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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 JfOETH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of j
the Second Class.
JAMES R. GRAY,
President and Editor.
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The New Division of Markets.
The appointment of Mr. Charles J. Brand as chief
of the division of markets in the Department of Ag
riculture marks the inauguration of an enterprise
that means much to the consumers and manufac
turers as well as the farmers of the country. It
has long been apparent to every student of economic
affairs that the present method, or rather lack of
method, in marketing crops is impossible for a vast
deal of unnecessary waste and loss and that if the
producer and the consumer could be brought into
more direct correspondence, there would he an ap
preciable gain in profits for the farmer and an ap
preciable reduction in the cost of living.
It is the purpose of the newly created division
of markets to establish through well considered and
practical means this needed intimacy and contact.
The farmers will be kept informed concerning the
movement and the current prices of products, and
the methods by which their crops can be handled
most advantageously and at the least expense. Such
service will tend to prevent congestion in some
quarters and scarcity in others. It will lead to a
more equal and economic distribution of food prod
ucts and will thereby benefit the public as a whole.
Secretary Houston, of the Department of Agri
culture, outlined the purpose of the new undertak
ing in an interesting interview with' The Journal’s
Washington correspondent in which he said, in part:
“There has been an insistent and growing
demand that the government take steps to.help
in the establishment of economic systems of
distribution and marketing of farm products.
Congress at the last regular session, made an
appropriation of $50,000 to begin the work. We
recognized that the business of farming is an
'important part of the market business struc
ture of the country. Somewhat better prices
for the producer and lower costs or better prod
ucts for the consumer and manufacturer are the
aim of the works. It is a difficult one, but
much good is expected. Saving in selling and
handling expense and reduction of loss through
waste and improper business•* organization will
be important features of the department ac
tivity."
It is gratifying to Georgians to know that the fif
ty thousand-dollar appropriation granted by Congress
for this constructive work was secured through the
initiative of Senator Hoke Smith. The enterprise
thus begun will doubtless be extended and perfected
and will yield larger and larger benefits to the
public in general and to agricultural interests in
particular.
The Referendum Needed
On California’s Law.
It was only to be expected that California’s gov
ernor would sign the anti-alien land bill. Having
encouraged this mischievous measure on its passage
through the Legislature, it was but natural that he
should play his political game to a finish regardless
of the nation’s interests and the wise counsel of
President Wilson. The bill is now a law and will
become operative in ninety days. An issue that
might have been adjusted quietly and satisfactorily
to every one concerned has grown difficult and acute.
The task of diplomacy has been entangled whereas,
with a little patience and restraint, it might have
been simple and easy.
.There is one encouraging circumstance, however,
and that is the movement now afoot in California to
submit this unfortunate law to a referendum. The
fact that this proposal comes from those who object
to the new measure on the ground that it is not
drastic enough to meet their views is incidental.
Anything that will afford further time and oppor
tunity for diplomatic negotiations is to be welcomed;
and there is reason to believe that many thoughtful
Californians object to the law on logical and pa
triotic grounds and, if given a chance, -vyill vote it
down.
Certain it is that those who are interested in the
success of the Panama exposition and who realize
the blighting effect which such a piece .of legislation
will "have on that great enterprise and on their
State’s future development will oppose it at the polls,
if they are enabled to do so. There was a vigorous
business protest against the bill when it was in the
hands of the Legislature and in the event of a
referendum that protest might become effective.
It is difficult for the country at large to under
stand how any representative number of Californians
could consent to a measure that would involve their
nation in far-reaching problems and provoke issues
much graver than that of the ownership of a little
land by a comparative handfull of Japanese. It is
due the country and is due California herself that
this question be submitted to a referendum vote.
If the majority of Californians condemn the law as
it no\v stands, then the atmosphere will be cleared;
if they approve it, then we shall at least know the
full scope and complexity of the matter to be
handled.
Henry M. Flagler, a
Builder of Florida.
