3ZO POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in the enactment of statutes for their assessment. Thus, a tax com- 

 mission of Massachusetts, as the result of their investigations, arrived 

 at the conclusion that " the tendency of taxes is that they must be 

 paid by the actual persons on whom they are levied." But a little 

 thought must, however, make clear that unless the advancement of 

 taxes and their final and actual payment are one and the same thing, 

 the Massachusetts statement is simply an evasion of the main question 

 at issue, and that its authors had no intelligent conception of it. 

 A better proposition, and one that may even be regarded as an 

 economic axiom, is that, regarding taxation as a synonym for a force, 

 as it really is, it follows the natural and invariable law of all forces, 

 and distributes itself in the line of least resistance. It is also valuable 

 as indicating the line of inquiry most likely to lead to exact and prac- 

 tical conclusions. But beyond this it lacks value, inasmuch as it 

 fails to embody any suggestions as to the best method of making the 

 involved principle a basis for any general system for correct taxation; 

 inasmuch as " the line of least resistance " is not a positive factor, 

 and may be and often is so arranged as to make levies on the part of 

 the State under the name of taxation subservient to private rather 

 than public interests. Under such circumstances the question natu- 

 rally arises, What is the best method for determining, at least, the 

 approximative truth in respect to this vexed subject? A manifestly 

 correct answer would be: first, to avoid at the outset all theoretic 

 assumptions as a basis for reasoning; second, to obtain and marshal 

 all the facts and conditions incident to the inquiry or deducible from 

 experience; third, recognize the interdependence of all such facts 

 and conclusions; fourth, be practical in the highest degree in accept- 

 ing things as they are, and dealing with them as they are found; and 

 on such a basis attention is next asked to the following line of in- 

 vestigations. 



It is essential at the outset to correct reasoning that the distinc- 

 tion between taxation and spoliation be kept clearly in view. That 

 only is entitled to be called a tax law which levies uniformly upon 

 all the subjects of taxation; which does not of itself exempt any part 

 of the property of the same class which is selected to bear the primary 

 burden of taxation, or by its imperfections to any extent permits such 

 exemptions. All levies or assessments made by the State on the 

 persons, property, or business of its citizens that do not conform to 

 such conditions are spoliations, concerning which nothing but irregu- 

 larity can be predicated; nothing positive concerning their diffusion 

 can be asserted; and the most complete collection of experiences in 

 respect to them can not be properly dignified as " a science." And 

 it may be properly claimed that from a nonrecognition or lack of 

 appreciation of the broad distinction between taxation and spoliation, 



