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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEEY JOURNAL !
!
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSTTK 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.
When Town and Country
Move Hand-in-Hand.
“There is abroad in South Georgia a spirit of
get-together between the city and the country.
That is exemplified in the efforts of trade bodies
in the county seats and in other cities to help
the farmers find markets for their crops. Many
farmers hesitate to plant things that are new to
them because of a fear that they will be unable
to dispose of their products. Trade organiza
tions in many cities are seeking markets for
such crops and while helping to build up the
country back of their cities, are building up the
cities themselves."
This bit of editorial comment from the Savannah
Morning News reveals the secret of much of the
progress now manifest not only in South Georgia
but throughout this and other Southern States—the
progress of towns and cities and also the varied
development of agricultural interests. The old idea
that cities must grow at the expense of one another
or at the expense of the farming territory about
them is fast being supplanted by the broader and
truer view that they can be permanently prosperous
only by working together for their common fortunes.
We are at length applying to our own immediate
problems the philosophy that commerce and industry
depend upon agriculture and that the beginning and
end of all our material endeavors rests upon the soil.
Thus, as the News points out, the alert boards of
trade and chambers of commerce in South Georgia
cities are helping the farmer find markets for his
crops. They are thereby making possible the devel
opment of truck farming on a large and profitable
scale. They are opening new fields of enterprise
and investment that will benefit merchants, bankers,
real estate dealers and business men in general no
less than the farmers themselves. The distinctive
success and usefulness of the Atlanta Chamber of
Commerce is due very largely to the fact that it is
continually promoting enterprises, such as the Geor
gia Corn Show, which will advance agricultural
interests and is continually striving to make itself
and its city of service to the entire State.
A Record Year For Good Crops.
Kansas is piping loudly 6f prosperity and nat
urally so, for Government reports estimate that the
wheat yield of that commonwealth will this year
amount to nearly one hundred and eighteen million
bushels. "And by the same token” comments the
Baltimore Star, “there is promise of a record-break
ing wheat crop throughout the great central winter-
wheat area. It is expected that the winter wheat
crop which will be harvested between the twentieth
of June and the tenth of July, will exceed five hun
dred and fifty million bushels.”
If new assurance of a plenteous year, a year rich in
hope for the country’s business interests, were
needed, surely such evidence as this would suflice.
In 1909," the record twelvemonth for wheat produc
tion in the United States, the total yield was seven
hundred and thirty-seven million, one hundred and
seventy-nine thousand bushels. According to, the
present outlook, the yield for the current year will
exceed eight hundred and fifty million bushels; and,
as one observer remarks, "the winter wheat crop is
so nearly made that danger from drought or insects
is regarded as being past.”
The prospect for abundant' food harvests of all
kinds and throughout the country is cheering. In
Georgia, weather conditions were rather unfavor
able until a few weeks ago, but timely showers have
heartened the farmers in most counties; and, what
> even more important, the progress of scientific
methods of cultivation and of the system of diver
sified crops has made the average farmer far more
independent than in seasons gone by. The year 1913
will be memorable in Georgia agriculture for its
wide variety of food crops. We shall produce less
cotton, it appears, but we shall produce more food
stuffs—an unmistakable omen of our upward trend.
The Last of the Laureates.
Alfred Austin, who died in London yesterday,
at the ripe age of seventy-seven, was an amiable
gentleman, an earnest scholar, in his day a compe
tent journalist, and a voluminous writer of prose and
verse. It remains only to be said that since 1896 he
held the title of Britain's poet laureate.
It has been suggested that this honor will not
again be formally bestowed, in which event Mr. Aus
tin’s chief distinction will lie in the fact that he
was the last of an illustrious succession which in
cluded such names as those of Spenser, Ben Jonson,
John Dryden, Robert Southey, Wordsworth and Ten
nyson. There have also been poets laureate like
Thomas Shadwell, Lawrence Eusden and Henry Pye
—forgotten long ago. There is no good reason of main
taining an office simply for the purpose of filling it.
