LAND AND WALii^it 
»s:jc^. 
/LviiLiLr^i. 
INCOME TAX & NATIONAL SERVICE. 
To the Editor of Land an'o Water. 
Sir,— Under this heading I have recently, in tha -V/wr- 
treuth Ci-ntur'i and After, laid before the public a sugg^steJ 
reform in representation and taxation in connection with th-i 
obligation of universal national aervico. With your kind 
per.xission, I wish now to bring my suggestion t« the notu.-o 
of a mere diversified clas.i of readers, who may be sufliciontly 
interasted in the question to spare a quarter of an hour. 
The main feature of niv proposal ia bri?fly this: That 
every person who pays income tax shall be entitled to vote 
for a representative in the House of Commons, and no person 
who does not. It is based upon the principle that partici- 
pation in the power to elect those who. through fhfir repre- 
sentatives (the Ministry), govern the country and disj^ose of 
its revenues is tiot an absolute right of anybody, but dei^ends 
on the condition of direct, con.scious, and personal contribu- 
tion to that country's interests. As will be seen, it is prima 
face worded, and "int«nded, to include women, and, at the 
same time, to exclude some men who now pos-sess the fran- 
chise. But. as I do not wish at once to shelve the question 
by complication with that of the female vote, I propose for 
the present to confine the application of the principle above 
stated to men: and. obviously, to that class of men who are 
now entirely exempt from the payment of income tax on the 
ground that their income falls below £160 a year. I believe 
that a hrge majority of the lodger voters and a considerable 
portion of the occupier voters enjoy this exemption. But I 
must admit that I cannot produce definite statistical proof. 
When 1 have applied for information on this point to political 
economists, who. have usually hitherto belonged to the so- 
called Liberal Party, I have been met with the evasive answer, 
evidently intended as a moral slap in the face, that " tho 
poor pay already a great deal more than their share in the 
way of indirect taxation." 
Who are " the poor " I will not st-op to inquire. I will 
only say that, in my own opinion, the term is far more cor- 
rectly applicable to the struggling member of the middle class 
than' to the labourer who has no " appearance to keep up " 
and gets his children educated for nothing. Nor do I pro- 
pose to inquire in how many cases the claim to this exemption 
IS truly supported by fact." I will assume that this claim is 
generally made bond fide. 
Now, of all the reasons that have been given for this ex- 
emption of low-class incomes, the most satisfactory one. to my 
mind, has been the difficulty and expense of collect io>i. 
Against it, t)ie distinct temptation to duplicity and dishonest 
•ubterfuge is, to some minds, a strong objection; but this, no 
doubt, applies equally tj persons of every rank, who are 
required to declare their income as nob above a certain 
amount, and to every item of income which cannot be 
mulcted, as most can, at its source. 
My proposal is intended to utilise the present machinery 
of registration for the franchise by making the entry of a 
voter's name to depend, in lieu of its present complicated con- 
ditions, upon a new and comparatively simple one — adult age. 
a moderate amount of continuous residence, and proof, either 
of the payment of income tax, or of the fulfilment of a 
certain alternative of personal service to the nation, wituiu 
the previous year. The qualifying payment of income tat 
is to be calculated on a minimum assessment at an assumed 
or imputed income of, say. £80 or £100 a year. But this 
might be reduced further if it can be satisfactorily shown 
that there is really any large class of artizans who do not 
earn, in the whole, so much at least. My only condition is 
that it must be a real income tax, not reduced to nonentity 
by the trick of differential rates, but perceptibly rising or 
falling with the general expenditure of the country, and 
borne, in their due share, by those who have part (and that 
no inconsiderable part) in directing that expenditure. 
The alternative to be allowed is simply that national 
Bervice, which appears to me unnecessary, will certainly be 
expensive and i.°, by no means sure to attain its object, if 
that object is anything beyond the creation of a staff of 
Government employees. 
The contra suggestion here made dependi merely on tha 
assumpUon that, while comparatively few are too poor to 
make the small money contribution required, every man hai 
at any rate a pair of hands and a headpiece, which might be 
employed in some service, military or otherwise, for his 
coiuitiy, in return for the security and protection that ij 
afforded him, if nothing else, by a settled government. 
