THE BEST METHODS OF TAXATION. 737 



are regarded as theorists, and denounced as unpractical. No where 

 is the tendency to move independent of enlightened knowledge more 

 evident than in the United States. At every appearance of the tax 

 question, State and national legislatures are overwhelmed with 

 measures that have been tried in the past, and after a thorough test 

 condemned beyond any hope of defense. 



Yet history shows the gradual disappearance of certain forms of 

 taxation which enjoyed great popularity for a time, and accomplished 

 the end of their creation in a crude and often cruel manner. Look- 

 ing over long periods of time, it is seen that some advances have been 

 made, rather from a change in the economic condition of the people 

 than from a true appreciation of the principles in question. The 

 development of popular liberty has been an essential factor, and the 

 alterations in tax methods require a close analysis of the causes lead- 

 ing to the rise and dominance of political and constitutional principle. 

 While it is true that a popular uprising against fiscal exactions usually 

 marked the limit of endurance of an oppressive system, it is also true 

 that the same uprisings marked the completion of one stage of political 

 development, and the readiness or even the need of entering upon 

 a new stage. In one sense the progress of a people toward civili- 

 zation in its highest meaning may be illustrated by its fiscal ma- 

 chinery and methods of obtaining its revenue from the people. 

 It will be of interest to glance at some of these passing phases 

 which have generally come down to a late day, and are still 

 to be found in activity in some of the most advanced states of 

 Europe. 



The practice of farming out the revenues of a state or any part 

 of it has become nearly obsolete, and where it does exist is the mark of 

 a fiscal machinery as yet not fully developed. The opportunities and 

 temptation which the contract system offered for oppressing the tax- 

 payers were apparent long before the state was in a position to assert 

 its ability to make its own collections. In France the fermiers ge- 

 neraux were a political factor, standing between the king and his 

 people, regarded as necessary to the former and as oppressors of the 

 latter. Their unpopularity, in part justified by their conduct, was 

 a not unimportant item in the arraignment of royalty by the people. 

 Wherever introduced, the farming of taxes proved in the long run 

 as unwise politically as it was unprofitable financially; and the only 

 reasonable defense for adopting it was the want of strength in the 

 state to command its own revenue — a want as likely to arise from 

 the dishonesty of its agents as from a political weakness. In early 

 times the most universal manner of supplying the treasury of the state, 

 the farming of taxes has become so rare as to be classed as a curiositv. 

 Italy still employs this machinery to collect her taxes on tobacco, and 



VOL. LIT. — 55 