, Mr. Austin would have been more fortunate without
his title and the critics would have had less cause to
grow waggish.
Georgia’s Rank as a Road Builder.
In the recently published Good Roads Year Book
for 1913, Georgia ranks well among the States that
are distinguished for their interest in highway devel
opment. Indiana still leads in mileage of improved
roads, with twenty-four thousand, nine hundred and
fifty-five miles to her credit; Masachusetts leads in
percentage of roads improved, with fifty-six and
eight-tenths per cent; hut Georgia has twenty-two
thousand and forty-three miles of improved roads,
which is not much behind Indiana's record and which
is considerably in excess of the total road mileage
of Massachusetts. It is noteworthy, too, that Georgia
leads New York both in mileage and percentage of
improved highways, though in the number of miles
of good roads constructed during the past year or so
New York heads the national list.
This is a gratifying record but Georgians should
remember that other States in the South as well as
in the East and North and West are now putting ex
traordinary exertion to develop State-wide systems
of highways, are appropriating millions of dollars
either through legislative acts or through bond is
sues, are creating highway commissions and are
availing themselves of all the advantages which busi
ness supervision and engineering skill afford We must
face the fact that while our individual counties have
shown fine energy and enthusiasm in improving their
local roads, the State itself has not yet placed its
centralized recources and its guidance behind this
highly important work. What Georgia lacks is a
well considered plan for developing a system of State
highways; and until she adopts such a plan, the labor
and money spent by the counties independently will
not produce due results.
The resources for road building, Georgia has in
abundance; it is now simply a question of using those
resources economically and for all they are worth.
Through the abolishment of the convict lease system,
the Legislature placed at the disposal of the counties
a steady supply of labor for highway improvement.
Thus we can build far more cheaply than can the ma
jority of States and we can keep uninterruptedly at
the task. In addition to this, many, if not most,
Georgia counties appropriate substantial funds for
road development. The citizen who does realize the
far-reaching value of good roads and who is not
willing that a liberal portion of the tax money he
allotted to that purpose is a rare exception. A num
ber of communities willingly vote bond issues for
highway work. And so, there is available in Georgia to
day a large amount of money as well as a large force
of labor for the good roads cause.
If the Legislature will now take the needed and
logical step and supplement these material resources
with efficient State supervision, we shall make more
rapid progress and obtain more lasting results than
ever before in our road building endeavors. To this
end there should be established a State Highway Com
mission, not for the purpose of dictating methods or
procedures to the individual counties hut for the pur
pose of helping each county to solve its peculiar
problems and of uniting them all for their common
good. Through such a commission, the highest engi
neering skill could be made available for every county
at comparatively nominal expense. The convicts
could he worked more economically, road material
and machinery could he purchased more Intelligent
ly, the county funds would go further and buy more
and, what is especially important, all the counties
could work co-operatively toward the development
of a State-wide system of roads. This plan has fre
quently been proposed and is sanctioned, we .believe,
by almost everyone who has given thought to the
practical side of highway development. The incom
ing Legislature would render valuable service by
passing a bill to this effect.
If subpenas count for anything, there is a
decided lobby at Washington.
Celebrity is in the limelight. Jack Johnson has
been given sentence of a year, and Castro is be
lieved to he in Florida.
To improve some family trees, prune them close
to the roots.
The Balkans are too busy fighting to accept Mr.
Bryan’s peace proposal.
A Timely Plan For Balkan Peace.
Plans are said to have been made for a confer
ence among the premiers of Bulgaria, Greece, Servia
and Montenegro to effect, if possible, a friendly ad
justment of the issues that threaten Balkan peace.
The need and timeliness of such a council are man
ifest; for, the disputes between Bulgaria and Greece
over Salonica and between Bulgaria and Servia over
Monastir have reached a critical stage; and there
are other entanglements, such as the question of com
pensating Montenegro for the surrender of Scutari,
to be unknotted.
