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The Commoner.
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VOLUME , NUMBER t
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51
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1. 41.
llovcn that tho democratic party hag tho largest
hope and bost prospects and, therefore, it urge
activity among tho democrats who deslr to
make the party a positivo fore for tho remedy-,
ing of existing abuses. -
PROVING BRYAN'S CHARGES
In his speech at Lincoln, Nob., August 12,
1908, accoptlng the democratic nomination for
tho presidency, Mr. Bryan charged that tho re
publican party "is Impotent to accomplish tho
reforms which are imperatively needed. Further,
I can not concur in tho statoment that tho repub
lican platform unequivocally declares for tho
roforms that aro necessary; on the contrary, I
afllrm that it oponly and notoriously disappoints
tho hopes and expectations of reformers, wheth
er those roformors bo republicans or demo
crats "
For many wepks now Senator Aldrich has
boon zealously proving tho truth of Mr. Bryan's
charges. Nothing has boon required of Mr..
Bryan but to bide his time while Mr. Aldrich
and .the republican majority produced tho evi
dence On tho whole tho tariff bill passed by , tho
houso was a bettor measure than was to have
been expected in tho circumstances. It was a
gonuino attempt at downward revision. It
recognized that tho consumer's demand for re
lief was justified.
From Iho very boginning Senator Aldrich
showod that his purpose was to undo the work
of tho houso. Ho denied impudently that the
republican party was under any obligation, ex
pressed or implied, to roduco tho Dingley sched
ules. Ho openly repudiated the pledges of down
ward revision given by Mr. Taft and other re
publican candidates during the 1908 campaign.
His policy has been to restore the Dingley rates
lowered by the house, and ho has systematically
undertaken to raise many of them. The Aldrich
tariff out-Dingleys Dingley. Yet Its author as
sorts that It fulfills the promises madq by tlio
republican party at Chicago.
'"Afc for tho income tax, Senator Aldrich has
always opposed it. He admits on the floor of
tho senate that ho only accepted the corpora
tion tax as a means of boating the income tax.
It was Mr. Taft's suggestion, but Senator Aid
rich promises tho repeal of the corporation tax
within two years. That means the repeal of
tho publicity clause which Mr. Taft in his spe
cial message said is the most important part of
tho bill. Having tricked Mr. Taft on the revi
sion of the tariff, Sonator Aldrich proposes to
trick him with tho corporation tax.
Sonator Aldrich is in full control in tho son
ate. His leadership is recognized at the White
Houso. In tho revision of the tariff he has fal
sified Mr. Taft's pledges, and in such reforms
as the corporation tax and its publicity provi
sions ho purposes nullifying Mr. Taft's efforts.
Tho ropublican party's impotence to accomplish
reform, as Mr. Bryan foresaw, comes from Sen
ator Aldrich's hostility to such reforms and
from the party's support of him as its foremost
representative. New York World.
WEALTH A BURDEN
Mrs. Howard Gould's testimony that a woman
ought to have $40,000 a year for dress is being
generally discussed by American women. After
calculating the amount of time occupied at the
dressmakers and in dressing and undressing the
average woman is apt to ask whether any ra
tional enjoyment can bo derived from such a
life. Wealth becomes a burden when it entails
such a waste of time and energy, not to speak
of the expenditure of money. The simple life
Is more attractive.
WHAT WERE THEY?
The president says the ropublican party will
bo defeated unless it lives up to its promises
but ho does not say what tho promises were
The standpatters are construing his statement
as a rebuke to tho prqgresslvo republicans, who
refuse to follow Aldrich.
JUST SUPPOSE!
Income Tax and the States
Tho Chicago Record-Herald, a republican
paper, prints this editorial:
Unanimously tho senate has voted to sub
mit to tho state legislatures tho Income tax
amendment to tho constitution of tho United
States which tho president recommended in his
tax message. There Is no doubt that tho houso
will bo equally solid in support of the proposi
tion. No one now ventures to say openly In
congress that the federal government ought not
to bo clothed with tho power to levy income
taxes in the only way in which they can be
levied In practice without apportionment
among tho states or regard tp population and
it is a foregone conclusion that tho amendment
will be tho paramount issue before the people
and their state representatives next winter.
It is no profound secret to any reasonably
watchful American that many of thoso who pub
licly favor the income tax- within a certain
radius of the White House mean to work against
it at home. Tho correspondents tell us that
the opponents of tho amendment aro confident
that they can muster twelve state legislatures
on their side and defeat the proposition. Some
newspapers liave even published lists of the
legislatures that aro expected to vote in the
negative after due manipulation and prepara
tion. It now becomes the dirty of the honest friends
of tho amendment to start in each state an earn
est campaign in its behalf. Whether they be
lieve in early legislation substituting a fair,
reasonably progressive income tax for the cor
poration tax stop-gap; whether they believe, with
Senator Root, that the corporation tax is "wise
and patriotic" in itself and that an Income tax
should be reserved for national emergencies,
or whether they believe that the corporation tax
is so grossly unjust and discriminatory, so re
actionary in its effect on the diffusion of in
dustrial stocks and 'the peopleization of corpor
ations, that it is not even "a lesser evil" the
constitutional amendment should at once enlist
-their active and' vigorbUg support. '" '" ' '
It will be strenuously fought in a number of
states by fair means and foul; there will be
tremendous efforts put forth to capture and con
trol legislatures in opposition to it. If it should
be defeated the objectionable corporation tax
would threaten to become a' fixture, especially
if expenditures should go on increasing and
the tariff should fail to yield sufficient revenue.