There has passed in the death of Henry M. Flag
ler an industrial genius who towered in an age
that was peculiarly rich in masters of finance and
builders of mighty enterprise. Had he done nothing
but forge his way upward from the ranks of the
humble and obscure to a station of great wealth and
influence, his career would be wondrously interest
ing as an example of what sheer brain and character
can achieve in a land like America. But far more
than this, he did; he applied his energy and fortune
to constructive tasks that left those among whom he
labored more prosperous for his having lived.
It is not essential that a man be born In a cabin
or buffeted by hardship in order to win success and
renown but it is one of the glories of the United
States that from just this type of men its leaders in
public or material affairs have so often sprung; and
of this type was Henry Si. Flagler. His childhood
was spent in a little New York village whence he
venture^ forth to seek his fortune, as a boy of four
teen, in order that the family burdens might he
lightened. He was next heard of as a clerk in a country
grocery shop in Michigan. Later he established him
self in a manufacturing business at Saginaw, Mich
igan, and from that time forward his rise to fortune
was rapid. Mr. Flagler was among the first to dis
cern the varied and far-reaching possibilities of
the petroleum industry. It was through his initia
tive that the company of Rockefeller, Andrews and
Flagler, engaged in refining oil, was organized; and
front that venture evolved the great Standard Oil
company.
Mr. Flagler was in his fifty-fifth year When he
became definitely interested in Florida, the State
that owes such a vast deal of its development to his
generous faith in its resources. It was he who drew
the world’s attention to the rare advantages of Florida
as a winter resort and opened the way for a tremen
dous inflow of population and wealth.
He spent million;; unhesitatingly in the
building of hotels and transportation facilities,
notably the East Coast railroad and, later, the exten
sion of that line over the sea from Miami to Key
West. This particular piece of work is considered
one of the rarest engineering achievements of the
age; it stands as a monument not only to the scien
tific skill of those who wrought it out but also to
the bold genius of him who < onceived it and who,
despite predictions that such an effort would prove
vain, continued to support it with his means until
his dream stood fulfilled.
What Mr. Flagler did for Florida is beyond reck
oning. The development of that commonwealth has
benefited not only its own people but the Southeast
as a whole and has opened new opportunities for
thousands of men and families throughout the Uni
ted States. The cities of Florida are now thriving
wondrously; its farm, lands are among the most
promising fields of agriculture and investment; cur
rents of fresh energy and progress are astir through
out the State; it has caught the entire country’s
attention. >
It is due to the vision and power of Henry M.
Flagler as well as to the responsiveness of an ener
getic people that these resources are being turned to
such splendid account. He lived a creative and use
ful life. For his brilliant talent he was admired by
th&^entire country; and he was cordially esteemed by
the South for his constructive work in its behalf.
The Staggering Cost of Poor Roads.
There is but one fact more remarkable than the
economy of good roads; and that is the extravagance
of bad roads.
For every benefit which a well built and well kept
highway affords, one that is inadequate or run-down
presents a score of detriments and losses.
If it costs a community a thousand dollars to con
struct or repair a particular road, it will cost five or
ten thousand and leave the needed work undone.
If it be true that a good road enhances land val
ues, stimulates commerce, increases the farmer’s
profits, builds up the merchant’s trade, fosters the in
terests of the school and broadens the spirit of neigh
borliness, it is equally true, and perhaps even more
so, that a bad road will lower land values, sluggard-
ize cotamerce, cut down the farmer’s profits, dis
courage the merchant’s trade, reduce the attendance
of the school and isolate and estrange the families ..j
unfortunate as to live along its borders.
The Louisville Courier-Journal emphasizes this
idea by an interview from a Kentuckian who has
learned from personal experience the cost of poor
roads in an age when traffic is so much heavier and
more frequent than ever before. He is quoted as
saying:
“Some fifteen years ago my boys and I made
and hauled railroad ties nine miles to Beatty-
ville and sold them for 25 cents and made a bet
ter profit than could be made on them if hauled
four and one-half miles to Heidelberg and sold
for 52 cents, the prevailing price in that market
today.