It is the part of prudence for the Allies to settle
their quarrels themselves, if they can. Otherwise
they will invite the intervention of the larger Euro
pean Powers and thereby Incur the risk of losing
much of the territory they have won from Turkey
through their united campaign. The victories of the
Balkan States in the late war were due largely to
the fact that they stuck together. By a continued
coalition, they can exert a telling influence upon Eu
ropean diplomacy and can protect their common in
terests against the ambitions of Austria-Hungary.
But should they fa., to fighting one another and turn
their 'splendid conquests into a game of grab, a path
would be opened for the greed and aggrandizement
of their powerful neighbors.
The great nations of Europe would hardly permit
another serious conflict in the Balkans. The war
with Turkey strained diplomacy to its utmost and
there have been umec within the past seven months
when a general outbreak seemed almost inevitable.
The Powers would go the limit of their combined
strength to prevent the recurrence of such conditions.
But the logical peacemakers are the Balkan States
themselves. Each of them has won more in the cam
paign against Turkey than it had hoped for and
tflat, perhaps, is partly the ca... 3 ,.i the present jeal
ousies and bickerings. Tur’-ey has been driven to
Constantinople and confined within a narrow strip
oi country about tfc; Bosporus. Thus a vast area of
territory, Including several cities of great commer
cial or strategic importance, are to be divided among
the victors. Little wonder conflicting claims have
arisen. The concert of Powers have succeeded in
defining boundaries between Balkan and Turkish
spheres; it is a far more difflcu.t and delicate task to
fix dividing line; among the Balkans themselves.
The plan whereby the premiers of the various
States will counsel together over these problems is
the safest and surest means of settlement yet pro
posed. By such methods a great deal should he ac
complished toward maintaining the unity of the Al
lies and also toward averting further disturbance
of the larger European relationships.
THE TREE OF TREES
BY DR. FRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913, by Frank Crane.)
I have nevqr tbeen there, but I want to go; to the -
country of Mexico, to the town of Oaxaca, thence east
two and a half leagues to the village of Santa Maria
del Tule, and there In the graveyard to look upon a
Tree, the oldest known living thing on the planet, to
sit in its shelter, to put my hand upon its trunk, to
feel its shade penetrate my soul with such a sense of
years as no c^her terrestrial object can give.
If I were a heathen man I should worship not only
the Sun Dut the Tree. Of all plant life the Tree
seems nearest man.
At the traditional beginning of human existence is
the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden; at th«
end the Tree of Life in Heaven.
The Tree is man’s storehouse, furnishing him with
shelter, food, building material, furniture and weap
ons. It is mankind’s oldest friend.
Victor Hugo points out how the river with its
tributaries is made upon the pattern of the Tree with
its branches. Look at your map and see the Treelike
lines of the Amazon and the Mississippi.
It heard from the winds the stories of the rise and
fall of Babylon, Ninevah, and the obliterated civiliza
tion of Yucatan.
Primeval monsters have lounged in its shade, ape-
men have fought beside it, its memory goes back to
where there were no men.
Long, silent ages it lived before the Norsemen
ever saw the New World, or Columbus sighted its is
lands, or Cortez butchered its inhabitants. But it was
old when Europe was a wilderness and England a sav
age isle.
It is older than any monument made by human
hands; beside the pyramids are young, the temples
of Karnak and Luxor, even the sculptured bricks of
Birs Nimrod.
The giant sequoias of California were found by
John Muir to have lived «but 4,000 years, mere babes
compared to the cypress of Santa Maria del Tule.
A-ife, so ephemeral and fluctuating a ihing, has
here its strangest home, an organism that outspans
the history of a race.
About it go the insects that live but a day and the
human creatures that may live fourscore years; to the
Tree they seem the same.
Some cay i shall go there, i shall linger under
its branches to see if I can hear in its sighing leaves
some whisper of eternity. I sh&U touch its bark, and
it will seem as if 1 had ’lasped the rugged hand to
one of the demiurges who helped make the world. My
heart shall feed upon the centuries. Time and the
small concerns of my life will drop from me as a
garment and I shall feel jthe thrill of that saying,
“From everlasting to everlasting.”