The amount and character of the sarvices required is 
matter of detail rather than principle. We need not fear any 
deficiency in the former respect, to judge from the instruc- 
tions just issued by the Local Government Board for tha 
taking of the National Register. I'rovision ought, in my 
view, distinctlv to be made for the case of women workers; 
but I avoid entering upon that question at present. 
When speaking just now of the new Government Register. 
I have been betrayed into language which I rather regret. 
But I fear that, in spite of all its good intentions, this Act, 
unle.ss followed up by measures very unlikely to be taken, 
even by this Government, will be left, after all, dependent 
on pure voluntaryism, and will cause us, meanwhile, the great 
expen.^e entailed by that besetting sin of democracy— tha 
multiplication of small jobs. Not that I would impute to 
our recent leaders any particular indifference to large ones; 
but I do not want to rake up the past. My present object 
is certainly not to make trouble. I therefore refrain from 
dilating on the gross injustice of the super-tax (of which, I 
fear, we must be content to avail ourselves for many a year to 
come), or of the present management of direct taxation 
generally. I would turn to the brighter side, and point out 
the hopes, which may fairly be entertained, from opening up 
such a new source ofrevenue as I have ventured to suggest. 
For one thing, it would clearly give an opportunity for 
lightening the indirect taxation on necessaries, which does 
undoubtedly press, at the present time, very hard on people 
of small means, and yet leave a substantial remainder to meet, 
in some degree, the awful drain on our resources which, 
according to all api>earaaces, must for some time go on 
increasing. 
On the other hand, paradoxical as it may seem, I believe 
that the mere giving to those, who now have it not, a per- 
ceptible share in the interests of their country, even in the 
way of bearing its burdens, might do something to create a 
spirit of patriotism and mutual helpfulness, different from 
that of some, who are willing to utilise the dire necessity of 
their Motherland for purposes of private gain. — I am, Sir, 
yours obediently, 
Cambridge, August, 1915. 
E. C. Cl.ark. 
RUSSIAN LITERARY ART. 
THE latest addition to Messrs. Constable and Co. 's Russian 
Library, " The Sweet-Scented Name, and Other Fairy 
Tales '" (4s. 6d.), by Fedor Sologub, forms evidence of 
the many-sidedness of Russian literary art, in which interest 
is so rapidly awakening in this country. Sologub, who ranks 
among his own people with such writers as Gorki and 
Dostoevski, brings to his work a lightness and brilliancy that 
is in strong contrast with the studious solidity of the Russian 
writers whose work has been recognised, hitherto, by a British 
public. 
This volume of short stories is noteworthy for the absence 
of that perpetual sombreness which marks such writers as 
Gorki and Dostoevski, and there is, too, little trace of tha 
bitter cynicism from which Tcheckov gets his artistic effects. 
Some of these light fantasies, notably the first three, are as 
delicate and fine as anything that Hans Andersen gave us, 
and in the page and two-page sketches which occur farther ou 
in the volume is a sardonic wit that, revealing the deep 
thinker, gives us new views on old statements common to 
Anglo-Saxon and Slav. Not that Sologub is all fantasy and 
wit, for in " The Lady of the Fetters," " The Herald of tha 
Beast," and two or three other stories in this volume, he 
equals Tolstoi at his grimmest, though these are not bj' any 
means the most sombre of Sologub's stories. 
The volume as a whole, however, is representative of tha 
many sides of its author; in every sketch is art — not art for 
art's sake, but with a purpose. The translator and editor, 
Mr. Stephen Graham, has been careful to preserve the spirit 
of the original work, and has also, by judicious selection, 
revealed new aspects of contemporary Russian literature. 
The third edition of Messrs. Gale and Polden's Guide to 
OfKcial Letter Writing, price Is. 6d., has just made its appear- 
ance. It deals fully with the method of composing official 
letters and regimental correspondence, gives hints ou composi- 
tion and punctuation, and on spelling and the meanings of 
common military te.'ms. The inclusion of the publi.shers' com- 
plete catalogue adds considerably to the bulk of this book, 
and, for the hard wear that copies of it are likely to incur, a 
more substantial binding would be an advantage. 
XB 