“Why do I say this? Because I could, fifteen
years ago, leave home in the morning with fif
teen ties on a wagon and ivith a two-mule team
haul them to Beattyville and dispose of them!
and return home the same day. Today it would
be next to impossible to take half that number
with a similar team to Heidelberg and return
before nightfall; and, even then, the team icould
be worn out and the wagon damaged 100 to 1,000
per cent more note than they were on the trip to
Beattyville as cited. So, considering the losses
sustained because of the dilapidated condition of
the roads, as compared with those of the haul
of fifteen years ago, the burden of indirect tax
ation in order to get my stuff to market now is
indeed great."
This is hut one of a thousand similar experiences
which should admonish every State and every county
and every citizen of the tremendous and far-reaching
expense which they must hear, if they permit had
roads to continue.
The average cost of hauling by wagon in the Uni
ted States is twenty-five cents per ton per mile. In
France, Germany and England, it is ten cents per
ton per mile. The cost of wagon transportation in
this country is eight hundred million dollars a year.
It is conservatively reckoned that good roads through
out the nation would reduce the cost to four hundred
millions. An authority on this subject has said that
with the aid of good roads would have put into their
pockets and saved the following sums on the three
staple crops: on wheat, ten million, two hundred and
fifty-six thousand and fifty-eight-dollars; on cotton,
five million, seventy-six thousand, one hundred and
eighty-three dollars; and on corn, twelve million,
seven hundred and nine thousand, two hundred and
seventy-eight dollars.
Surely, it behooves every interest, whether it be
that of agriculture, industry or commerce, whether
it be urban or rural to consider the appalling cost
and burden which bad roads entail and to join in
the campaign to end this needless waste.
THE COMMONPLACE
BY DR. PRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913,‘.by Frank Crane.)
The people of th e world may be divided into two
classes, those who find their happiness in the
usual, and those who find their happiness in the
OU/MTRY
Ski* c* Y1MC.UY
QmL topics
Concocted «r.ms.-u:B.3’£UOrt
unusual.
The first are as a rul e healthy, contented, help
ful‘and optimistic.
The second are as a rule morbid, restless, pessi
mistic, and nuisances to all around them. *
The most important thing tor a human being to
learn, is it not how to live his life with a maximum
of contentment and care of body and. mind, and the
minimum of friction?
Those have discovered what is perhaps the great
est secret of existence, who have come to realize
that it is in the commonplace that one is to find
permanent satisfaction; and that the extraordinary,
strange and occasional sources of pleasure are to be
regarded as a matter by the way, not to be taken ac
count of in their program.
Yet the majority of silly mortals never learn
this. Consequently, most people are more or less
soured, peevish and discontented.
It is the duty of our teachers to lead us to the
enjoyment of life’s everydayness.
The sum of culture, of wisdom and of intelligent
experience consists in an appreciation of the ordi
nary events and circumstances, and in a proper dis
counting of the occasional.
The happiest wife and mother is the one whose
delight is in the daily round of the home, the com
panionship of her husband, the care ana guidance of
her children. The unhappiest is the wife who is
longing to escape this, who calls it drudgery, and
whose pleasures are found only in the occasional ex
cursion, theater or social diversion.
The happiest business man is the man to whom
business is fun. The unhappiest is the man who
looks upon his occupation as a grind, and whose
pleasure is in breaking away. .
The happiest workman is the one who enjoys
his work; the unhappiest is the one whose worn
worries him and . who is alway looking forward to
getting away from it.
The great sources of human joy are all common
place.
They are Nature, Love and Self-expression (work
and play). Anybody can have these. They are as
common as dirt. They are as near to the reach of
the section hand as to the reach of the railway
president. They lie as close to the grocer as to the
college professor.
THE NEAREST AFFROAC3 TO EARTHLY HAPFI-
FINES3.