That is why I want some time to go to Mexico and
to Oaxaca, thence east two leagues and a half to
Santa Mari? del Tule, and to the graveyard there, and
to the Tree of trees.
What Busy Men Read
(Washington Post.)
It is easy to understand why the judge at Mar
quette, Mich., alter listening to st> much dry, very dry
testimony in the Roosevelt libel suit, should turn
naturally to dime novels for recreation. Caught in
his chambers behind the bench, before the time for
opening of court, the judge frankly read from the book
in his hand.
And piercing him with his keen eyes, Count de
Gama tossed his revolver on the ground, and
turned away contemptuously, his proud lip curled
upward in a sneer.
Who, after reading that exciting extract, would not
want to follow further the adventures of the noncha
lant count? Who would not want to discover the
identity of his opponent and how the fellow turned
out In the end?
Men of action usually like to read of other men in
action. Representative Underwood confesses to a
strong liking for detective stories, and so does "Uncle
Joe” Cannon. J. Pierpont Morgan, on his trips to Eu
rope, usually took with him the latest batch of popular
detective stories.
Reading serves two useful ends—education and
recreation. When the two can be combined, the result
is highly satisfactory. Educational reading, however,
requires a certain amount of concentration and brain
work, and for this reason many men who work long
hours seek a lighter form of literature when they de-
sire recreation.
Probably the principal reason why the writers of
the United States are not turning out the kind of lit
erature that marked the days of Hawthorne and Em
erson is that the life we are leading is very swift and
active, and men and women do not care to give to
books the degree of concentration formerly given. The
demand regulates to a large extent the quality as well
as the quantity of literature, and this, in a different
field, may become so popular. Everything is done
nowadays for the "tired business man,” because cater
ing to the bookworm is not profitable.
If the day ever comes when our life is less stren
uous, we may have at the same time a rennaissance
of literature.
Cattle Raising for the South.
The fact that it has been often repeated does not
lessen the value of timeliness of the suggestion in a
recent bulletin by the federal Department of Agri
culture that the South should develop its rich natur
al resources as a cattle raising country. Viewing
this matter from a national standpoint, the Depart
ment urges the necessity of conserving our meat
supply and of taking steps to Increase it; for, we
are told, there has been a decline of more than
thirty per cent In the number of beef cattle In the
United States during the past six years, while at the
same time there has been a rapid growth of popu
lation and the demand for meat.
It is to the South that the country looks for a
large portion of its future beef supply. Many States
of this section, Georgia among them, are peculiarly
well adapted by climate and soil to the cattle rais
ing industry. There are vast areas of land capable
of producing the grasses and grains that are needed
for food. The mild winters reduce to a minimum
the cost of housing and feeding. It only remains
for our farmers to realize and turn to account their
rare opportunities in this profitable field; and there
are cheering indications that they are steadily doing
so.
The first step toward making the South a cattle
producing country is, as the Department of Agricul
ture points out, the elimination of the cattle tick.
A number of Georgia counties have recently concen
trated their efforts upon this important work and
have achieved highly gratifying results. The federal
quarantine is being lifted as rapidly as conditions
will permit and the farmers of each district have
it within their power to determine what the condi
tions shall be.
Even old Henry Gassaway Davis manages to lug
into print now and then to the tune of a one-line
head.
Alas for the young man whose only claim to dis
tinction is a little straw lid with a multi-colored
band.
H
/-*
(oi
OU/MTRY
OME topics
CcWDOCTEP BfJTfcS. \T. HJTE.L.TD/1
HOW TIME CHANGES OUR POINT OF VIEW.
How well do I remember the things I delighted in
when my life was young and my heart unworn and
tender! I enjoyed things with all the vitality that J
possessed, and I grieved *he same way, and those
childish griefs were dreadful experiences albeit they
seem so trivial nowadays. Time with ever rolling tide
has carried both joys and griefs out of sight until the
griefs seem farcical because I had such a happy shel
tered existence and my earlier joys seem to be puny
affairs, although they occupied so many waking hours
in heyday of my youth.
