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THE BASE OF THE INCOME 
ASC 
(from the Boston Transcript) 
‘Ihe Ways and Means committee’s 
estimate ot the aggregate of those 
who will pay the income tax that is to 
be enacted 1s sure to provoke incredu- 
lity. ‘Lhe public, which has heard so 
tuucn and read so much about “colos- 
sal fortunes,”  ‘“‘multi-millionaires,” 
“swollen tortunes” and “predatory 
weaith,”’ is sure to challenge the accu- 
racy ot the statement that in a popu- 
lation approximating 95,000,000 there 
are but 425,000 individuals whose in- 
comes are in excess of $4000 per an- 
num. When the surprise that the an- 
nouncement creates has had time to 
subside and the public enters into a 
mood favorable to reflection, it may 
see reasons for accepting the commit- 
tee’s estimate after making allowances 
for the exemptions the law permits. 
These must not be overlooked by cal- 
culators of the real wealth of the 
country, for they are important fac- 
tors. ‘Lhe dividends on the stock of 
corporations taxed under the existing 
Federal corporation law are to be de- 
ducted from an individual’s yearly 
receipts and earnings in determining 
his income. ‘This deduction alone may 
save a not inconsiderable army of in- 
vestors from feeling the sharp edge 
of the income tax, and other exemp- 
tions generally directed to the preven- 
tion ot double taxation may be found 
in the law. 
If the beneficiaries of these reduc- 
tions should be found to equal in num- 
bers the taxpayers for whom there 1s 
no escape, the aggregate of the fortu- 
nate ones who have in reality yearly 
incomes of more than $4000 would be 
850,000. ‘This re-enforcement would 
be made up of persons of moderate 
means and moderate savings carefully 
invested. It would not be drawn from 
the ranks of the wealthy. Assuming 
that there are 850,000 income taxpay- 
ers and near payers, they weuld con- 
stitute less than one per cent of the 
population of the United States Those 
that must pay as the committee re- 
ports are less than half of one per 
cent of the inhabitants of the nation. 
The “popular” basis of income taxa- 
tion is therefore so small that it will 
have no corrective effect on Federal 
extravagance. Had it been spread 
widely over the population by carrying 
the exemption down, say, to $2,000, 
the pocket nerve of hundreds of thou- 
sands who will now not sense the tax 
would have tingled at the touch of con- 
gressional profusion. As a_ baro- 
metric influence the income tax will 
be nil. 
One valuable corrective influence the 
iiORTH SHORE BREEZE 
cominittee’s tabulation will undoubt- 
edly have. It will dissipate much 
hysterical utterance about wealth ac- 
cumulating while men decay. Wealth 
does accumulate in the United States 
as it does in every free, prosperous 
land, but the mountain peaks of ac- 
cumulation are not so many and do 
not tower so high above the level of 
thritt as agitators represent. Pros- 
perity is widely disseminated. ‘The 
thritt that makes prosperity is much 
higher above the sea level ot necessity 
here than it is in most countries. The 
vast mass of Americans are working 
for a living wage and their savings 
go into that vast volume of money 
which is basic to business. In great 
trades and industries the worker 
whose yearly income keeps steadily 
close to $1000 is marked among his 
fellows. Yet from this very class 
savings banks receive no small portion 
oi their deposits, and what these in- 
stitutions draw in from the population 
ot an industrial and industrious State 
is evidenced by the fact that in Massa- 
chusetts at the close of their last offi- 
cial year they were carrying $838,000,- 
ooo for the account of depositors. ‘The 
vast majority of Americans ‘“‘work for 
a living.”” ‘Those who are so favored 
by fortune that they need not labor 
are indeed but a small percentage of 
the people of the United States. Our 
own city, wealthy and prosperous as 
it is, in the front rank of municipali- 
ties noted for their financial resources, 
re-enforces the teaching that this is 
a land of labor. Ordinarily, of the tax 
bilis annually sent out by the Boston 
Board of Assessors seventy per cent 
are for “single polls.” The “property 
bills’ approximate 84,000 and repre- 
sent about 72,000 individuals, some of 
whom pay on more than one piece of 
property, and yet Boston’s population 
exceeds 700,000. 
Nell—“ When that fresh Mr. Van 
Blowe asked you to sit on his knees 
what did you do dearie?” 
Bell—“Why, the impertinent thing 
—I sat right down on him.”—Florida 
Times Union. 
LAMB FOR DINNER 
The poet writes a little lay 
About the lambs that gaily play 
And gambol all around; 
And for it earns enough to pay 
For just about one pound. 
“Don’t you think it would be a good 
thing if our legislators were limited to 
one term?” ‘ 
“Tt would depend upon where the 
term was to be served.”—Chicago Rec- 
ord Herald. 
THE RAMBLER 
Saxo f ON SA | 
A parent remarked to The Rambler. 
a few days ago that more care should 
be taken in the matter of making 
the children go to school in stormy 
weather. He made this remark dur- 
ing the period of recent bad weather, 
when he claimed that the smaller chil- 
dren should have been at home in- 
stead of trudging through mud and 
water to their classrooms. It seenis 
to The Rambler that the school au- 
thorities usually show good judgmnt 
in such matters. In a great many 
cases when the children are allowed 
to remain from school on rainy days 
they go paddling about the streets 
just the same and when they take cold 
the school officials get the blame. 
The local newspaper is indispensable 
to any town that has any get up to it. 
It is one of the necessaries of the 
farmer and business man. It puts 
the ball in motion when any new en- 
terprise is proposed that would be a 
benefit to the town and the commu- 
nity in which it is published. It keeps 
an eye on every move that is calcu- 
lated to help the people. It keeps 
a record of the happenings of the 
town and the surrounding country, 
and is read a thousand miles away 
by persons who are hunting a home 
and a place to invest their money. It 
booms your town and gives it a name 
abroad that it would not otherwise 
have. It points out the advantages 
of its town and county so that the 
world may see it, and when a man 
gets mad it takes a “cussing” as coolly 
as anybody, but hews straight to the 
line just the same. There are thou- 
sands of reasons why a town should 
support a newspaper, but the greatest 
of all is because it pays, and pays well, 
to support it— Manchester Mirror. 
Jack—“Once more, Molly, will you 
marry me?” 
Molly—‘For the twelfth time this 
hour I tell you I will not.” 
_ Jack (of the navy)—‘Well, 12 
knots an hour is not bad speed for a 
little craft like you”—Tit-Bits. 
wy a ee ne 