A gentleman whom. I have 1 been acquainted with
for fifty years said to me: “If 1 had turned my mind j
to making money and saving it there is no telling
what I might have owned at this time.”
I replied: "You are right. You are very rich
now not to be a millionaire, and you have made money
galore.’’ I further remarked: “You and I knew a
man wno never made money, but he loved books, lit
erature, the good of mankind and the service of the
church so well that he couldn’t spare the time to fol
low the business of making money.”
To this he willingly agreed, remarking “he was an
extraordinary man in every way you might take him.
After we separated I begun to think about what
we had been talking about, as to the real value or the
best result to the possessor after the race was nearly
over: The ‘ massing of money was extremely fascinat
ing to one party and the acquirements of study and
the expansion of intellect was extremely fascinating
to the other party mentioned by both of us.
l knew where my choice lay, but I could see that
my visitor was not so sure but wealth carried its full
compensation and fully repaid him.
But it is a question fraught with importance and
seriousness as to what really pays!
I am satisfied there is slim comfort in relying on
what our ancestors did for themselves, say fifty or
a hundred years ago. We appreciate all that belongs
to honorable family lineage, and the Bible tells us “a
good name is better than riches,” but it must be your
own good name that you swear by, or you will do but
little credit to these distinguished forbears that you
boast of. It is our own moral nature and the things
we try to do for others. It is what we like and what
we detest, and what we love, and what we seek after
that constitutes our success on earth.
I hav© been long convinced that wealth does not
secure happiness, nor does it provide happiness to
those who inherit idle riches from their thrifty pa
rents. Yet I am also convinced that poverty is a ter
rible handicap for those who desir© to prepare them
selves for progress and usefulness to themselves or
to others. The craving to learn, conjoined with ina
bility to reach the place to learn, is a great trial to
those who seek wisdom and are debarred by circum
stances from the things that would make for their
mental welfare.
Money that opens th© door to the eager student is
a great boon, and its value to opportunity cannot be
discounted. But the poor man has within himself a
well-spring of joy—if he can protect and preserve his
Any one can learn how to get the honey of joy
from Nature, from her sun and wave and field. Any
one can love and be loved, and fully as gloriously in
a tenement as in a mansion. Any one can find
wor*. to do and games to play thereby. Two clerks
playing seven-up on a soap box in a back room can
get precisely as much fun out of the game as two
dress-suited Charlies in a plush-lined club house.
The cheaper and commoner a thing, the more joy
juice in it. For there is more exhilaration, take it
by and large, in water, than in all varieties of booze,
more good feelings produced by bread and butter
than by cake and bar le due, more comfort in lov
ing your wife and playing with your children than
in loving other men’s wives and regarding children
as a bore.
I call a man truly converted, or enlightened, or
born again, or emancipated, or whatever expression
suits you, when he has weeded out of his soul the
lust for the exceptional, and when he has learned
that the greatest fun in the world is TO LIVE and
to enjoy those pleasures of life that are COMMON
TO ALL THE RACE.
In time past people could see religion only in
extraordinary things, in miracles, abnormal saints,
and esoteric tommyrot; now the world is awaken
ing to see that it is the daily existence that is made
free and joyous by faith.
Happiness is a fruit that grows low along the
ground; little children and wise men pick it. Fools
are looking up at the trees.
The New President of Cuba.
General Mario G. Menocal who was inaugurated
yesterday as the third president of the Cuban re
public begins his administration under cheering
auspices. True, the taskg that confront him and
his associates in the new government are many and
difficult. But he has given evidence of the inte
grity and insight that are needed to meet such
responsibilities and he seems to hold the confidence
of the island’s thoughtful people.
The besetting weakness of Cuba’s internal af
fairs thus far has been the lack of square and effi
cient management in its administrative departments,
particularly in matters of public finance. There
has also been a plague of adventurous politicians
who have sought t > bestir trouble and disorder for
the purpose of pushing forward their selfish
fortunes.
