364 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for taxation is where it is, and independent of the domicile of its 

 owner, the opposite rule is held to apply to credits. 



On the other hand, in all other countries of high civilization, 

 credits are not regarded as property in the sense of an actuality, 

 and are not subjected to direct taxation. In France, which is at 

 the present encumbered with a greater national debt than has 

 ever before been borne by any nation, and where almost every 

 expedient for raising revenue to defray its extraordinary na- 

 tional expenditures has been resorted to, no attempt or even a 

 proposition has been made to tax credits. It is, therefore, of the 

 first importance that the American public, and especially that por- 

 tion of it that enacts tax laws, shall have a clearer and more correct 

 idea of the nature of property than it now possesses; and that there 

 shall be eliminated from all such laws the idea that extensively 

 prevails in the United States, but in no other country, that " noth- 

 ing " can be " something," if a statute will only so provide. 



That there is some warrant and defense for such an idea is to 

 be found in the fact that there is not a unity of opinion among 

 economists on this subject; and that in common parlance and dic- 

 tionary use the term " property " is made applicable to the qualities, 

 rights, and titles of " things " equally with the things themselves. 

 Thus, according to the ancient though still existing law of Scotland, 

 what is termed "real property" in England is termed "heritable 

 rights " in Scotland, and what is termed " personal property " in 

 England is termed " movable rights " in Scotland. Ancient usage 

 is, however, no warrant for the continued use of definitions not ap- 

 plicable to new conditions, and the acceptance of which as authority 

 for conduct is provocative of immorality, injustice, and unsound fiscal 

 policy. Prof. H. Dunning Macleod, a distinguished English econo- 

 mist, who has many adherents, has vigorously advanced the idea that 

 everything that can be bought and sold is property, and assigns to 

 the old Greek philosopher Aristotle the honor of its original concep- 

 tion; but without mentioning that at the period at which Aristotle 

 lived there was practically nothing bought or sold except things 

 tangible and visible, and that credits were practically unknown. 



Attractive as this idea may be in theory, it needs but practical 

 application to demonstrate its absurdity. Thus, when the Church 

 sold "absolution" from sin, did the buyer, to quote from old 

 Wycliffe, " have property in ghostly goods, in which no material or 

 property may be regarded as inhering" ? Service, again, is bought and 

 sold; but when its purchase, as in the case of the hire of incompetent 

 or dishonest persons, results in the impairment or complete waste or de- 

 struction of property, is it entitled to be regarded as property? When 

 a ticket to a theater or concert is sold and bought, can the temporary 



