INTERLAKEN 



3017 



INTERNAL REVENUE 



O far-off plains of my west land ! 

 O lands of winds and the free, 

 Swift deer my mist-clad plain ! 



Oh has a wider and more common use, indi- 

 cating various emotions, such as surprise, pain, 

 grief, fear, horror or longing. Thus in Mark 

 Antony's phrase, "Oh, what a fall was there, 

 my countrymen!" the interjection expresses 

 mingled horror and sorrow. L.M.B. 



INTERLAKEN, in ter lah'ken, meaning be- 

 tween the lakes, is a village of Switzerland 

 in the valley of the River Aar, between lakes 

 Thun and Brienz. One of the most popular 

 resorts of the Alps, it is usually the first 

 point in the journey through the beautiful 

 Swiss country, visited annually by from 30,000 

 to 50,000 tourists. The highway between the 

 lakes is a continuous line of hotels and board- 

 ing houses; a former Augustinian monastery, 

 founded in 1130, and now occupied by govern- 

 ment offices, forms the nucleus of the village. 

 Population, 1910, 3,750. 



INTERMEZZO, intermed'zo, a short, musi- 

 cal piece, generally of light, sparkling char- 

 acter, introduced between the acts of a serious 

 opera or drama. Almost all the earlier Italian 

 plays were relieved by intermezzi, many of 

 these being at first merely simple songs. In 

 1733, through the influence of Pergolesi, an 

 Italian composer, the intermezzo was with great 

 success performed as a separate work in one 

 act. Not until seventeen years later (1750) was 

 it introduced in this form into England. The 

 intermezzo still holds a place upon the stage 

 as an independent piece, although the dance 

 has now displaced it somewhat. The Entr'actes 

 composed by Beethoven for Schiller's Egmont, 

 by Schubert for Rosamunde, and by Men- 

 delssohn for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's 

 Dream are familiar to all music-lovers. The 

 intermezzo played during the intermission in 

 Mascagni's popular opera Cavalleria Rusticana 

 is also a general favorite. 



INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE. See 

 GAS ENGINE. 



INTER 'NAL REVENUE, that part of the 

 income of a government which is derived from 

 taxes imposed upon commodities manufactured 

 within the country, thus being distinguished 

 from taxes upon imports, called tariffs, or for- 

 eign revenue. In the system of taxation em- 

 ployed in Canada, Great Britain, Australia and 

 on the Continent these internal taxes are called 

 inland revenue, or excise duties; the economic 

 principle is the same in all 'countries, by what- 

 ever name the tax may be called. 



Every government must raise money to 

 defray its expenses, and the best means to 

 employ is considered one of its most serious 

 problems. The means by which revenue can 

 be secured are few: (1) a direct tax may be 

 levied upon every person, regardless of age or 

 sex; this would be a very heavy burden, in 

 the United States amounting to more than 

 $12 per capita each year, or $60 for a family of 

 five persons, while in Canada a like tax on 

 each person would be $15; (2) a tax might be 

 levied upon the property of individuals, which 

 is the system employed in raising state and 

 local revenue; (3) the entire sum might be 

 raised by heavy duties on imports, but the 

 burden might not be equitably distributed; (4) 

 it might result wholly from taxes upon articles 

 of domestic manufacture, but the same objec- 

 tion might be advanced. 



The United States has levied direct taxes 

 upon the people's property only three times, 

 and then only as emergency measures in 1798, 

 1812 and 1861. More than a billion and a half 

 dollars are appropriated by each Congress to 

 support the machinery of government, or at 

 the rate of about $750,000,000 per year, and the 

 required sum is constantly increasing. Of this 

 vast amount about one-half is secured from 

 foreign import taxes, about $250,000,000 from 

 postal receipts, and the balance from taxes 

 upon domestic manufactures. 



When once it was determined to levy an in- 

 ternal revenue tax, there were differences of 

 opinion as to the articles which should bear 

 the burden whether they should be selected 

 from the lists of necessities or from luxuries 

 only. The latter plan was determined upon, 

 except when the nation faced extraordinary de- 

 mands, and choice was limited as much as pos- 

 sible to those things which, through over-indul- 

 gence, may be called vices. Thus, liquors and 

 tobacco in all their forms have been made to 

 yield a revenue since the first excise bill was 

 passed in 1791. The law of that year was very 

 unpopular; the people were not prepared to ac- 

 cept the new economic measure, particularly in 

 Pennsylvania, where, in 1794, the Whisky Insur- 

 rection occurred. 



Every war the country has waged has made 

 demands for immediately-increased revenues, 

 and internal taxes have proved the quickest 

 and surest source. They may be expanded at 

 any given time to cover a great variety of 

 articles. Therefore, when the wars of 1812, 

 1845, 1861 and 1898 necessitated larger revenues 

 than were flowing into the Treasury, taxes were 