President Menocal pledges himself to “devote all
his energies to giving the country a clean business
administration that will foster the industries of
the island and develop its splendid resources, that
will welcome foreign capital and immigration and
maintain friendly relations with all nations and es
pecially with the United States, to which Cuba is so
closely linked by bonds of mutual interest and af
fection.”
It is said that the new administration will de
vote itself particuh.rly to a land-tax reform to the
end that vast holdings of property which now lie
idle and contribute nothing to the country’s wealth
may be opened to agricultural enterprise.
The United States is peculiarly interested in the
stability and progress of Cuban affairs; for, our gov
ernment rightly feels a sense of responsibility to its
little neighboring republic and to other nations that
have dealings with the island. It is hoped that the
new government will he peaceful and prosperous.
The Southward Trend.
The Southward trend of settlers and investors is
witnessed in a recently formed plan to colonize large
tracts of land in Texas with Canadian farmers. A
company of English capitalists is reported to have
purchased several thousand acres in that State with
a view to providing easily a.cquirable farms for
home-seekers in the Dominion and the great North-
own self respect. His mind would be a kingdom if he
could enlarge its scope, but his soul can rejoice and en
large its satisfaction so long as he lives a clean, hon
est life, In the fear of God, with love to man. It is
our moral nature that affects our happiness and con
trols the longings of the spirit of man into safe chan
nels.
Luxury will corrode this virile mental habit and
disease the minds of good people by reason of selfish
ness and lack of both physical and mental exercise.
But it is the order of the Creator that great talent
carry with them the burden of great responsibilities.
Where much is given much will be required.
But if we shall be so fortunate as to see the as
sembled saints in heaven, doubtless we shall be sur
prised to see people on the front seats that were of
very humble sort among us, and some whom we ex
pected to find with crowns and harps will occupy very
humble eats in heaven! We all have been given a
chance and a talent, a gift or, maybe, only a smile, but
whatever it is, if we cultivate it in a healthy way it
will give us what so many well-equipped people seek
and fail to find—happiness.
• # •
THE FUTURE OF ROYAL TRRONES.
Every once in awhile some anarchist assassinates
a royal personage on the other hemisphere. (As \ for
that, we also understand that we have had three pres
idents assassinated since Appomattox.) But there are
more of those so-called royalties than there are White
House occupants, and they are sent "over the river"
by the pistol or the bomb route rather frequently.
King George, of Greece, was considered to be one
of the most excellent of his class, and he was known
to be kind to ' his subjects and thoughtful and cour
teous in his conduct towards them. But that did not
deter the king’s haters. He was shot in the back and
never saw his murderer. It is reported that the czar
of Russia is unwilling to taste a mouthful of food or
fruit until some more inferior person samples and
tastes it. The kings of England get along fairly, be
cause old Queen Victoria was a model sovereign, and
her influence and example is still felt in England, but
King George is only a figurehead until it comes to
p^mps and' ceremonies in the English government.
If he "butted in,” to use a slang phrase, he would
soon become obnoxious to the king haters and find
his way blocked by the bomb or pistol users In the
English territory. King Alphonso, the little knight
of old effete Spain, has frequent encounters with these
king haters. From what I read of them, J. should de
cide that wearing a crown may gratify pride and am
bition, but it is "short” on .contentment or peace of
mind to the wearers. All these things are suggestive.
Civil and religious liberty never had so many adher
ents as are found in this twentieth century. ‘ The
woods are full of them. The air is full of the inspira
tion, and every sensible reader of modern history is
convinced that the time is coming when thrones will
be no more!
But “the pomp and state at the palace gate” has,
however, a wonderful attraction to the average com
mon mind, and the power of royal thrones has been
prolonged by It, and this admiration for things that
shine and glow has kept down the inspiration for lib
erty very largely.
