
have waked up urjder the very shadow of the gallows
tree, who could not explain how they came to do it.
The old proverb says: “Evil communications cor
rupt good manners,” but there is no need to make a
proverb on the established fact that familiarity with
criminal thoughts will engender criminal suggestions
and crimnial temptations. Therein lies the danger of
such elaborated stories, because they ar© the fuse in
many cases to set off repeated explosions of continued
violence.
Leaving off the criminal part of this subject, there
are also suggestions in “niide art” that are far from
health to the average mind. While there are many
sane and well-balanced people whose aesthetic sense
is only appealed to, and they are able to separate
in their minds the beautiful from the sensual. There
are others whose inflamed imaginations may provoke
what an able writer has called a “sensual debauch.”
The “humn form divine” in nude Africa should always
wear drapery in civilized America for reasons too ob
vious to need explanation, and the half-naked dancer
and singer, who is hired by rich debauchees in New
York and other cities to fling herself about for their
sensaul amusement, should be put qut of business by
legal provisions. Th e licensed, gaudy, Godless drink
ing resorts in large cities are responsible largely for
the vice and criminality of such cities with the “scar
let woman” **t hand. And may 1^ venture to remark
that the nude exposure of a woman’s body anywhere,
in theaters, in modern ball rooms or in the maze of
a “dreamy waltz,” is a suggestive evil that should be
abated by both law and gospel. I hasten to say also
that I believe there are great numbers of decent wom
en who wear very “decollete” apparel, and who live
clean lives at home and abroad, but we do know that
such “undressing” is more than oftentimes a menace
to the chastity of men and youths, especially when
the wine cup is near at hand, and the “dreamy waltz”
becomes thrillingly attractive and where dance hugging
is not reprobated by the customs of polite society.
These are plain words from a very plain-spoken
old lady, who is known to be chivalric in her devotion
to her own sex and woh would do them always good
and never any harm.
BY JOHN •\K r . CAREY.
Who hies from rural
scrape the sky (although
(See minutes of last
mins gent.
I-o-way, where cornstalks
most every county in the
commonwealth is
dry)? W h o’s
known as Hand
some Albert to the
populace back
home—so tall and
straight, with
piercing eye and
classic, shaggy
dome? Who put
the kibosh on the
pass and fixed the
2-cent fare and
chased the gang
sters at Des
Moines from out
their comfy lair?
Who’s played the
game p o li 11 c a 1
way up to gover
nor, and now who
\ wars upon the
trusts as U. S.
senator? Who
might consent, if
duly urged, to be
our pre sident?
June in Chi.) That A. B. Cum-
Remembering that it could aid in making the law
popular by pursuing this course of low rates and high
exemptions, at me same time it was necessary to fix
the rates high enotigh to insure a sufficient amount
of revenu© to make up the deficiencies of the treasury
which will grow out of a reduction of tariff duties.
The first effort was to ascertain th© probable income
that will be brought into the treasury under the new
tariff duties. This in itself is a task of large propor-
ions and on© in which there are so many unfixable
factors Except by experience, that at best the calcula
tions may shoot wide of the mark. If it were possi
ble to know what the volume of importations will be
under the new law th© rest would be easy. But that
depends on so manV things—the state of the public
mind, the efforts of home manufacturers to readjust
themselves to the competitive conditions to which it
will giv© birth?, and a number of other conditions which
defy accurate measure.
• • •
With this in mifld, and recalling the experience of
the Wilson law and the overestimate of the revenues
that would b© collected through it, the only course
upon which the committee could safely calculate was
to assume a safe minimum below which it would
scarcely be possible for the country’s importations to
go, and to estimate the customs revenues thereupon.
Using this as the basis of its estimates, the commit
tee calculated that the total revenues under the forth
coming customs laws will amount approximately to
$235,000,000. Now, the other income of the govern
ment amounts to about $630,000,000, including postal
revenues, and the total annual disbursements of the
government, including postal expenditures, approx
imate $950,000,000. It, therefore, follows that if the
government is to keep even it must raise $330,000,000
a year by customs revenues and income taxes other
than the corporation tax. So, if the tariff duties
yield $266,000,000, It also follows that the personal
income tax must afford a revenue of $65,000,000.