I am still the same being that I was three-quarters
of a century ago and it is only my point of view that
has been changed in later years.
And yet I have never : ut away childish things so-
called for the loving care of my parents seems to be
as fresh in memory as when I was nursed into baby
sleep by their willing arms, and the prid© I felt when
I went “up head” in my spelling class was as satisfy
ing as any triumph in writing that - r have ever enjoyed
in my activity with my pen life.
The things that endure and remain, that comfor'
and cheer, center about the true things, the honest
thoughts and the earnest resolves of both early and
later life.
Perhaps this little scrap of poetry will explain it
better:
When I A hink sometimes of old griefs I had,
Of sorrows that once seemed too harsh to bear,
And youth’s resolve to never more be glad,
I laugh—and do not care.
When I think sometimes of the joy I knew,
The gay, glad laughter ere my heart was wise,
The trvial happiness that seemed so true,
The tears are in my eyes.
Time—Time the cynic—how he mocks us all!
And yet today I can but think him right.
Ah heart, the old joy is so tragical
And the old grief so light.
—From the Reader Magazine.
SIGHTSEEING IN NEW YORK CITY.
Many of the readers of The Journal have been made
acquainted with the unveiling of the Maine mortument
which came off in this city on Friday, the 30th. The
crowd was so immense in the city that I did not at
tempt to go to the unveiling because I should have
been unable to hear a single word, and more than all,
run the risk of being pushed around in this* immense
jam of people. But I did go yesterday to see the >.
monument, and quite nea- enough to see the effect,
with the base still covered with many of the flowers
that were placed • thereon '~y the enthusiastic people.
It is a very imposing piece of marble creation, with a
number of mammoth figures, and has an ideal loca
tion in the lovely park. No location could be more
admirable for that purpose, and it will be as much
visited a s Grant’s monument on Riverside Drive. By
the courtesy of a friend and accompanied by a lovely
young lady from Pasadena, Cal., I had the extraordi
nary opportunity for driving all through Central park
in a limousine, away up into the Bronx settlements,
and in returning came down the Riverside Drive foi
miles upon miles along the Hudson river. All along
the river is a steady continuation of elegant hotels
and apartment houses. I never before understood the
mammoth wealth of the rich residents of the greatest
city in the United States.
To my provincial eyes it was a display of pal
aces, each one vying with the other in magnitude and
splendor. Fifth avenue was not finer to my eyes,
than this apparently limitless stretch of stone anc
marble along the Hudson river. I was told that these
grand apartment houses are most expensive places to
live in, but certainly they are fine enough to gratify
the vanity of the most ambitious.
We stopped on the ride for a sight of the convict
ship that has a terrible history, and which ship was
raised from the depths of the harbor of Sydney, Aus
tralia, by British people and brought over to this coun
try, anchored in the Hudson river by some enterpris
ing people who made money by telling the story of
the “Success” and its painful horrors to American
sightseers. It added to the things to be seen a spot
of gloom in this display of magnificent landscapes
and palatial lodging houses for the multi-rich. Vari
ety is the spice of life.
Saturday afternoon was the finest day I have yet
experienced in New York 'Tty. The rain that ushered
me in and whicu prevailed unceasingly during Wednes
day night left a harsh wind that sent chills over your
system and kept on for nearly two days. But Satur
day was as fine a day as ever came to Georgia, and
the whole population of New York City that could
ride or drive or walk was apparently out of doors. I
saw thousands upon thousands of children at play in
Central Park, and I am sure I also saw thousands of
the most elegant vehicles in the world filled with
well dressqd people. It was a moving picture, and end
less panorama, that needed no films to explain to your
mind. I rode on street cars from Thirty-fourth street
to the Battery and back again, and then from Thirty-
fourth street as before mentioned to the upper end of
Manhattan island and back again. It was a rare ex
perience for anybody who had youth and vigor, but
still more rare for an old lady who had passed three-
quarters of a century before seeing it. I have not
bothered my mind about looking up stores and pric
ing things in the stores. It takes so much time and
fatigues your feet, so I let the fine clothes in the
immense windows alone, unless I saw a crowd gath
ered In the street, and then I glimpsed the sensation
also.