\Ve, however, remember that France, once the
home of Louis XIV, the most absolute monarch known
to most absolute of monarchies, has been a republic
for many years. In the time of this fourteenth
French Louis no kingdom on the eastern continent
was so completely the servant of the king as was this
self-same France.
Doubtless that excess of tyranny provoked the later
revolt, but I’ll wager that no man who wears a crown
in modern Europe ever is assured of a single day of
uninterrupted control of his people when he rises from
his bed in the morning, and doubtless he pats himself
on the back when he goes to bed without some revolt
ing episode, great or small, before the exercises of
tne day are closed.
Sometimes the the war lord of Europe, Emperor
William of Germany, gets a rebuke where he least ex
pects it, and without his enormous army and navy, he
might live to see his own throne shaken by a revolu
tion and his feathers clipped along with his royal
pride, very much after the style of Louis XVI of
France.
Switzerland is an object lesson to the liberty-lov
ing people of Europe.lt is a model for good govern
ment and fair dealing with its citizenship. There is
an irrepressible conflict between monarchies and free
government all over the civilized world. The latter is
striding along in seven league boots of progress. And
it is coming, Father Abraham, many millions strong!
west.
This is but one among scores of instances which
show that the South is fast becoming the Mecca of
those who are looking for free and fertile opportu-
ities. "Texas is big enough” comments the Boston
Transcript, “to stand a vast volume of immigration
without being crowded. Its resources are so varied
that within its boundaries can be raised cotton,
wheat, corn, grapes, melons fruits and politicians in
unlimited quantities.” In so far as the natural re
sources mentioned are concerned, this description is
equally applicable to Georgia and, indeed, to the en
tire South.
Truth is the best argument.
Nearly every man is the architect of his own mis
fortune.
Some men are used to being called liars and don’t
mind it.
All royal marriages, according to the accounts
you read, are real love affairs.
Some women act as if they had a corner on
religion. N
THE INCOME TAX
V.—Methods of Administration.
BY FREDERIC .1. HASKIN.
The machinery for collecting the income tax pro
vided for the Underwood bill promises to be much
simpler in its make-up and more easily operated than
the machinery of collecting sim
ilar taxes in any other country.
Especially will it be far in ad
vance of the English methods
of collecting income taxes.
There one detail has been
added, here another, am. else
where stil another, unti it re
sembles a house that has been
built a room at a time. No
Englishman would write an in
come tax law like the present
one if the books were clean,
and yet nothing short of wip
ing off the slate would permit
much improvement.
...
The proposed American l@w
does away with statements and
refunds and a half dozen other
cumbersome features of the
English law% John Bull has his
subjects pay their full taxes, in many instances, and
then, under a system of refunds, pays some of the
tax back again. For instance, here is a man whose
mcopie does not exceed the usual exemption who is a
stockholder in a corporation. The corporation must
pay his tax cn his income froip it, whether that in
come is large enough to be taxed or not. If it is not
large enough he can have it refunded to him after-,
ward. This is but one of the many unsatisfactory
features of the 'administrative phases of the English
incomd tax law.
* • •
The proposed law' here does not intend that the
government shall collect any tax upon exempted in
comes, whether these incomes arise wholly or in part
from investments or not. Consequently, a man who
owns stock in a corporation but whose income .is not
above $4,000, needs only to notify the corporation
that he claims an exemption for the income h e de
rives from it, and if his statements are true he will
have no further worry. i_i s English brother some
times has to unwind miles of red tape to get back
w’hich ought never to have been assessed against him.
• • •
The reader who has had assessments made against
his stock and has seen them paid out of the earn
ings, ha3 experienced just about what will take place
under the income tax law. Every corporation in the
country will be required to furnish the internal rev
enue bureau with a list of its stockholders, its bond
holders and other deriving an income of more than
$4,000 from it. They will be required to pay income
tax upon the income received from them by every
such stock or bondholder who does not file r. claim of
exemption. Therefore, the only way to escape the
tax is to serve notice upon the person authorized to
pay it for you that your entire income is not enough
to exceed the exemption. If a man is a stockholder
in a half dozen companies he can claim exemption in
those from which his total income does not exceed
$4,000. Or, if he has an income of $1,000 from each
of three companies, and an income of $6,000 from a
fourth corporation, h e can claim his full exemption
from the tne corporation and allow the three to pay
the tax in full and the fourth only on the $2,000 above
the exemption.
