PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 5 



ward dealing, he would be regarded as a worthy inmate for the 

 States prison. But this is exactly what the Government of the 

 United States does, or proposed to do, in the case of many of its 

 so-called tax statutes. Thus in the recent income-tax statute it 

 offered to its citizens considerations in money if they would for- 

 swear themselves, or practice deception ; and it imposed a direct 

 and heavy fine on those who were conscientious and truthful. 

 Again, when the Government imposes a tax of more than a thou- 

 sand per cent in excess of the prime cost of the article taxed, as 

 it did in 1864 in the case of distilled spirits (whiskey), it offered a 

 premium for the perpetration of fraud that human nature as 

 ordinarily constituted could not resist. Could any course of ac- 

 tion, if deliberately intended, be more demoralizing to a people ? 

 Do not these experiences go far in support of the theory that if a 

 people desire to have a paternal government it would be wise to 

 choose a despotic form, inasmuch as all experience has shown that 

 a republican or popular form of government is least fitted for 

 such work ? Give democracy a firm hold of the reins of govern- 

 ment, and it is no easy matter, as the French Revolution of 1789 

 and the present fiscal condition of France exemplify, to restrain 

 its excesses. 



It should not furthermore be overlooked that that class of 

 the community to whom the questions of morality and religion, 

 are especially intrusted, rarely, if ever, give this subject of taxa- 

 tion any attention. If any sermon has ever been preached in this 

 country by any clergyman of any denomination on the moral 

 and religious results of a defective system of taxation, the writer 

 has never heard of it. One reason and apology for such conduct 

 may be found in the circumstance that intelligent and reliable 

 expositions of this subject are not readily accessible. Indiffer- 

 ence or antagonism to the study of taxation is not, however, con- 

 fined to the clergy. Minds trained in the law are not necessarily, 

 and indeed rarely, trained thereby to esteem or intelligently dis- 

 cuss economic subjects. One of the most eminent members of 

 the American bar recently remarked to the writer that, grant 

 whatever measure of importance we may to economic principles 

 and interests, they have no place in the legal profession, the 

 business of which was, not to make or amend laws as expressed 

 in enactments, but to interpret and determine their application. 

 Hence the popularity at the American bar of the legal maxim 

 stare decisis, which may be interpreted to mean, follow prece- 

 dents, and do not attempt to invalidate the reasons and conclu- 

 sions of the lawmakers. Such a theory and rule of practice would, 

 however, close the door on reason and truth, and constitute an 

 almost insuperable barrier to all social progress. If Lord Mans- 

 field, when the negro slave Somerset came before him with a de- 



