EDITOR'S TABLE. 



267 



been the worst victims. So unfavor- 

 able to capital has been some of the 

 legislation of Oklahoma that the 

 home offices of insurance and loan 

 companies outside of the State have 

 ordered their agents to take no more 

 business. The possibility of such a 

 result in New York State had doubt- 

 less much to do with the modifica- 

 tion of similar bills at Albany. 



Naturally, where there has been 

 such a shameless disregard of the 

 rights of corporations, little con- 

 ' sideration has been shown for the 

 rights of individuals. When a wave 

 of despotic I'epression passes over a 

 community it shows no favor ; it 

 treats all alike. One of the most 

 characteristic bills of this class is 

 that compelling school teachers to 

 contribute a certain percentage of 

 their salaries to a retirement or pen- 

 sion fund, to be managed by the 

 municipalities in which they live. 

 It is, of course, nothing less than a 

 step toward the establishment of a 

 system of civil-service pensions like 

 the one that now exists in certain 

 countries in Europe. The legisla- 

 tion against the wearing of hats by 

 women in theaters, against playing 

 football, against the organization of 

 Greek -letter fraternities in State- 

 aided institutions, etc., is equally 

 worthy of the same despotisms. 



It would be interesting to speak 

 more at length of other legislation, 

 proposed and enacted, such as the 

 prohibition of gold contracts, the is- 

 sue of scrip as money by State and 

 county governments, the payment 

 of bounties on agricultural products, 

 and the exemption from taxation of 

 certain manufacturing industries. 

 Measures of this kind are sufficient- 

 ly significant to merit special com- 

 ment; they illustrate in a striking 

 manner the growing tendency to in- 

 terfere with private rights and to 

 plunder one class for the benefit of 

 another. Equally significant also is 



the New York State lav? to pay to 

 every indigent family a certain sum 

 for the care of each child; it is a 

 practice that can not fail to revive 

 in this country all the shocking so- 

 cial and economic evils of the old 

 English poor law. Finally, it would 

 be interesting to dwell upon the vi- 

 cious assaults that have been made 

 in New York, Illinois, and elsewhere 

 upon civil -service reform; they in- 

 dicate the same decadence in public 

 opinion as to the requirements of good 

 government that may be observed in 

 the renewal of archaic legislation in 

 the field of morals and economics. 



But it is only possible to call spe- 

 cial attention to the efforts made very 

 generally to provide money to meet 

 the alarming increase of expenditures 

 that has followed the large addition 

 to the duties of the State. Desperate- 

 ly pressed to discover new sources of 

 income, legislators have resorted to 

 many novel and extraordinary ex- 

 pedients. Of these the most iniqui- 

 tous is the graduated inheritance tax 

 enacted in New York and proposed 

 in other States. Not only does it 

 violate the fundamental principles 

 of taxation, namely, uniformity and 

 equity, but it is likely to serve, like 

 all iniquitous legislation, as a pre- 

 cedent to violate still further the 

 rights of individuals and of property. 



THE POSTAL UNION CONGRESS. 



The city of Washington is at this 

 moment the seat of a congress strik- 

 ingly different in character from 

 the Congress which we are accus- 

 tomed to associate with the national 

 capital. It is a congress of men 

 chosen for their competence to deal 

 with a particular subject. It meets 

 for a business purpose. It will at- 

 tend to that business. It will attack 

 difficult work and keep at it till it 

 is done. It will not be the scene of 

 vain eloquence, nor yet of party 



