PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 435 



pel its violation, or complete abandomnent, in periods of great 

 emergency. 



In the case of the United States the condition of the country 

 previous to the civil war, as already pointed out, was very curi- 

 ously such as to create great indifference to this, in common with 

 almost every other economic or financial topic. The nation and 

 the several States composing it were at the period referred to com- 

 paratively free from debt. All taxation was light. Direct taxa- 

 tion by the Federal Government had become a matter of history, 

 no taxes of this character having been imposed for nearly half a 

 century. Pauperism was mainly restricted to persons of foreign 

 nativity, while to all who were willing to practice industry and 

 economy, the ability to command a good subsistence, if not an 

 ultimate competence, seemed comparatively easy. Why should 

 a nation under such circumstances trouble itself about difficult 

 and intricate problems in finance or political economy ? And 

 taking counsel of the proverb, " Sufficient unto the day is the 

 evil thereof," the nation did not. But, with the advent of war 

 in 1861, the creation of an enormous national debt, and a gigan- 

 tic, unsystematic, and complex system of taxation, a resort to 

 irredeemable paper money and the suspension of specie payments, 

 the condition of things as above stated rapidly changed; and the 

 questions and problems which in popular estimation were before 

 insignificant have rapidly become so important, as to constitute 

 not only the theme of never-ending popular discussion, but also 

 the issues which mainly divide the national political parties of 

 the country. And as illustrating in some degree the nature and 

 strength of what may be termed the motor or impelling influences 

 which have forced these changes in public opinion, what can be 

 more pertinent than the fact that the State of New York alone 

 now annually raises by taxation to meet the expenditures of State 

 and local governments a sum ($91,232,012 in 1890) more than one 

 half in excess of the net ordinary expenditures of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment in 1860 (860,086,754). In this latter year the cost to the 

 people of the United States for the maintenance of their national. 

 State, and local governments was probably less than three dollars 

 per capita. For the year 1890, an approximately correct estimate 

 for like expenditures was $13.65 per capita. 



These questions and problems have not, however, come up 

 simultaneously for consideration, but have been gradually evolved, 

 as it were, from the changing condition of affairs, and somewhat 

 in the following order : First, the national debt and its transition 

 from a miscellaneous to a consolidated character ; second, the 

 readjustment of the war system of internal taxation ; third, the 

 question of currency, specie redemption, and legal tender on 

 which topics alone more than three hundred separate publications. 