In one of the handsomest windows there was a lay
figure of an xquisitely dressed young woman in street
costume, everything perfect from top to toe, and I saw
a crowd packed around. I waited my time and then I
saw what entertained them so much.
On the young lady’s ankle was what resembled a
bracelet, set with brilliants (maybe diamonds), and
her foot was extended so we could see the whole dis
play of foot and ankle.
I wondered how she was to get along if in .a hurry
with that encumbrance, for the snake's head stuck out,
and I feel sure it would ctick in if the wearer’s feet
should happen to hit together when she ran to catch
a car, as all New Yorkers seem to be running all day
long. If she could dance with the anklet it might
have decorated her dance costume, but in the street!
Ah, vanites of of vanity!
I thought we paid high prices for food at home,
but, my! it would bankrupt the most of us if we ate
at big New York cafes. dollar dinner is considered
very reasonable, and if you want some of their single
dishes it will cost you all of a dollar when you pay
your check at the counter. I have been kept busy
in looking around where I could get a fair meal for
as little as a half-dollar.
It is well that the multi-rich like to live in New
York City. A poor Georgia cracker couldn’t stay a
week and carry any money back home with him, the
food prices are so steep where I have examined the
bills of fare. „ MRS. W. H. FELTON.
Hotel McAlpin, New York.
Why does a woman imagine she can reform a man
by singing to him? •
Even a girl who isn’t a flirt may not want some
man to think she isn’t.
It is easier for the average actress to get pufls
in her hair than in the newspapers.
A woman has as much excitement getting her
fortune told as a man has in making his.
The girl who is as pretty as a picture should never
allowe herself to get in an ugly frame of mind.
THE INCOME TAX
IX. —CIVIL WAR PERIOD TAXES.
FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
While Secretary of th e Treasury Dallas suggested,
during the War of 1812, that the war burdens of the
country should be borne in part by a tax upon in
comes, the early termination of
hostilities relieved the necessi
ties of the moment, and conse
quently it was not until 1861
that the first income tax law
was written upon the statute
books of the United States. It
became known as the Stevens-
Morrill act, from the patrons
of the bill in the house and «
senate.
• * •
The Civil war had broken
out, and President .Lincoln
called the thirty-seventh con
gress into extraordinary session
“on account of the opposition
to and obstruction made to the
execution of the laws of the
United States in certain south
ern states, by combinations too
powerful to be suppressed by
the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the
powers vested in marshals by the law.” About ti*
first duty that devolved upon the congress was to
provide sufficient revenues to meet the large expendi
tures the war called for. There was much difference
of opinion as to just what ought to be done. Thad-
deus Stevens, from the ways and means committee,
brought in a tariff bill, which he asked the house to
vote upon after on e hour’s consideration, all amend
ments to be voted upon without further debate.
* • •
The next day Clement Vallandigham, afterward the
great Ohio copperhead, offered a substitute repealing
the tariff law that had been enacted two days before
President Buchanan left the White House. It was re
jected, but the Stevens bill was so badly crippled by
the many amendments that were adopted in committee
of the whole, that when it was reported to the house,
Stevens offered hio original bill as a substitute. When
the house voted to pass the measure it contained a
number of amendments. When it went to the senate
that body did not lik e it, and amended it by striking
out everything but the “B e it enacted” clause, insert
ing a substitute measure. This was finally amended
by the insertion of a clause providing for an income
tax of 5 per cent on all incomes in excess of $1,000,
with 1 1-2 per cent on income derived from United
States securities. The clause made the tax 7 1-2 per
cent on the income of Americans residing abroad, with
the exception of income from United States securities,
and they were to be taxed 2 1-2 per cent on their In
comes from these. Upon the statement that this
clause followed the rule, practice and jaw of England
for a period of fifty years it was passed even without
division.