With this situation In mind, the question next
turned upon the amount of taxable personal incomes
there are in th e United States. Having decided that
$4,000 shall be exempt, in order to prevent the ta\
from being burdensome, and that only suen income
, as is above that amount is taxable, it became a prob
lem to measure the number of people in the United
States who get more than $4,000 a year, and the total
amount of their excess of income over their exemp
tions. And the standards by which it might accu
rately be measured do not exist. We know that about
65,000 corporations out of nearly 300,000 are enjoying
incomes of more than $5,000, or only a few more than
one out of six. And we also know that with the ex
emption at $1,000 and even less after and during the
Civil war, there were comparatively few taxpayers.
It is also plain, when on© counts noseS am^ng those
about whose incomes he knows something, that there
are comparatively few people who get $4,000 a year,
but further than that no one knows accurately, and
the best that can b© done is to borrow a page from
English experience and then compare our own situa*
tion as closely as may be.
9mm
A few years ago England had taxable incomes, with
an exemption up to $800, amounting to $3,500,000,000.
Of this (and these figures reckon $5 to the pound
sterling, which is, of course, a little over the real
value), incomes of from $800 to $2,000 contributed
$850,000,000, incomes ranging from $2,000 and $3,500
contributed $300,000,000, and incomes ranging •be
tween $3,500 and $5,000 contributed $445,000,000. As
suming that the natural proportion of this $445,000,-
000 was contributed by incomes ranging between $3,-
500* and $4,000, it will be seen that of the total in
comes amounting to $3,600,000,000, approximately $2,-
150,000,000 represents incomes in excess of $4,000.
Figuring upon a comparative basis of national
wealth and population we find the national wealth of
the United States is one and five-eighths times as
great as that of England, and if income bears the same
ratio to wealth i- both countries there would be tax
able incomes amounting to about $3,500,000,000 in the
United States. Assuming that the average of taxable
incomes would take a 2 per cent rate, the total taxes
would approximate $70,000,^00, which would, however,
include the‘corporation tax. •
|= JUST SMILES ="
• Three traveling companions, Gray, Brown and Green,
were breakfasting at a hotel in the south. Gray or
dered coffee, rolls, creamed potatoes, bacon and fried
eggs; Brown told the waiter he might duplicate the or
der for him, and Green said: v ,
“You may bring me the same, all but the eggs—you
may eliminate the eggs.”
In due time the waiter appeared with the break
fasts of Gray and Brown, which he served; then, step
ping around to Green he said, in a conciliatory voice:
“We got fried eggs an’ poached eggs an’ boiled eggs
an’ scrambled eggs and om’let, sah, but we ain’t got no
’liminated eggs.
“Well,” said Green, “my doctor says my eggs must
be eliminated. Have it done at once and hurry up my
breakfast.”
Presently the waiter was back again, but without
the breakfast^ •
“The cook says tell you, sah,” he said, “he jes’
can’t Timinate no eggs dis mawnin’.” ’
“Now, see here,” said Green, in apparent anger, “I
never before was at a hotel where I could not h^ve
my eggs eliminated. Go tell the cook that and tell
him to eliminate those eggs double sudden or I shall
complain to the manager.'
Away went the waiter, but returned almost imme
diately, followed by the cook.
“I come to 'splain to you myse’f ’bout dem eggs;
sah,” said the excited chef. “I ain’t been here on’y a
week an’ I don’t w n’ to lose my job an’ dis is de ve’y
first ordah I had foh’ ’lim’nate eggs since I come.
I was goin’ to ’lim-nate 'em right off, but I looked
'round for he ’lim’nator i.ey ain’t got none. Co’se I
can’t ’lim’nate eggs ’thout a Timinator, but ’Is goin
to have the boss git one dis ve’y day an’. If you’ll
'scuse me this mawnin’ nex’ time you come' I’ll
’lim’nate yo* eggs better’n yo’ve evah had ’em ’lim-
’nated befo’!”—Lippincott’s.