EDITORIALS
WHO PAYS THE TAX? ON April 19, 1909, in opening the debate on the tariff bill, Senator Aldrich said: "The pending bill will, if enacted into law, provide all the necessary revenues required for...
...He knew that an income tax would pass...
...He knows when the vote is doubtful before the roll is called...
...Senator Root argued as a reason for not putting the constitutionality of the income tax up to the Supreme Court again that there would follow "a campaign of oratory upon the stump, of editorials in the press, of denunciation and imputation designed to compel that great tribunal to yield to the force of the opinion of the executive and the legislative branches...
...No further additional taxes are needed...
...Moral: When violence is laid to the labor unions, withold judgment...
...So Mr...
...The foreigners who man the tube works made trouble for the police when they were refused the chance to work on Sunday, not having understood the announcements...
...He writes that there has been no change whatever in the Sunday work of the steel trust...
...On further examination, it appeared that the offending minister spelled it "naive," and meant by it a person of simple and undeveloped mind...
...Steel Trust Not to Abolish Sunday Labor IN the News Worth Remembering columns of La Follette's of May 22, under the heading "Steel Works Observe Sunday," appeared the following: "On May 9th, the National Tube Works of the United States Steel corporation at McKeesport, Pa., made its first move toward the important matter of abolishing Sunday labor in all the great steel industry, except in blast furnaces and other concerns which must of physical necessity run continuously...
...Should the farmers of the nation become as a class vastly poorer and more miserable than the ruling class, no doubt the term will sometime become as disgraceful as "pagan," "heathen," or "villain" now...
...He is of the opinion that the report appeared in the press generally because the manager of the new mill of the National Tube Company at McKeesport sent a circular letter to the heads of different departments suggesting a change in the working arrangement so that the mid-day and midnight stops each day might be used in making repairs on machinery in order that this work might not require the presence of a large-sized force every Saturday night to get the mills in shape for starting Sunday night...
...And it would give senators who, out of a wholesome respect for public opinion had pledged themselves to vote for an income tax an opportunity to side-step and vote for a "tax on corporations...
...If this be true, the fact that the Democrats at Denver last summer placed in their platform a demand for Taft's income-tax amendment to the Constitution makes it one of the little ironies of politics...
...in view of the fact that in making this decision as admitted by Senator Root, the weight of opinion of an almost evenly divided court was with the minority, shall the people be debarred from their right to a rehearing...
...Earlier in his speech, as a basis for this argument, he said, speaking of the tariff schedules: "There has been a degree of difficulty in ascertaining the facts, which I deplore, and which has caused me much dissatisfaction...
...Blaming the Unions TWO years ago Mayor Busse of Chicago put out of business all gamblers save those chosen by the police to be "protected...
...However, he need not have been so...
...Then "knave" came to mean "servant," and lastly, "rogue...
...it will appear sooner or later in the increased prices of iron and steel and hardware and machinery and agricultural implements and clothing and the food products...
...The thirty-first bomb was set off the other night, injuring several persons and doing much damage...
...Shortly after, the residence of John Condon, a gambler king and friend of Busse was dynamited,—presumably by the gamblers put out of business...
...Aldrich offered the corporation tax and in a burst of confidence, or rather anger, said: "I shall vote for the corporation tax to defeat the income tax...
...Who knows...
...The Steel Trust apparently has not changed its labor policy...
...In a former debate the Senator from New York took an entirely different position, when he said: "So far as I have been able to see the Finance Committee has been ready to substantiate by facts and by appropriate arguments the amendments which it proposes...
...Knave" or "Naive" A MINISTER in Chicago the other day, quoting from the book of another minister who was on trial for heresy, read from it the passage which said in effect that the man who believes the Bible is a knave...
...but it will indicate whether a lot of gentlemen are on their way to a poorhouse or a palace...
...Thus are the bad names of the language built up...
...Puritan" was a dreadful word once, but the Puritans got control of things, and made their name good...
...The Ironies of Politics IT was suggested that the President join forces with Aldrich on the income tax amendment, in order that the Republican party might be spared the humiliation of a victory of Progressives in coalition with Democrats...
...In view of the fact that those who opposed an income tax for years conducted an editorial campaign against such a tax, and came again and again to the Supreme Court, and finally, after repeated defeats, were able to secure a favorable decision which reversed former decisions of that tribunal as well as the established law of a hundred years...
...There are small men who fetch and carry for him...
...In an era of universal pride of intellect, "naive" may acquire as much censoriousness of significance as "knave" now possesses...
...In New York to call a person a "farmer" is to accuse him of a sort of inferiority...
...Heathen" formerly meant nothing worse than one who lived in the heath or woods, and a "pagan" was simply a countryman...
...The police are either afraid or unable to arrest the guilty parties...
...We favor an income-tax," said the Democrats, "as a part of our revenue system, and we urge the adoption of a constitutional amendment specifically authorizing congress to levy and collect a tax upon individual and corporate incomes, to the end that wealth may bear its proportionate share of the burdens of the federal government...
...It is all a matter of who makes the language...
...The large corporations did not object as was proven by telegrams to, senators...