• • •
While the senate was amending the house bill by
complete substitution, the house brought out another
bill providing for a direct tax and an income tax. As
it finally passed that body it provided for a direct
tax of twenty mills on th e dollar and an income tax
of 5 per cent on all incomes of $600 or upward. This
bill went to the senate and was pigeon-holed. Mean
while the other bill had been tent to conference. There
the conferees drew a new bill, which was a complete
substitute for the house measure and a modified sub
stitute for the senate measure. It reduced exempted
incomes to $800, and the tax from 5 per cent to 3 per
cent. This action finally became the law, but it re
mained on the statute books for only six months. It
was repealed by the act of July 1, 1862, which cut
down the exempted income to $600, and fixed the tax
rate at 3 per cent on incomes below $10,000, and at 5
per cent aiove that point. The tax on income from
government bonds was placed at 1 1-2 per cent. j
This second income tax law lasted two years. By
that time the man who could suggest new items to
tax and new methods of increasing revenues from ex
isting laws was regarded as a patriot and hailed as a
statesman. During th e summer of 1864 the income
tax law was somewhat amended, with a view to in
creasing the revenues, and the day before the second
inauguration of President Lincoln it was still further
amended. This amendment increased the tax from 3
per cent to 6 per cent on incomes between $600 and
$5,000, and fixed the tax on incomes above $5,000 at
10 per cent. This became effective just about the,
tlm© the war closed, and brought the receipts up to the
highest notch in the history of income taxation in-
America. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866,
the total collections under the income tax law were ‘
upward of $60,000,000, and the next year it was but
little less.
• * •
In 1867 the revenues of the government from the
income tax law having exceeded the needs of the fed
eral treasury, it was decided to amend the law by
cutting out all discriminatory taxes against large in
comes. With this in mind a uniform tax of 5 per cent
was levied against all incomes above $1,000. The
amended law also contained a provision that it should
explr e by limitation at the end of the year 1870.
• * *
In 1870 an act was passed extending the operation
of the law for another year. The extension was
made in July, and in December an effort was made
to repeal the law. The act providing for its repeal
originated in the senate, where it passed, with only
one vote to spare. When this action was communi
cated to the house, Mr. Hooper, of Massachusetts,
arose to a question of privilege, and declared that the
senate had no right to originate such a measure.
Samuel J. Randall denied that the matter involved a
question of privlege. Speaker Blaine overruled Ran
dall’s contention, and Hooper’s resolution was adopted,
sending the act back ot the senate with the polite in
formation that the senate had no right to originate
such a measure. The senate as politely informed the
house that it did have such a right, and requested a
conference upon the subject. While th© merry little
war was being waged back and forth the Income tax
law died by its own limitation, an so it never was
repealed. This recalls the fact stated in a previous
article that the law of 1894 did not need to be repealed
after 1900, sine© it expired by limitation that year.
* • •
It is rather generally agreed that the income tax
law practically saved the finances of the federal gov
ernment from absolute collapse during the Civil war.
No serious question as to its constitutionality ever
was raised, and congress showed that it never had the
slightest idea that it was a direct tax. The house
provided for a direct tax of $20,000,000, and an income
tax, while the senate held that inasmuch as a dlrtct
tax had been imposed upon property it was well to
hold up the exempted income higher than otherwise
would hav© been done.
• * •
it is interesting to consider the amount of money
that was raised by means which the supreme court
a quarter of a century later declared to be constitu
tional. The total collections under the law from start
to finish amounted to $376,000,000. The income tax
law, with the exemption of $1,000, did not hit any
large proportion of the people. In 1868 the revenues
from the law amounted to upward of $40,000,000. The
entire amount was paid by only 250,000 people, out of
a total population^of 40,00,000. Thus only one person
in 160 of the country’s population at that time had an
inepme of $l,Gu0 or more. Even considering that the
families of the persons paying the tax were affected,
it still follows that only one person in forty felt its
direct burdens The 250,000 people who paid the tax
had total incomes of $800,000,000.
The high price of gasoline, however, will not af
fect the horse apple.
And there are also a few women who don’t under
stand men.
Furthermore, the rolling stone never reaches tho
top.