To constitutional doubts and misgivings alone
we owe the corporation tax; to remove these
doubtB, to restore to the government the power
to lay just and equal income taxes, is the most
effectual means of shortening the life of the
former.
In the east the campaign is already on. The
progressive middle west should lose no time in
entering the fight and throwing its enormous
weight on the side of equity and right in
taxation.
The banks which are opposing the guaranty
law insist that it is unfair to make' them go se
curity foneaclujother wouldn't it .be a joke
?lfUhci court .sustained the objection and thon
applied) it to security requlrofl. byi-'the bnnk?
Suppose i banks could. not-irei?tHrQ-se$urltyV1
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WILL THE STATES DEFEAT IT?
"Sumner," Washington correspondent for tho
Chicago Record-Herald, sends to his 'paper this
interesting review of the situation:
Washington, July 6. What states will ratify
the proposed amendment to the constitution,
granting congress power to levy and collect an
incomo tax? What states will probably reject
tho amendment? In what states will the In
fluences antagonistic to income taxation concen
trate effort to defeat tho amendment if the
issue assume a pivotal form?
These are decidedly live questions today, for
tho whole question of income taxation Is abbut
to pass from congress in Washington directly
to tho legislatures of forty-six states arid less
.directly the degree depends on the public agi
tation of tho subject and the attaching of the
Issue to candidates aspiring to legislative posi
tion to the voters in all the states. Here is
a proposition surrounded with, vastly more un
certainty than any which ever before in the
history of the country has been submitted in
the form of an amendment to the constitution.
Hero for the first time a great influence with
unlimited command of wealth, has a direct, one
might say a selfish, interest in the settlement
of a question which if disapproved will not be
likely to rise again for generations.
Senators and other students of politics and
economics at the national capital have been
giving attention to the field of campaign that
'soon will bo opened -and it must be confessed
",' ' ' ' n;,,
that the most enthusiastic advocates of an in
como tax are not intoxicated by hope. Get
ting down to cold figures they can not at this
time seo a safe majority for tho adoption of
tho amendment that only awaits formal action
by the houso of representatives to come before
tho state legislatures. To secure ratification
the amendment must caTry thirty-five states.
Twelve states rejecting it will kill It. By not
acting either afllrmativoly ' or negatively a few
states may prevent the necessary three-fourths
majority.
The states which at this time are regarded
Us reasonably sure to adopt the proposed amend
ment are:
Arkansas
Colorado
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana ' -
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada'
N. Carolina
N. Dakota
Oregon.
S. Carolina
S. Dakota
Tehnesseo
Texas
Virginia
Washington .
Wisconsin
Wyoming'
Ohio
New-York.
Maryland
Oklahoma
In this list are twenty-seven states, or eight
less vthan the number required to adopt the
amendment?
In the doubtful column are placed the fol
lowing states: 7
Alabama Utah
Florida Louisiana
.Illinois W. Virginia
California
In this doubtful group are ten states, and in
the third group of states those which are re
garded by reason of dominating- influences to
be reasonably sure to reject the amendment
are the following nine states:
"Maine Massachusetts Rhode Island
N. Hampshire Delaware Pennsylvania
'Vermont Connecticut New. Jersey
.' The latter group, it. wil be. noticed, embraces
all, of New England. , The, .casual observer wilJ
be inclined to believe: somq(bf. these, states to bo
at least doubtful, but It is, tie purpose here mere
"ly to give the view of persons who are very
much interested in the matter' and who have
already studied and analyzed the situation and
they place New England among the hostiles.
Why "should Illinois be classed in the doubt
ful column? That is a question likely to arise
at once in the minds of Record-Herald readers.
Illinois, to be sure, is a progressive state, and
if the question of an income tax were submitted
to a popular vote there is little doubtit would
carry by a large majority. But it must be re
membered that as matters now stand the pro
posed amendment is to be submitted not to
the people, not to conventions chosen by the
people to deal with this particular question, but
to state legislatures. As to Illinois, those at
the national capital are judging matters by pres
ent conditions. They have seen a bi-partisan
legislature elect a United States senator recent
ly ;-they have seen the same bi-partisan legisla
ture, by reason of the influences that shape its
action at various times, ignore the demands of
public sentiment in many ways.
Aside from the popular sentiment in states
like Illinois, the influence of corporations must
be reckoned with. And given the influences
in such a city as Chicago which for years have
exercised a certain control over state lawmakers;
given a United States senator who has shown
his control of a bi-partisan majority in the gen
eral assembly and who may be supposed ready
to show it again or attempt to do so in a matter
like that about to become an issue, and you
have the elements that cause Illinois to bo
classed as doubtful in respect to- the income tax
amendment. ' ,
The suddenness with which the income tax
- amendment passed from a state of incubation
to that of a full-fledged bird caused many points
to bo overlooked. They are being noted rapidly
now, however, and as- they show themselves
more and more it is likely that public Interest
will be aToused, and that the effort to kill in
como taxation possibilities for practically all
time will be rendered more difficult than now
appears.
There is soma talk of changing matters when
the resolution providing, for tho submission, of
tho"7feonstitutlonal amendment comes. up'4for
adoption in the Ifou'sel ' ,And the effort tp sub
stitute the-'conveTrti&'ii plan of ratification, jfttr
the legislative plan may be made 'in tlio" icLwer
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