CHAPTER VII.

"THE GRAVE GIVES UP ITS DEAD."

The administration forces at Washington and in Nebraska were considerably disappointed when they found that their delight in the temporary defeat of Mr. Bryan was shared only by the Federal officials. Some of these little fellows, in their blind vanity, could not see that Bryan really represented the overwhelming sentiment of the Nebraska Democracy. Others, however, very soon discovered their error. They soon learned that it is a very difficult task to destroy a man whose only sin had been that he struggled for a principle. The scene at the Nebraska convention of 1893 very much resembled that wherein a gang of jay-birds peck upon an eagle. In this instance at least no injury came to the eagle, for he soared above the petty persecutors and left them to the oblivion for which nature had so admirably fitted them.

Mr. Bryan returned to his Congressional duties while the administration put in much of its time branding for the slaughter men who were applicants for office and who had been known to sympathize with Mr. Bryan. The young Congressman began a determined advocacy of an in

come tax plan. He was so vigorous in his championship of this measure that he drew upon himself considerable criticism of eastern newspapers, but he was rewarded by the adoption of the income tax as suggested by him, by the Committee on Ways and Means.

On January 13, 1894, Mr. Bryan addressed the House on the tariff bill, in which address he maintained his high reputation.

On January 30, 1894, Mr. Bryan addressed the House on the subject of the proposed income tax. On that occasion he had pitted against him the eloquent Bourke Cockran, of New York. Mr. Cockran, although a Democrat, vigorously opposed the tax. From Mr. Bryan's speech in reply to Mr. Cockran the following extracts are taken:

"I need not give all the reasons which led the committee to recommend this tax, but will suggest two of the most important. The stockholder in a corporation limits his liability. When the statute creating the corporation is fully complied with, the individual stockholder is secure, except to the extent fixed by the statute, whereas the entire property of the individual is ordinarily liable for his debts. Another reason is that corporations enjoy certain privileges and franchises. Some are given the right of eminent domain, while others, such as street-car companies, are given the right to use the streets of the city-a franchise which increases in value with each passing year. Cor

porations occupy the time and attention of our Federal courts and enjoy the protection of the Federal Government, and as they do not ordinarily pay taxes, the committee felt justified in proposing a light tax upon them.

"Some gentlemen have accused the committee of showing hostility to corporations. But, Mr. Chairman, we are not hostile to corporations; we simply believe that these creatures of the law, these fictitious persons, have no higher or dearer rights than the persons of flesh and blood whom God created and placed upon His footstool. (Applause.) Their assessed valuation increased only a little more than $300,000,000. This bill is not in the line of class legislation, nor can it be regarded as legislation against a section, for the rate of taxation is the same on every income over $4,000, whether its possessor lives upon the Atlantic coast, in the Mississippi Valley or on the Pacific Slope. I only hope that we may in the future have more farmers in the agricultural districts whose incomes are large enough to tax. (Applause.)

"But the gentleman from New York (Mr. Cockran) has denounced as unjust the principle underlying this tax. It is hardly necessary to read authorities to the House. There is no more just tax upon the statute books than the income tax, nor can any tax be proposed which is more equi

table; and the principle is sustained by the most distinguished writers on political economy.

Adam Smith says:

"The subjects of every State ought to contribute to the support of the Government, as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective abili ities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the State. In the observation or neglect of this maxim consists what is called the equality or inequality of taxation.'

"The income tax is the only one which really fulfills this requirement. But it is said that we single out some person with a large income and make him pay more than his share. And let me call attention here to a fatal mistake made by the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Cockran). You who listened to his speech would have thought that the income tax was the only Federal tax proposed; you would have supposed that it was the object of this bill to collect the entire revenue from an income tax. The gentleman forgets that the pending tariff bill will collect upon imports more than one hundred and twenty millions of dollars-nearly ten times as much as we propose to collect from the individual income tax. Everybody knows that a tax upon consumption is an unequal tax, and that the poor man by means of it pays far out of proportion to the income which he enjoys.

"I read the other day in the New York World -and I gladly join in ascribing praise to that great daily for its courageous fight upon this subject in behalf of the common people-a description of the home of the richest woman in the United States. She owns property estimated at $60,000,000, and enjoys an income which can scarcely be less than $3,000,000, yet she lives at a cheap boarding house, and only spends a few hundred dollars a year. That woman, under your indirect system of taxation does not pay as much toward the support of the Federal Government as a laboring man whose income of $500 is spent upon his family. (Applause.)

'Why, sir, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Cockran) said that the poor are opposed to this tax because they do not want to be deprived of participation in it, and that taxation instead of being a sign of servitude is a badge of freedom. If taxation is a badge of freedom, let me assure my friend that the poor people of this country are covered all over with the insignia of freemen. (Applause.)

"Notwithstanding the exemptions proposed by this bill, the people whose incomes are less than $4,000 will still contribute far more than their just share to the support of the Government. The gentleman says that he opposes this tax in the interest of the poor! Oh, sir, is it not enough to