• • •
The internal revenue bureau will have a most
elaborate checking system by which it can trace up
most of the people subject to income taxation. First,
it will have a national card index of all the people
who enjoy annual incomes in excess of $4,000. This
will be built up from many sources. In the first
place, there will be the list of income receivers from
all corporations, joint stock companies rind others who
must advise the government as to the names and ad-’
dresses of all those enjoying taxable incomes. This
will give s clue to perhaps two-thirds of the people
likely to have taxable inccmes. Then there are the
people who are large realty owners. As their deeds
are on record, and their property listed upon the tax
books of the cities and counties in which the prop
erty is located, the internal revenue collectors can
check them up. They can also ascertain who collects
the rents, who handles the interest accounts, and who
looks after the other affairs of large property hold
ers and mortgage holders. Wherever possible these
people will be asked to remit the income tax directly
to the internal revenue collector, and they will be un
der a heavy penalty to make such returns as will
keep the treasury department advised as to the peo
ple with whom they deal who are liable to income
taxation, and as to the. amounts of their incomes
derived through sources rf which they have legal
knowledge.
• ' • •
The determination of the framers of the proposed
law will tend to make it difficult for rich men to
escape their taxes, since most of their holdings are in
such shape that the treasury department can keep
tab upon them and check up the income returns of an
individual with the returns from these other sources.
.Where the two sets of returns agree there will be no
further trouble, but the man whose individual return
Is lower than the returns made for him will have a
rather unpleasant chance to explain.
* *
In this respect the law undoubtedly will prove an
aid in determining just what are the profits of big
corporations. and wealthy individuals. Just as the
interstate commerce commission has compelled the
railroads to keep records that show exactly what are
the profits of their corporations, and as the corpora
tion tax law requires corporations to show their actual
incomes, so wRl the individual have to give In his in
come. This probably will prove of much value for
statistical purposes.
• * m
- —a, me presen.
icy with reference to the corporation tax is contin
The corporations are given to understand tha* if f
come forward and try t 0 meet the law they 1
nothing to fear from its operation, but that if 1
try to get around it there will be an investiga
that will investigate.
and individual subject, to the tax will be care:
checked up, one feature with another, and also
other information in hand, and if there is no evld
of any tax dodging, willful or unintentional, that
about end the matter.
But if it be found that the person making th«
tuf-n has failed to list the items of tiis income Jn
sonable accord with experience, he may be askM
For instance, here is a man who reports a net inc
of $12,000 a year as a merchant. He is require,
give his gross income, and also his expenses of
ducting the business. If the returns show a nei
come very much higher than might be expected 1
such a/ gross income, he may be asked to make
there is no mistake about his gross income. Or, ii
operating expenses are out of all proportion to i
might be expected on a net income of $12,000 p .
he may he requested to advise the treasury dei
ment. whether he has not overestimated his opera
expenses.
After the proposed law goes into.effect the treas
ury department will go to work to frame rules and
regulations for the assessment and collction of the
tax. These will amplify every paragraph of the law
and will be the chart by which the collectors will
steer. These rules and regulations will he rather
voluminous, and will be so comprehensive that they
will cover the great majority of the questions that
might arise in the administration of the tax. But
there will, from time to time, arise questions that no
one has foreseen. These matters will be referred back
to the treasury department, and th e internal revenue
bureau, under the guidance of the secretary, will make
new rules to cover these eases as they come up. In a
year or two of experience nearly every contingency
that may arise will have come up, and practically
every question that may arise will have been passed j
upon.