...Besides it was much more agreeable to a great many people...
...to express, telegraph, and telephone charges...
...Between that time and the time when the Progressives and Democrats had mustered a majority of the Senate, however, there was ample time for an open mind to see reasons for change...
...But when Senator Bristow asked him if it was intended to ascertain the comparative cost of the production of articles here and abroad, or any information along that line, Senator Root replied: "No...
...ON April 19, 1909, in opening the debate on the tariff bill, Senator Aldrich said: "The pending bill will, if enacted into law, provide all the necessary revenues required for public expenses upon a liberal scale...
...Aldrich has his forces well in hand...
...What effect will this action have on the confidence of the people in the United States Senate...
...It has been calculated that to give the mills one day's rest in seven will save time and money in the year's run, though repair work will also suspend on Sunday...
...The Sunday-observance movement is to be extended gradually to all the Steel Trust's many plants...
...The accuser was much embarrassed...
...If they yield, what then...
...The person who is different from us we are apt to despise and objurgate...
...Senator Root, like Senator Aldrich, objected to both the income tax and the corporation tax as permanent means of raising revenue, because they interfere with the policy of raising government revenues by protective duties, ignoring the fact that we maintain a system of internal revenue duties on whiskey and tobacco without destroying the protective principle...
...I shall vote for the Aldrich amendment," said senator after senator in the cloak rooms, "because it is easier to do so than to explain my vote against a 'corporation tax,' and yet I know that every corporation which ought to pay higher taxes can pass the tax along to the consumer so that in the end this corporation tax will be paid by the individual taxpayers who now bear mere than their proportionate share...
...Much depends on the farmers as to their fate...
...It would fool—not senators—but many other people...
...Because an amendment to tax large incomes had been introduced and was certain to pass...
...The friends of an income tax urged that more revenues are needed, and even if more revenues were not required to pay the expenses of government the excessive tariff charges should be reduced, and the amount necessary supplied by a tax on large incomes...
...A correspondent, who has investigated the conditions set forth in this paragraph, informs us that the report was not correct...
...Hence the shift to a corporation tax...
...But from a purely partisan standpoint, is it any more humiliating for a proud party to adopt Democratic planks, than to pass good laws by Democratic votes...
...In the face of this declaration he subsequently offered an amendment to "tax corporations" and thereby raise $50,000,000 of revenues, besides the enormous sums derived from the tariff duties...
...He said, when Senator Aldrich, "confessedly the ablest man in that line of government service declares it to be his judgment that the bill will result in no deficiency after two years, we can rest with pretty serene confidence that the deficiency is not going to be very great...
...Where then would be the confidence of our people in the justice of their judgment...
...One of the "theories" by which the police and some others explain this outrage is that it was a union-labor outrage...
...Votes enough were pledged to assure this...
...A corporation tax can be laid and collected without possibil-ity of shift or transfer to the consuming public only as to those corporations the rates and charges of which in their dealing with the public are strictly regulated and controlled upon a basis of capitalization representing actual investment...
...It certainly had a right good sound, and for campaign purposes would serve quite as well as a. tax on incomes...
...So it appears that the action of the manager was not in the interest of "abolishing Sunday labor but merely to decrease the cost of his operating expenses...
...The men with the big incomes were highly gratified...
...Must they be compelled to wait long years for the uncertain result of securing a constitutional amendment requiring the approval of three-fourths of the states...
...Over in Australia, where men who went out into the open and took up all the lands in sight were permitted to keep it —a "squatter" is a person of wealth and consequence, because he is rich...
...Senator Root's only argument for the corporation tax, other than as a temporary measure, was that it would furnish information on which to base future tariff legislation...
...At that time Mr...
...Aldrich shift his position...
...There may be hope for the "progressive" in Washington, even...
...Taft was quite sure that no constitutional amendment was needed...
...It is even stated that the steel people believe that their men will do as much work in the six days as if worked the full seven on account of the benefits of rest...
...Now Mr...
...Many selfish interests are eager to blame them...
...Knave" originally meant a boy—rather close to "naive...
...Senator Root's Anxiety for the Court IN closing the debate on the corporation tax amendment, Senator Root, who assisted in framing the measure and who was supposed to represent the President, confirmed Senator Aldrich's confession that the corporation tax was a temporary expedient of meeting a possible deficiency in existing government income...
...But in no case will this tax fall upon a corporation controlled by the Federal government, for it will be added to interstate freight and passenger rates...
...Since that time thirty more bombs have been exploded, most of them about the premises of gamblers...
...It had a good sound...
...Aldrich is opposed to an income tax,—so are Morgan and Rockefeller and other amiable gentlemen who have acquired large incomes with an absent minded disregard of the rights of the balance of the human family...
...Villain" was originally "villein" and meant merely a tenant farmer...
...Only the small corporation in competition with an individual or a co-partnership would have any trouble in passing the tax on to its customer...
...It defeated the income tax and was adopted by an overwhelming vote...
...Senators voted for it knowing it would not tax corporations but the public...
...Why did Mr...
Vol. 1 • July 1909 • No. 27
